MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5
“We found the white people” we said as we walked between gorgeous, large stone homes and fancy, upscale shops on the road leading from Monts Des Arts to the African Matonge District. Like many cities, a subtle yet obvious segregation was apparent in Brussels, not necessarily based on ethnicity but on income. Our Airbnb neighborhood, near the bus station and the outskirts of Brussels, consisted of immigrants, mostly from Muslim countries, and other people of color as well as some mostly older, poor whites.
AFRICAN MATONGE DISTRICT
The African Matonge neighborhood had a mixture of people. Some shops catered to Africans living in the neighborhood and some were bougie stores for wealthy clientele. One small street, with three African restaurants and brightly-colored African murals, draws photo-snapping tourists to the area during tourist season when it crawls with visitors. No one else was on the tiny street when we visited. Restauranteers left their restaurants trying to lure us inside. Though over-priced, we decided to eat in one restaurant. We were the only patrons. The food was awful; the table, sticky from lack of cleaning. Flies lazily buzzed around the dimly lit room. The glass in the front door was broken, the hole covered with flimsy paper flyers and packing tape.
Curious about whether Belgium had colonized parts of Africa, we learned that it had colonies in Congo and Rwanda.
A TOUR OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
It was a long walk to the European Commission, our next destination, for a 3pm tour. The last tour of the day, we literally ran through the complex of large, modern (the last was completed in 2000) offices buildings to make it in time.
After passing through a security machine and having our passports scanned, we met our Slovenian guide, and a humorous and informative tour began. Inside the building employees and diplomatic-types moved with ease, much more relaxed than at the United Nations. We sat in the balcony of the massive, empty parliament room overlooking the many microphoned seats placed in a semi-circle.
Our guide explained how the European Union was formed, its function, the laborious decision-making process (meetings need to be set up two years in advance), the voting and the seating arrangement. Representatives from the 28 participating European countries (this was before Brexit when the UK was still part of the EU) sit in the main room from left politically to right politically. The European Parliament is comprised of members from different parties within a country and the number of representatives is proportionate to the country’s population. It’s not one state, one vote. At the time, there were 751 seats.
The corridors and atriums of this sleek, simple building displayed contemporary art that could hang in any fine European museum. We skipped out at the end of the tour to take a look . Each country has purchased one or more paintings, mostly very large, or sometimes a sculpture, from a prominent artist within their country. The art reveals in color, design and choice of subject the uniqueness the European countries, the dark side of Germany beside the design qualities of Sweden and the abstract expressionism of Poland. A metal sculpture rising several floors is featured in the open lobby and a most striking painting, over six-feet in height, of a simple and powerfully-rendered face.
A PARC AND ONE WAFFLE
The Parc de Cinquantenaire and Triumphal Arc (19th C), first described to us by the tourist information person as the site of the military museum, was our next stop. Given the description we weren’t that excited but it was a pleasant surprise, and seemed to symbolizes how people in Brussels, and maybe all of Belgium, see themselves and their country. It’s a generalization and I hesitate because the country, with a population of 11.5 million, and the city, with a population of 1.5 million, are both extremely diverse but our experience was of people who are proud of themselves, their role in WWI, and in the European Union. A grandiose arcade rises at the top of a large, urban, landscaped park located in the easternmost part of the European quarter. The Triumphal Arc contains the Military Museum, and Art and History Museum (which was closed when we got there) and an Auto Museum. Also located in the Parc, in the northwest corner, is the Great Mosque of Brussels.
We loved the park, which we had almost completely to ourselves. And here…finally, I had a Belgium waffle, purchased from a cart parked in a parking area near the arcade. What the man handed me, fresh from the waffle iron, couldn’t have been anticipated. It is all true what they say about these waffles, caramel flavoured, sugar bits buried inside, perfect!
The main street that runs into the park is wide, multi-laned and lined with large, contemporary, and architecturally-intriguing buildings, most associated with the European Commission. The pulse and vitality of the city is palpable, but not too intense.
ANOTHER WAFFLE AND CHOCOLATE
As the daylight faded, we walked through the Parc de Bruxelles, and returning to the Grande Parc, and the old town where we found a vegan waffle for Chloe. After her waffle, we needed some chocolate, of course, and went to the elegant covered market where we purchased one chocolate for each of us, costing €13, and totally worth it.
Then tram back the Airbnb to pack.
