Brussels Stories

We spent 10 days in Belgrade a city full of history. Started the trip off Friday night at Bitef Art Café where we saw a very good cover band. The following morning we started the week long eating experience at a restaurant with a spread of traditional foods. A list of assorted meats and tomatoes in a nice restaurant on a hillslope. We spent a lot of our time visiting family and old and new friends. In the mean time we tried to keep up with school work, watching the 24 hour commercial free Olympic channel and sightseeing. We even got haircuts; I avoided getting a EuroMullet (faux Mohawk with standard mullet).

Some of the main sights we saw were the Belgrade city hall (once the Queen's court) and the President's office (once the King's court) and The Palace of the Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro (picture on left), or parliament building. Hotel Moscow was also a nice building.

We went to the big church, Crkva Svetog Marka (St Mark's Church), then to Beogradska Tvrdjava (an old fort built over centuries at the confluence of the Danube and Sava Rivers). Here we saw tennis courts, basketball courts and ice skating rink in the moat, sections built in the 500s, or some time long ago, and had a drink in a cafe in the walls.

The fort also has the church that was built within a lambskin (the steeple portion of the church in the picture to the left). The story here is that the Turks said they could not have a Christian church, but the Serbs pleaded. Eventually the Turks gave in and said sure, go ahead and build yourselves a church, as long as it fits in a lambskin, ha ha ha. The Serbs responded by saying, gee, you are so kind, meanwhile they cut up a lambskin into a long piece, laid it out in a circle, built a church within this outline. Damn! the Turks responded. But they stood by their word and the church is still around after 500 years of Turkish rule.

We went into Maja's elementary school, the first in Serbia at almost 300 years old. It was also a place where several famous historical Serbians have had influence, such as the dude that was the major reformer of the phonetic alphabet and some famous early educators.

We went to visit a large church under construction (Hram Sv. Save - behind the statue). We occasionally made our way to Pomodoro Pizzeria for breakfast and use of their wireless to keep up with our responsibilities back home.Saturday we slept in and woke up to a thin blanket of snow. Again, on Monday, on the way to the airport it was snowing.

Watching European Olympic coverage gave me the impression that Canada was not winning anything and the Norwegians, Swedes and Italians were the leaders in these Olympic games. Only heard about the American athletes with difficult personalities. Then I saw the medal count upon returning to Internet. Goes to show the influence media has on what we perceive.

Now that we are back in Brussels we can stop eating and I can get ready for my internship at IUCN, which begins March 1.

\One more thing. Here is a way to put Wikipedia on your iPod. Great for when you are travelling.

Hi,
I am in Belgrade, Sebia and Montenegro for 10 days visitng Maja's friends and family. This is a facinating experience and I have had wonderful hosts. I hope to spend much of the next few days working....... Upon my return to Brussels I will be starting an internship.
OO

In Belgium, any driver over the age of ~56 probably did not take a driving test as that was not mandatory to get a licence here until the mid 70's. I was told this as Allan (a rider from the mountain bike group) was about to lead me around a 4-lane roundabout on the way home from a ride in the forest.



Finally saw Menniken Piss last weekend. He is very short. Also found Jennekin Piss (its a little girl squatting) in her dark alley. Hadn't seen it before, as it is hard to find behind the pile of empty kegs and garbage at the end of that deserted alley.










Rode 3 hours Saturday morning (with only 3 riders instead of 7 this time we did more miles because we stopped less). This ride took us almost to Waterloo and to Tervueren (all through Forêt de Soignes). Went again Sunday morning, for a shorter but much quicker 1.5 hr ride. This photo is from an entry/exit point to the forest into suburban Brussels, looking directly towards downtown. Afterwards I had the first warm shower I had had in 4 days (water heating issues), then off to the Brussels winter regatta. Head racing in front of the king's palace along Canal de Willebroek.



















The two rowing clubs at the race site that are next door to each other on Canal de Willibroek. The location is by the King's palace amongst the industrial part of town.





Very sad. Last Wednesday, a woman's jacket was caught in the closing doors of the metro and was dragged down the platform. She later died.

Again, here is a site that sends you an email whenever this site is updated. Click the link below, enter your email and hit Watch It! Receive an email each time this page is updated!

Not very convincing.








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Got here safe, getting the bike here was really hard. So much work, but I didn't
get charged anything extra by AirCanada or Eurostar to get it here, which is great.

Thursday we went to a concert at the ABClub. Of course 27 Euros later, use of toilets was still 0.40 Euros. Great venue, and the drummer was awesome.

Saturday morning I started riding in a mountain bike club. They meet several times a week for a ride dans la foret. My first ride with them kept me on my bike for 4 hours, it was a great time - single track, double track, power lines and a tiny bit of pavement.

,__o
_-\_<,
(*)/'(*)

Saturday night was spent at Delirium; famous for having 2500 beers to choose from. The menu was the size of a phone book. My first selection was a fairtrade coconut beer from Nigeria. Who put sunscreen in my beer? After that selections were more traditional and local.

Sunday morning we went to see the Fabergé Eggs (as seen in Oceans 12, Coronation Egg) at Place Royale, an exhibition of works by the Russian jeweller Carl Fabergé (1849-1918). As seen in this photo, the line up was long and it was raining, so we read about the eggs on the internet.

Tonight is Super Bowl Pre Party Night. Lots of parties being held for the game knowing full well noone is going to watch the game. The game starts at 1AM local time. So they are pre parties, not game parties. Also, the Six Nations Cup started Saturday, so the Irish and British pubs have been full this weekend.