Those crazy Belgians

black music?
Originally uploaded by dutchlop.

So apparently 'black music' is a music genre in Belgium. I was pretty surprised to see this in a huge electronics store, equivalent to Best Buy or Circuit City. This would not fly in the USA! Who is the store manager or marketing director here? I just had to take a picture with my camera phone.

But I just don't get it...its it's own separate section, next to R&B/hip hop/rap, which I would think that's what they mean by 'black music'....

So, I guess, I have to say, where is the "white music" section at? Is that like Hanson and Backstreet Boys?

This was probably the most surprising behavior I witnessed in Brussels. Not to say there are other things I don't get....like no soap in the bathrooms at the youth hostel, or cafe waitresses who have no customer service OR communication skills what-so-ever... But seriously, 'black music'? There's a reason why there aren't that many black people in Belgium...I'm sure its things like this that contribute to that.

Apparently the one black person in Belgium found the right section.

Brussels- where it all began

This past weekend M and I went to Brussels....aka the capital of Europe...aka Brussel/Bruxelles.


This is the city we met in, back in 2002 on a class field trip. It was nice to go back there together again. Although this time we actually did get to do some site-seeing...the first time it was all just class related stuff at the EU HQ. We took a bus there (Eurolines), and it was only 16 euros round trip each (on the train its about 40 r/t). It takes about 3 hours to get there with traffic.

We had a beer on the terrace of the restuarant where we first met (the White Rose/Rose Blance/Witte Ros), which happens to be on the Grote Markt, the main town square with beautifully decorated buildings. We posed for pictures in front of Manneken Pis, the fountain of the little boy peeing...where 5 years ago we started talking. And we happened to come across the Irish pub we all went into as a group 5 years ago, where we continued to talk to each other. We went to the Atomium (the atom-looking thing pictured below!)...which was neat from the outside, but inside was actually nothing special. we went in the different balls, and you walked between them on steps or escalors. It was built for the1958 Worlds Fair. Its 335 ft high and each sphere is 60 ft in diameter!! Made for some neat pictures.



We also ate many delicious Belgian waffles (with whipped cream or chocolate), and I had 1 cherry beer and 3 raspberry beers over the course of 2 days.





We stayed in a youth hostel that was a great location, but otherwise was not so great. I am biased now, I'm sure...but this place had no character, the beds weren't comfortable, the breakfast was very basic, and the people weren't that friendly. They gave you two basic white sheets that reeked of bleach, and a woolly blanket, without a separate cover for the blanket...which means it had been used by others before me w/o being washed. That is rather unhygienic and kinda of gross. My throat hurt the whole time I was there, partly because I think of the very intense smell of bleach. The hostel also closed at 1am; and between the hours of 10am and 2pm, you are locked out. I should have considered this 1am close time when I booked it, as the reason we went to Brussels was to go to a Dave Matthews Band concert at the Forest National, on the south side of Brussels. We missed the last 2 songs of the encore because we were concerned about timing...listen to Dave for 2 more songs, or sleep on the street. The logical people we are, we decided to leave early to make sure we got on the tram back to the center in time before it closed. we got back with 25 minutes to spare.

The concert was awesome! Probably the best Dave concert I've been to, and this was the 4th one. I went to a concert in Milwaukee in 1998, Dallas 2000, Alpine Valley (WI) 2003, and now Brussels. The last time DMB was in Europe was 1998. This was indoors, so the lighting and sound was great! The bass from the drums is amazing. And since DMB isn't quite as popular in Europe as the states, this place, with seating for 7000 or so...only maybe 4000 showed up. We sat down for the opener (Tom Morello of Rage against the Machine and Audioslave); I thought everyone would stand up at their seats when Dave would come out, but they didn't. So after the 3rd song, we ditched the seats and went down to the floor so we could dance. I mean, how can these people not stand up and dance in the presence of Dave?? It was really fun. And we were about 100 ft from him!! That's the closest I've ever been to the one and only Dave! This was the playlist:



(Still Water) - Don’t Drink the Water - When The World Ends - Grey Street - Dream Girl - Crash Into Me - Jimi Thing - The Maker - Louisiana Bayou - Sister + - #41 * - Satellite * - Crush - Down By The River - Stay (Wasting Time) - Ants Marching - encores: - So Damn Lucky + - American Baby Intro - Two Step

Show Notes: * Tom Morello + Dave Solo

Ah, listening to DMB brings me back to my college days. ;-) Of the brighter, carefree years of being young and a student. Now its reality check time.

