The Rest of Paris, Brussels, and Bruges

I have added photos and text to this post.

So...where were we? Jenny and I were just about to go to Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.

Site of many of the romantic interactions between Cosette and Marius in Les Miserables, and certainly many other important events and gatherings, Luxembourg Gardens is a Parisisian version of Central Park. Jenny and I took a picnic of taboulle, olives, gouda cheese, crackers, and pineapple juice to a pavillion overlooking the main fountain in the park, where children were sending miniature sailboats across the water. On the pavillion opposite ours, a three-person acoustic band was demonstrating admirable vocal harmony as they played Beatles songs to the applause of some 200 or so onlookers. The remainder of the park was populated by sun-bathing college students, parent's with young children, old Frenchmen talking in groups of two or three, and tourists like ourselves. Three women talked in the corner of the park as their dogs - a French bulldog, a shitzu, and a relatively tranquil springer spaniel - yanked their leashes vigorously. The shitzu got in over its head multiple times with the bulldog, who used his front paws like a pugilist. The spaniel, noble as a stallion, with a cropped back and long flowing brown hair at his side, was content to stay out of the melee. Panting excitedly, he would occasionally put a paw towards the fray, only to withraw and look up to his master.

From the gardens, Jenny and I walked to the Pantheon, grabbing a cone of pistachio, coconut and mango ice cream on the way. From the Pantheon, we went to the Avenue d'Italie. Our hotel receptionist had told us that the best neighborhood in Paris that we hadn't been to was along the Avenue d'Italie, so we figured we'd try it out. We found a handful of sub-par shops, a dysfunctional public toilet, and eventually, a large French mall. Now (Mom), before you criticize our decision to enter a mall on one of our two days in Paris, consider our experience in a Bangkok movie theater where we discovered that Thais stand and sing the Thai national anthem before each movie - in this case Wall-E. Our personal experience has been that the most authentic experiences abroad often come in shopping malls.

One authentic experience in this particular Parisian shopping mall occurred when a masculine looking female janitor, apparently eager to save women some time, ushered the line of ladies waiting to use the women's bathroom (including Jenny) into the men's room. Several men were standing at urinals as Jenny filed in, giving me a "When in Rome..." look. After Jenny's amusing bathroom experience, we tried, unsuccesfully, to find her a pair of stylish, strappy leather shoes. My facility with women's fashion vocabulary is minimal; otherwise I'd give you a name for the style.

After satisfying our guilty window-shopping pleasure, we returned to more traditional tourist activities, finishing off our olives and cheese in the trees just south of the Eiffel Tower. We enjoyed watching other groups and pairs of tourists (with the occasional Parisian jogger) as they played games in Spanish, talked in German, or drank wine from the bottle and whispered to each other in English. One can only eat so many olives and so much cheese. Eventually, we decided to sample Paris' oriental food. This sampling of ethnic foods has actually become a theme of our trip. I imagine that it's the offspring of colonization and globalization, but Jenny and I agree that the best food in Europe (so far) is not European food. With the exception of breakfast foods, our best meals have been Kurdish, Greek and Vietnamese. The French just have to do better than raw beef and wine soaked liver. Anyway, on this night in Paris, we went to Rue Au Marie, a small alley lined with oriental noodle shops. We shared vegetarian stirfry and beef noodle soup, we left happy, and we paid one fifth what we had the night before for "authentic" French cuisine. Additionally, we were given the opportunity to discuss the French colonization of Vietnam and Cambodia.

Our last activity on our second trip to Paris was a funicular ride to the top of Montmarte to watch the sun set on the city. We enjoyed the 10pm light show on the Eiffel Tower and traveled back to our hotel, exhausted as usual.

