Merrans travels

French style

Tomorrow it is the first day of December, which means I have been traveling for 95 days, and have 150 still to go. Time really does fly when you are having fun 🙂 I am so enjoying the freedom of wandering through the northern hemisphere, but equally if I had to return home tomorrow it would be ok. Which is a nice place to be; happy in myself and happy wherever I am. If only I could airlift my dog to join me! I plan to spend most of December in France, before heading to Switzerland for Christmas in the snow. After that my plans are still up in the air 🙂 Being in France, I felt the need to tart myself up a bit. The French are SO stylish; even the most wrinkled, hunched over older women have perfect lipstick, hair and accessories. The men and super stylish and tres chic, and the children wear perfectly matched outfits, with their scarves tied just so, and hats at a jaunty angle. So today I purchased lipstick (!!!) and delicate earrings (!!!), which will make my lovely friend Walter in NZ very happy. When he styles my hair at home, I always say don’t make it too pretty because I have things to do, and he just rolls his eyes at me and does what he wants (and it always looks amazing, because he is a guru). I wish he could be airlifted here too, he would be in heaven 🙂 🙂

Bonjour Lille

Half an hour from Brussels by fast train, is Lille in northern France. I have come here as a stop over on my way to Paris to have a look around, and because the Christmas markets here are famous. There are a lot of people here with the same idea! And also a lot of police – understandable given the security threat in France, and sadly I hear there has been another incident in London today. Still, you cannot live in fear of what might be, you can only live 100% in the now. I have a couple of days here before I catch a train to Paris on Sunday, and I’m looking forward to exploring. My French is even improving 🙂 un petit peu.

Giant ferris wheel, not going on it, I’m scared of heights!

Night at the museum

For my last night in Brussels, I went with a friend to the museum nocturne, which is a series of special events and exhibitions at the museums around the city. It was amazing to visit the museums, and we even participated in a live sculpture performance (which was a bit like being tickled with your eyes shut). BUT the absolute highlight was a screening of several silent films from the early 1900’s, accompanied by a live pianist who improvised the music for each film as you watched them. Some of the films were made using stop-press animation, and some were acted. We saw more than a dozen, and it was such a unique experience. Story-telling without the need for words is so powerful, and made even more emotive and FUNNY with the music. Apparently Charlie Chaplin would choreograph music to accompany each of his pieces, so that the pianist would capture the emotions in the way he intended, and not using their own interpretation. I absolutely loved it.

Meeting new friends is the best part of traveling

Taking the Pis

Brussels is famous for a very small statue of a 2 year old boy having a wee – and it’s called the Mannekin Pis. Quite an odd national figure really. There are many legends behind the statue (whose name is Julian). As a small boy he heard invading soldiers talk of burning or bombing the city, so he stood on the city walls and peed on the fire until it went out, thereby saving everyone. The real story is more modest. Brussels was home to many labourers, including tanners who worked with ammonia (urine) to soften skins to create leather. Along with the peeing boy, therefore, there is also a young girl, and a small dog, all captured in the act. The Mannekin Pis statue is right in the middle of Brussels, and you will find it easily as it is always surrounded by people taking photos (although it is a replica, and the real one is in the museum). Sometimes it is dressed in costume, as people from around the world create costumes for it. It is even the FULL TIME JOB of someone to dress it. And they have an assistant! hashtag betterworkstories

The FOOD

Take your stretchy clothes to Belgium because everything you eat is wonderful. The fries (from the best places) are double fried in beef fat, the chocolate is jaw-droppingly good, the waffles are chewy yumminess (don’t get them with ice cream, look for a stand that sells them plain, wrapped in paper, maybe with a dusting of sugar), chocolate mousse is served by the scoop like ice cream!, ask the servers for their recommendation on sauces, eat everything. It’s all good 🙂

