Here are a few tidbits from my recent research trip to Brussels, Belgium:
High-Maintenance Belgian Beer Drinkers - Belgians are exacting consumers when it comes to beer. They appreciate a pub that's not owned by a single brewery, freeing them up to serve a good selection of their country’s literally hundreds of microbrews. Many Belgian pubs brag about the number of beers they serve. To add complexity to the mix, most special local beers are served in a glass unique to that beer. Connoisseurs insist that each beer’s character comes out best in the proper glass. If there’s a run on a particular beer and the pub runs out of that beer’s glasses, they ask the drinker whether they’d accept a close match for a glass, or if they’d prefer to change their beer order. Many will switch beers rather than drink one from the wrong glass.
The Glassy EU Headquarters in Brussels - The European Union headquarters — by bringing in tens of thousands of diplomats, bureaucrats, lobbyists, and so on — is literally changing the demographic make-up of Brussels. As the EU tries to accommodate its 23 official languages (and they do, in some ways), the practical language of governance has become English. The EU has had such an impact on Brussels that some say in a generation, English will become the city’s first language. The EU headquarters complex has long welcomed visitors with a pretty simple info desk and shop. But now it’s opened up a big and high-tech “Parlamentarium,” giving those who visit something much more substantive to experience and enjoy. That, coupled with the hourly free tour of the parliament building itself, makes for a much better visit now than in past years.
Feelin’ Groovy but Misguided Compassion? Early in the morning, the groovy sidewalks designed for blind people with white canes add an extra dimension to station designs all over Europe. These are expensive and well-intentioned, but I've never actually seen one used for its intended purpose. In fact, in many places, I've seen these grooves blocked by kiosks, flowerboxes, and bike racks. And yet, it seems that no one at the city council has the nerve to say no to a nice (but apparently impractical) idea for blind people.
Comments
5 Replies to “Brussels Observations”
The inability to say no to nice sounding but impractical ideas is a driving force in bankrupting European societies.
It’s not only for blind people, but also for people with bad sight.
I have seen many people making use of it.
To put kiosks, flowerboxes, and bike racks over them, however, is unacceptable.
Biking thru western Flanders a few years ago on our way to Brussels, my wife and I ordered various beers during dinner, trying to get a sample of several from throughout Belgium. Once, two guys at the bar adjacent to our table, “having a night away from their wives,” overheard me mentioning that I was deciding which variety of Chimay (Red or Blue) I was going to order next. They kindly suggested that, while Chimay is one of the few remaining monastery-brewed beers, those at Chimay were “corporate monks,” who’d sold out and were no longer producing the proper, earnest beer still brewed by their brethren at the other monasteries. I tried to imagine a CEO monk in a suit and tie, saying vespers in a corporate boardroom. They had stories of pilgrimages to small breweries to pick up limited quantities of special brews, available only at certain times of the year. They treated us to a round of their all-time favorite, Orval, along with the story of the fish and ring on the bottle (and on the corresponding Correct Glass). It seems a princess lost her wedding ring in a lake, and it was recovered by a savior fish. One of the guys was heading to the USA on a business trip the next month. He’d already reserved his rental car, and was looking forward to getting to drive a Saturn, which was as novel to him as were some of the beers in the bar that night to us.
Rick,
Thanks for writing about one of Europe’s great cities.
Our family hosted an exchange student for a year. He lives in nearby Leuven, a great university town. He’s been to the USA about 14 times and my family has been to visit him and his family about six times.
Belgium has so much to see that I wish more travelers would add it to their trips.
Thanks,
Der Doppelganger
WEDU Tampa
If these young prospects are too important to deal hastily in a trade, then how can the Yankees so willingly fool around with their development. There are a lot of references to scorpions in different religious scriptures and myths, one such reference being in the bible that tells us of the Israelites who trample scorpions as a representation of victory over evil. The Twins “themselves” symbolize a dual personality, of sorts.
The inability to say no to nice sounding but impractical ideas is a driving force in bankrupting European societies.
It’s not only for blind people, but also for people with bad sight.
I have seen many people making use of it.
To put kiosks, flowerboxes, and bike racks over them, however, is unacceptable.
Biking thru western Flanders a few years ago on our way to Brussels, my wife and I ordered various beers during dinner, trying to get a sample of several from throughout Belgium. Once, two guys at the bar adjacent to our table, “having a night away from their wives,” overheard me mentioning that I was deciding which variety of Chimay (Red or Blue) I was going to order next. They kindly suggested that, while Chimay is one of the few remaining monastery-brewed beers, those at Chimay were “corporate monks,” who’d sold out and were no longer producing the proper, earnest beer still brewed by their brethren at the other monasteries. I tried to imagine a CEO monk in a suit and tie, saying vespers in a corporate boardroom. They had stories of pilgrimages to small breweries to pick up limited quantities of special brews, available only at certain times of the year. They treated us to a round of their all-time favorite, Orval, along with the story of the fish and ring on the bottle (and on the corresponding Correct Glass). It seems a princess lost her wedding ring in a lake, and it was recovered by a savior fish. One of the guys was heading to the USA on a business trip the next month. He’d already reserved his rental car, and was looking forward to getting to drive a Saturn, which was as novel to him as were some of the beers in the bar that night to us.
Rick,
Thanks for writing about one of Europe’s great cities.
Our family hosted an exchange student for a year. He lives in nearby Leuven, a great university town. He’s been to the USA about 14 times and my family has been to visit him and his family about six times.
Belgium has so much to see that I wish more travelers would add it to their trips.
Thanks,
Der Doppelganger
WEDU Tampa
If these young prospects are too important to deal hastily in a trade, then how can the Yankees so willingly fool around with their development. There are a lot of references to scorpions in different religious scriptures and myths, one such reference being in the bible that tells us of the Israelites who trample scorpions as a representation of victory over evil. The Twins “themselves” symbolize a dual personality, of sorts.