Yesterday, we woke up early to pack our bags and make it to Gare du Nord (Paris' northern train station) in time for a nine o'clock departure. Upon arrival in Brussels, we rushed through the main sights of the town, sampling three of the Belgian staples: waffles, fries, and chocolate. The waffle was mediocre (I attribute this to the fact that, famished, we purchased the first waffle we laid eyes on), the fries, accompanying a greek gyro, were outstanding, and the chocolate was so good we (read "I") made a second trip back. We bought the chocolate at Neuhaus, the creator of the praline (a filled chocolate). We sampled hazelnut chocolate, a classic chocolate truffle, and the house specialty, a mocha paste and crunchy cake filled chocolate called "Tentation." Tentation was the best chocolate I've ever had. Imagine if they comined an entire mud pie into one bite. That is what Tentation was - probably from a caloric standpoint as well.
Neuhaus is in the ritzy Galleries St. Hubert, and we looked in at all of the luxury Belgian items for sale - lace, 58 dollar per kilogram truffles, and fine pottery. In addition to walking through the promenade, we walked through Grand Place, Brussels' main square, and on to the Manneken Pis. The Manneken Pis is a life-size bronze of a baby, holding his penis between thumb and forefinger, as he blissfully urinates a stream of recirculated water into a fountain at ground level. Manneken Pis is naked in his natural state, but is dressed up for worldwide holidays. Upcoming dressings are advertised on a paper at the base of the fountain. Apparently he will be dressed in a golden suit for the national day of Sweden, and will be dressed for the 20th anniversary of the liberation of Poland.

Brussels, as the sight of both the NATO and EU headquarters, is one of the world's great ethnically diverse cities. Along with the myriad tourists that come, diplomats from Europe converge on Belgium's capital to discuss politics, security, and economics. We enjoyed listening to the different languages spoken throughout the train station and streets, and enjoyed seeing and eating at the ethnic restaraunts which cater to the host of diplomats.

Prior to our trip, I made it halfway through the book "King Leopold's Ghost" which discusses the atrocities committed at the hands of Belgium's king in the late 1800s, as he personally acquired and exploited the Congo. During his reign, an estimated 10 million Congolese died from starvation and over exertion, as he built wealth around ivory and rubber in the region. In order to promote investment in his colonial venture, King Leopold brought items from the Congo to Belgium, to show how well his "civilising" efforts were working in the area. Among the items he showed to potential investors were animals, soil, and 300 congolese, whom he had perform daily activities in reconstructed villages. Eventually, Leopold's atrocious secret was discovered by Europeans who had better notions of humanity, and his power of the region was taken away. However, the sight of his exhibitions, including a massive building he had commissioned from the top French architect of the late 19th, early 20th century, remains. The sight has been turned into a museum and examines various aspects of Leopold's colonization of the Congo and the area's animals, climate, people, etc. We enjoyed seeing the world's largest sub-saharan butterfly collection, stuffed lions, hippos and elephants, and tribal drums, "proverb strings" and other items.

The musuem is situated in the most incredible gardens outside Versailles, and we walked around for over an hour after our museum visit. The museum and gardens are 10 miles outside Brussels, away from crowds, and serendipitously, just beyond the row of embassies, which can be seen on the way out.

From Brussels, Jenny and I caught the train to Bruges, a midevil trading town, and Belgium's most beautiful city. In the late 1800s, the mayor of Bruges realized that the city would benefit from promoting tourism and reconstructing many of its buildings in the midevil style. The strategy worked, and Bruges is not only beautiful today, but it is also filled with spendthrift tourists. I asked our canal boat tour guide about Bruges main industries outside of tourism, and he assured me that Bruges is (or is near?) Belgium's second largest port city. It was reassuring to know that we weren't just in a large Disneyland for tourists. I have included photos of our 2 days in Bruges below. Activities in Bruges included a canal boat tour, visiting ChocoStory, a museum on the history of chocolate, where they had a life sized chocolate effigy of President Obama (the only chocolate statue in the museum that was enclosed behind glass, speaking to the European love of Obama), walking through the picturesque streets, taking glamour shots of Jenny (it's easy), watching nuns at the Begijnhof go to prayer hou, and visiting the midevil town hall> Today, in Amsterdam, we went to the Van Gogh Museum among other activities. Enjoy...