A comic affair

I spent a week in Brussels, and had an unexpectedly awesome time. Unexpected, because I hadn’t planned to be there for a week, and because I found a really wonderful fun and beautiful side of the city that the guide books should profile more. And, of course, I met some wonderful people. I would be quite happy to stay there for longer, and think it would be an easy city to live in. My French would need to improve, but wherever you are there’s always something to get better at 🙂 Yes, Brussels has an amazing Grand Place, and museums, and great beer/chocolate/fries, and other cool things that you could also find maybe in other cities. For design nuts though, Brussels is a treasure chest of art nouveau architecture, and their famous (and favourite) son Victor Horta has so many gorgeous pieces around the city that you must go and see. The other amazing design feature of the city is the comic – the very earliest form of story telling before we could read or write, stories were expressed in drawing. And Belgium is home to some wonderful comic artists and characters. Some were very familiar to me, others were new. And I loved that the architecture and comic world often blended. Many of the streets in the central city have a street name, and a comic name (look up as you walk around). Murals on the city walls connect to a deeper meaning about the artist, the time of drawing, or the building they are placed on. Herge, the artist who created Tin Tin, is from Brussels. Spirou, the character (and magazine) is a much loved character from many many years ago who brought people through the occupation by Germany into happier days. Lucky Luke. Marsupelami. The Smurfs! (Schtroumpf in Flemmish). And many many more. These are cartoon characters for sure, but the story telling behind them is deeper and more interesting, often political or uplifting (and celebrated) than the TV shows I remember. The best thing about comics too, there is no language barrier. The best way to get your introduction to the world of comics in Brussels is by visiting the Comic Strip museum, or MOOF. Or if you want to have the TRULY BEST experience, you should go on the comic strip photo walk with Silva (who is from Finland 🙂 ). You can book this experience through Air BnB. It’s wonderful, she is a talented photographer and designer, and she has made Brussels her home with her partner and their young son. I learned so much from her about the city as we spent a few hours together, finding the comic art around the city , visiting places that have significance in the comic world, and talking. I left the tour with a wonderful new friend, so please give Silva my very best regards if you go.

Gorgeous art nouveau examples are everywhere

Night owl

On my last night in Amsterdam I went on an awesome night photography tour with David (from Perth, small world again), who is living in Amsterdam with his partner on a house boat (awesome!), and working as a photographer. I had bought a new fancier camera for my travels before I left home, but hadn’t used it much before I left, and I’ve been learning how it works on my travels. To the amusement of my tour-buddies in Iceland, on my first day all of the photos I took were 1 second videos ha ha 🙂 and I am immensely grateful to Sam for putting me right and showing me the basics. We laughed til we cried when she found all the tiny movies I had made, and not the killer photos I thought I was taking. David offers photo walk tours at night for people who want to master long exposure photography, and as a local, he knows the best spots to set up, and he is an awesome tutor. Highly recommend you look him up on Air BnB if you go to Amsterdam and book his tour, I really enjoyed it. And despite me being an enthusiastic novice, he divided his attention equally between the three people who had booked the experience and made sure we all knew what we were doing. He’ll even bring you a camera and tripod if you don’t have one. We walked all over the city for maybe 3 hours, stopping at his favourite places, setting up the camera and adjusting for light and shutter speed, and had a play. It was so cool! And I learned heaps about my own camera, and I feel more confident to have a play on my own now. I even bought myself a tripod 🙂 which is proving tricky to fit into my luggage, but I don’t care because it’s cool and I will have lots of fun with it over the next few months. Nice to talk to someone from my part of the world too, and to compare travel stories. My first amateur efforts are below. I found I had written this but not published it when I logged on tonight, hence the late sharing 🙂

Slip and slide

It always surprises me that in countries where it rains a lot, so many of the roads/footpaths/walkways are made of marble, which when wet is probably one of the slipperiest surfaces you could find. In Brussels (like many parts of Europe) it rains 200 days out of the year, which is a lot. Not all day, but I have only seen dry roads on one day in the week I have spent here, and I have seen many people slipping and sliding in shoes that are not fit for the conditions. It is good that my boots have good grip! The men in business suits with their slippery-soled shoes are the funniest, as they stride around looking important, only for their feet to slip a bit, then they grab their heads (??) and swear a little bit in French, looking quickly around to see if anyone saw them, before adjusting their jackets and moving on. One man slipped next to me and I held out my arm to catch him, and asked him why he didn’t wear more practical shoes. He said “they are handsome” and looked at me as if that explained everything.

