thank you for sharing. Your art trip must have been awesome!

The Bruges Madonna is still in the church it was meant for and is the only sculpture by Michelangelo that is outside Italy. The Germans hauled it away (so did Napoleon!) but it doesn't look too beat up given its history. The city commissioned Michelangelo to do it.


The Ghent Altarpiece is preserved in a special room where only a certain number of people are allowed at a time and only for 15 minutes. Of course, no touching. It is magnificent and much larger than I thought it would be.

If you ride the train on a north-south-direction, at one point the language of the signs along the track and the language coming from the speakers will abruptly change.

I had a Dutch gentleman remonstrate me for saying that. Oh well...

They all speak English. I'm one of those stupid Americans who doesn't now the language of the country I'm living in....sigh

wearing my shabbiest, baggiest clothes.

Being followed down the street and yelled at for not speaking to the arab guys stalking me. Being groped in public, being touched by strange men. Once at a stall in the Grand Market on a Sunday, the stall holder started yelling about the evils of Christianity. I'm not Christian, I'm just a white chick with blonde hair, but he felt that was enough of an identifier. I left real fast.

Never going out after dark over worries of being accosted, mugged, robbed, aggressed, stalked, followed and harrassed.

Filthy parks, filthy streets, filthy train station, filthy subway, filthy buses; useless policemen. Pickpocket-infestations everywhere, always under the noses of the ever-present police who stand around smoking and chatting with their colleagues and doing nothing.

The city is filled with arabs, mostly of north african origin. They spit constantly, I was always dodging gobs of snot and spit; they urinate in doorways, poo in between parked cars.

I do indeed have sympathy for the victims of the latest wave of terrorism, absolutely and with no snark. But my gawd, how the F could the 'authorities' have not seen this coming?

Ok, the one lovely thing about Brussels is the daily antiques market. The stall holders were mostly arabic which means they knew absolutely nothing about what they were selling. Which means a major bonanza for a trader like me, buying up for pennies and selling on for massive profits.

I like Antwerp and Bruges is lovely, if not a dead little city with no trade except for tourism. Shame, it's as it's really beautiful.

or our being in Grand Place was not close to the rundown sections of town. Nor the museum area. That was lovely, IIRC.

Bruges got a bit too popular as touristy place. I kinda liked the little carriage rides around the town, tho.

I must have been at a different train station than you experienced. Ours was very nice and clean. Their efficient train system got us around just fine and we took day trips, got a great deal on the hotel+airfare.

Do you know what the waffle eating on the street is all about? I've been all over Europe and never have seen it elsewhere...

urban areas, always stay in small hotels, stroll every day, dine wherever they come across, and none of their happy stories were about having to dodge spit.

It seems some do agree with Trump's claim that Brussels is now a "hellhole," a "disaster city," "they want Sharia law," etc. Understandably, the Belgians are ticked off, though.

something t o do with the EU? why did he bring it up in t he first place?

enough to keep them from migrating.

assisting this along - legally. At one point there was a funny story about how Bill Clinton could acquire French citizenship and run for office there because he born in a former French colony.

the main stretch there, and surrounding the train station are some really nasty areas. Anderlecht in particular is seriously derelict and I have no doubt that we'll be hearing news from there any day now, with some other miscreants being rousted out. There's only the one train station and trust me, it's filthy, filled with pickpockets and ne'er do wells.

The waffle eating is only in the touristy parts of BXL because the rest of the food in BXL is ridiculously high priced and largely unedible unless you're a fan of falafel or pizza, and then, you're taking your life into your hands with the lack of health codes and genuine chefs. Waffles are pretty much the only street food. They're usually pre-fabricated frozen things tossed on a grill to heat them up and then covered in whipped cream to disguise their nastiness. Huge profit margins for almost no effort. It costs them about .25c to make them and they sell them for at least 2 bucks each.

On the other hand if you actually ever come across an artisinal gauffre maker, where they use hand made, sugar crusted yeast dough, then you're actually in for an amazing treat. Only two places in BXL that I found did that were the Haggan Daz place in the train station, and this italian guy in his yellow truck in the middle of the Grand Central Market on Sunday.

Of course, the point of the trip I curated was the fabulous art. Taking trains to Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp was the way to go since Brussels was our base. The rail system allowed us to do that and for that I am always grateful. I can't say that experience was anything short of exceptional.

I actually refused to eat the waffles, but we sat down and didn't walk around. My travel buddy did and all was fine (and she has an iffy stomach often when we travel).

I did see some of the Art Nouveau around the city but I just couldn't visit all the sites. I guess you'll tell me I was in the better part of the city there but what do I know (or care, really)?

The point of travel anywhere is what you want out of a trip, whether it's history, art, or just relaxation. I'm pretty relentless on art trips and become a bit obsessive. I go and go. Hey, it's how I roll...

That's possibly the most rascist thing I've ever read on DU.

All I can say is that not one single Belgian/Franco/Dutch male ever harrassed, groped, stalked or aggressed me while in Brussels. Yet, every single day, on every single walk, trip to the shops, train ride, commute, shopping or any other excursion on foot, I was subjected to relentless harrassement.

When I was a young hot thing, sure, it was 'the normal thing'. Never acceptable, but it was always there, and pretty much in any part of the world (not China though). From the US, to the UK, London, Paris, throughout Italy, Mexico, and believe me, in every single city, state and town I've ever visited in the USA.. Just normal harrassment.

But fer cryin out loud, I'm over 50, not unpleasant looking, but in BXL I made an effort to be as ugly as I possibly could when I had to go out. And it was still relentless. Unless you've been there and experienced it, you have no way of understanding. This isn't racism. It's describing the actions of a particular segment of society that apparently has little understanding of reasonable behavior in a civilized society.

If you want to call it racist, then go ahead. I think of it as more of a sexist thing.

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