When we were on the Grote Markt on Monday night, taking pictures and just taking in the beautiful night, there was a group of about 6 girls playing music on a 'boom box', who were having a bachelorette party for their friend Romy. The even lit something on fire, and the popped open a bottle of champagne and put the first out with that (and drank some of it too!). There was also a couple standing in the center of the square for a very long time, embracing each other. I figured something was up. When one of the bachelorette girls walked by them, the girl said, can you take a picture of us, he just asked me to marry him. It was so sweet. What a special night at the Grand Place.

More pictures can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/caclabots/sets/72157600291289598/

A is for Antwerp

This weekend I visited the Belgian city of Antwerp. Over 500,000 people live in this city, the largest city in Flanders, the Dutch speaking northern half of Belgium. I've only stopped here at the train station twice, both times in 2002, and a lot has changed since then.

The first thing you see when you arrive in Antwerp is of course the train station. The station itself is in a beautiful building, built between 1895 and 1905. There is a huge dome at the entrance of the building, and the station itself is covered by a glass and metal vaulted ceiling. The building is made of stone and marble, and every single inch is decorated. Its quite amazing. In the last 5 years though, much has changed. It used to be a station that was not a thru - station, meaning you enter on your track and then it goes in the opposite direction to continue on to the next station. In the last five years, they have undergone a huge reformation, and there are 3 levels of tracks, four tracks are at the lowest level, some 60 feet below ground level, however the center of the station is all open and you can see the top level from the bottom. Its quite amazing and quite modern, even though the entrance/building itself is 100 years old. These lower tracks, and the tunnels that these tracks travel through were built to of course help the flow of train traffic through the city and speed up the travel time. Antwerp is on the main line from Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris. Now this station can be a thru-station, and the traffic continues on below the city. In fact, these tracks just opened for travel less than a month ago. I was really really impressed. This is the best train station I've ever been to.

Outside of the station is a large open square. Cafes line one side, and the Diamond museum and the entrance to the Zoo are on the other side. The main site in Antwerp is the Grote Markt, the town square, with beautiful houses/buildings from the 19th century in Flemish Renaissance style. Town squares and buildings are much more ornately decorated and exquisite than in the Netherlands. They are decorated with gold painted statues and statues of the Virgin Mary are often found on many buildings throughout the city. Town squares are much more 'simple' in the Netherlands. In Belgium, you get the feeling you are more in Paris, with metal works and more gold and more color.

The cathedral dominates the 'skyline' of Antwerp. And I was always pleasantly surprised that it seems after every few 'blocks', you enter into smaller 'squares/plazas' with cafes...it was very nice. There are many different churches to visit in Antwerp, although we only went inside two. Below is a picture of the inside of Onze Lieve Vrouw (Our Lady) Cathedral.

Fashion is also a part of Antwerp. You can see that people here, young and old, dress a bit more fashionable, and that they at least took time to put their outfits together. Not as much punk as the Netherlands (I contribute that punk look to H&M's inexpensive definition and selection of fashion). A store called the "Fashion Palace" is shown below.

We stayed in a B&B, which was very nice, but still seemed they were working on fixing up the place. I had the feeling that I was in some WWI era romance story, with a breakfast/dining room decorated by stained glass and a skylight over the table also in stained glass. The building was 3 stories high, we had to walk up steep narrow steps to the top. The floors were wooden boards (untreated), and the ceiling was also like a wooden attic. There was an Art Nouveau feeling to the place. Actually, I think most of Antwerp and Belgium is a center of Art Nouveau. Maybe that's why I like it so much! :) I really like that style in art and architecture. Below is the Breakfast Room of Casa Luca, where we stayed (www.casaluca.be). The floors in the eating area, kitchen, and entrance hall were all mosaic floors.

We walked around quite a bit, did a bit of shopping, and went to three museums on Sunday - Ruben's House, The Photography Museum, and the main big Art Museum. We were lucky enough to be visiting Antwerp during a wonderful weekend- all the museums were free entrance on Sunday! There was also the 2007 Antwerp Marathon on Sunday as well. We also rode the trams quite a bit. The public transport there is great, and very affordable. The weather was perfect too. It was a very enjoyable weekend.

Also not to be forgotten -- is the food! The highlight for me is the usual stereotypical foods- frites, waffles, and beer! But its all true- and its all good. I had of course some wonderful Kriek (cherry) beer, and seriously the best chocolate covered Belgian waffle! Yum!
I think we will make this 'girls weekend' an annual event. Funny how M is in Wisconsin with my parents this weekend, and I'm here with his. I did learn some interesting stories/tidbits from his youth from his mom and sister. That's always a fun bonus! :-) M returns back to Holland tomorrow morning, and I'm looking forward to it. I've kept quite busy this last week and I've actually not been lonely or upset. But I look forward to his return, of course! I know he has a lot of nice pictures of San Francisco to share, and some exciting stories. I am already aware of one interesting story, but it will have to wait til tomorrow to share with you all!