The other tricky thing in this city is the technique used by people begging for money, which is new to me. Here, the person sits on the ground (or on a suitcase if it is raining), with a small clear plastic cup (usually the bottom of a plastic drink bottle, making it super-lightweight). The cup has a few coins in it, and it sits about about half a metre in front of them. Perfectly positioned for people innocently walking past to ‘accidentally’ kick it , which of course sends the coins flying, at which there are cries of dismay “what have you done, my money!” and crocodile tears and desperate pleas to compensate for the hurt and humiliation they have suffered not just from begging, but having their hard-earned coins kicked away. Football players around the world should come here to learn how to put on a display. I had observed this on my first day, and was extra careful where I put my feet. Until the day I wasn’t careful enough, and the toe of my boot connected with the plastic cup and the coins went flying. Oh there was cursing (from us both) and crying (from them), and pleading eyes, so I bent down to pick up the coins, only to discover they are not real! So I handed the two I had collected back to the person, told them they knew very well it would be kicked, and they would get nothing more from me. It is harder to ignore the pleading eyes of people who bring their children or their dogs (!!) out into the cold and wet to ask for money. When I have offered food or clothes instead of money it is always spurned. In Helsinki, Prague and Copenhagen I have come across groups of people being briefed by their leader before they set off into the city to beg for cash, and I doubt the people themselves are allowed to keep much of it.

A walk in the woods

Today I went for a guided walk in the Sonian forest, which is a stunning grove of 200+ year old beech and oak trees covering 5000 hectares on the fringe of Brussels. So pretty in autumn, with the leaves blushing in orange, yellow and deep rust colours, and the ground carpeted in leaves. When I say ‘walk’ though, I really mean ‘sprint’. Because what I failed to comprehend on the tour I had booked, was that the walk would be Nordic in style. Which means walking with poles, at maximum speed, using 90% of the muscles in your body, and burning lots of calories. To be fair, it did say that in the description, I just glossed over it. Not quite the gentle ramble I had envisioned, more like Kath & Kel Knight striding around their neighborhood 🙂 🙂 but I cannot resist a challenge. So I took those poles and virtually sprinted behind my guide for the entire 8.5km route we were on. My friend Rowena has little legs, and when we have gone walking back in NZ she has said to me ‘man you walk fast’. Well today, Row, I got my revenge Nordic style. My guide Michel (who is lovely) is very tall, and his hips probably would be level with my chest. So when he set off at the desired brisk pace, every step for him was at least two for me. The only way to slow everything down was to ask a question 🙂 or to stop for a photo 🙂 and of course once I figured that out, I did both . “So, now you are a Nordic walker!” he said proudly, when we finished. I smiled and nodded (while my legs groaned). The forest is absolutely stunning, and well worth a visit if you are in Brussels. I chose a guided tour because I am directionally challenged and didn’t fancy getting myself lost, and because the last 45 mins or so we walked in the dark, with headlamps (this was my absolute favourite part, and the only words in the tour description I had paid any attention to).

Brussells

Today I joined a beer and chocolate tour, operated by The Brussels Journey (highly recommend it if you come here). Over four and a half hours we visited 5 different chocolate stores where the chocolate is hand-made, or hand-roasted, and sampled a load of chocolate. Amazing. My favourite was the 72% dark chocolate rum and raisin praline from Saint Catherine atelier in Sablon, which tastes like Christmas. Chocolate was used in the old days to coat medicine so it was easier to swallow, and I think NZ could have benefited from this approach! Then we also visited maybe 5 different pubs to sample the local beer; I say maybe 5 because after sampling more than a dozen different beers I can’t remember! I’m not a beer drinker normally, but the beer here is fabulous. So many to choose from, so many different tastes and levels of alcohol – some up to 12%! I met lots of fellow travellers and had a great evening 🙂 Limited photos taken, probably corresponding with the intake of chocolate and beer which took my full attention. Highly recommend you come and try it for yourself. Hic 🙂 🙂