Brussels Stories

We have bought a bar-b-que! It goes very nicely with our orange deck chairs (we could not be outdone by Kristenn)

First BBQ test was on Sunday and unnsuccessful, we had to resort to the stove. But I am practicing this week lighting the coals and keeping them warm in preparation for test 2. Here we have on the left Brooke and Stefan, and on the right.... from Cranbrook..... Vince and Jessica. (you know who is on the leftest!)


Update: Keith made the next round of cuts in Canadian Idol and is now in the top 18!

If Canada Day was not on a Saturday this year, I would be stuck in the office. But everything is ok, and we will have a visitor, Kathleen, from Paris (... from Toronto) for the weekend. I am sure we will find a gathering of Canadians somewhere that will have Tim's coffee and Molson Canadian (ya, people import Molson Canadian here.... go figure.)

Also,

Anyone watching Canadian Idol? Even if you aren't, you should know about a great singer who made it to the top 22 (and tonight we find out if he makes the next round). So, if you can, vote for Keith!

And,

Tour de France is going by Brussels is 1 week. Booked the day off. Planned the trip.
Look for us at the start line in Huy, Stage 4.

I have just completed one of the main tasks of my internship. This was to organize and run a training week for the offices of IUCN in Europe, all of which are based out of this Brussels office. Our offices came in from Belgrade, Moscow and Warsaw for LFA training and team building. Besides preparing taxis, hotels, restaurants, catering, and training materials, etc. We also prepared a walk in the Forets de Soignes (where I ride on weekends), a huge BBQ and evenings with large screen TVs to watch football.


Our forest walk guides from the Brussels Parks and Forest service.
(photo: Marta Urbaniuk)





It was nice to meet the people that I have been working with the last 4 months, and put a face and personality to the email addresses and reports I have been editing. The group was 19 people, 3 (including myself) are in my office.
(photo: Marta Urbaniuk)

The offices from Russia and Poland brought all their favorite types of vodkas. This of course lead to very happy Russians while the rest of us were trying not to slip under the table. You could tell the Russian vodka was really good, even while it was burning your throat. The real problems began when Polish vodka was brought out that tasted like candy. Don't worry, I maintained my cool and stayed professional, especially compared to others. But now that they are all gone I can rest for a while from such activities.

A nice picture from the forest.
(photo: Marta Urbaniuk)

A yearly display of lavender (also in Paris) and its products displayed in Grand Place.

Here is a lavender condensing machine for lotions and whatever.








They were also selling the region to tourists.

No big adventures for two weeks now. Just a tiny adventure last weekend (June 11). Rode to Leuven. Home to the largest brewery in the world, Stella Artois, and others. Also the home of Gerardus Mercator, the cartographer.

To maintain the cultural heritage of the Belgian Friterie there are regulations demanding where fries can be sold. An establishment can sell fries only if they are a friterie - a stand alone fry shop that also sells some other fried foods and drinks, or a full resturant. Pubs and cafes, that do not have food service are not allowed to sell fries. So it is common to go to a sqaure that will have a friterie and a pub or two around the square will allow you to bring in food from these friteries so that they do not have to provide full food service.

Everything is World Cup around here. They leave work early on days that teams represented by the office are playing. I even have to schedule meetings next week to work with the games. You can tell traffic is really quiet during games. Belgium, like Canada doesn't have a team in it.

This Saturday's (June 3) trip was to Liege. In a group of 4 with bikes, we boarded the train in the hopes of riding from Liege to Namur (red route - RAVeL 1) along the RAVeL canal system of the Meuse River. Due to a breakdown of plans, we changed our plans to ride from Liege, north to the Netherlands and back again. We made it as far as Vise, close to Maastricht; a total 40km round trip. The weather was perfect, the scenery stank. Turns out this is an industrial part of the country. And since we rode along the canal, as pre- and post- production materials were travelling through here. Since we arrived I have not stopped sneezing and blowing my nose. Though this improved once we arrived back in Brussels Saturday night, we are still sufferring.














Dinner.

A few more things and I will be done posting for a few days... I think.

First, there a festival in the neighbourhood this weekend. This included shutting down a number of streets and running a go-carting race. I didn't think they could drive fatser than the cabbies. but they could. I went for my camera, but then the slow carts were having their turn at the sreets, but I still took a quick video. Sorry that it is sideways. (5sec., 2Mb)

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Save the Brussels Airspace! or something like that...

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Bugs at a Environmetal festival in Parc Cenquanteniarre.








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Playing around with Gifs with some Geneva pics

	Maja's mom visited us for the weekend (May 28th) and we all made a day trip to Brugge on the Sunday (Brugge sights sites 1 & 2). Brugge is 90km from Brussels and a 55min. train ride. Now that we are into the tourist season, all rail trips within Belgium are 50% off. And since everything in Belgium is only a day trip away, this makes for a wide variety of possibilites. We have no excuse to have nothing to do on a weekend.
	Brugge is a UNESCO World Heritage site because of its architecture and art influences. It is super old, being a well developed ciy and trade center for hundreds of years before some bitter old dude (with enough power and influence) decided to cut them off of their source of power and money. So in the 15th century, before the European discovery of the Americas, Brugge went quiet from the market place and was largely forgotten about. Brugge made its way back onto the map in the mid 19th century. Due to this quiet time, its history and architecture from the 11th to 14th century are well preserved because of a lack of any desire to conquer and destroy in the mean-time.
	Climbing the tight stairwell up to the top of this tower was a great way to get to see the city. In the pictures below we could see other churches poking above the city's rooftops, a wind farm, and some festival in the square below.
Brugge was where the practice of going 'Ter Beurze' began, which lead to the term 'Bourse', which is the origin of the term for stock exchange in most European languages and the modern financial institutions were born. This is also where Dr. Evil is from. Also in Brugge in the 1400, the first english book was published.
	Sights: Sint-Salvator Cathedral Groeningemuseum Madonna and Child - the only Michealangelo to leave Italy while he was alive. Hans Memling Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk
	Wall mounted clock. It was a half hour fast.