(no subject)
We went to Brussels for the wedding of a French woman and and a American man, which included all the proceeds, including the reception and speeches being translated into both languages, like some sort of nupital UN.
The day after we had a bit of a wander around Brussels itself. Vero is a bit of a comics fan, so our first stop was a comics shop, or a bande dessinée as they call them. I picked up an issue of The Cities of the Fantastic, which is a series set in an alternate 1930s, in a genre I can only describe as architecture porn.
After this small bit of shopping, we set out into the city. The comic was premonitious, as the main thing I noticed about the city was its amazing architecture.
I like building watching as much as any tourist, but after marvelling at a few piles of brick and glass, I frankly, get a bit tired of it. But the architecture is so novel and beautiful, I was happy to wander the whole day and just look.
The city is chock full of Art Deco style architecture. Lots of buildings have brass facades, with tubes, grills, stylised lilies and vines, spears, and even animals and gargoyles, often with a patina of green. Windows were stained glass, filled with bold diagonal geometric designs and curved sketches of both plants and animals. Balconies were held up by rivetted iron braces, bent and twisted into curved tongues and leaves.
And we also saw the Mannequin Pis, a statue of a boy pissing into a fountain, done in the classical style.
The day after we had a bit of a wander around Brussels itself. Vero is a bit of a comics fan, so our first stop was a comics shop, or a bande dessinée as they call them. I picked up an issue of The Cities of the Fantastic, which is a series set in an alternate 1930s, in a genre I can only describe as architecture porn.
After this small bit of shopping, we set out into the city. The comic was premonitious, as the main thing I noticed about the city was its amazing architecture.
I like building watching as much as any tourist, but after marvelling at a few piles of brick and glass, I frankly, get a bit tired of it. But the architecture is so novel and beautiful, I was happy to wander the whole day and just look.
The city is chock full of Art Deco style architecture. Lots of buildings have brass facades, with tubes, grills, stylised lilies and vines, spears, and even animals and gargoyles, often with a patina of green. Windows were stained glass, filled with bold diagonal geometric designs and curved sketches of both plants and animals. Balconies were held up by rivetted iron braces, bent and twisted into curved tongues and leaves.
And we also saw the Mannequin Pis, a statue of a boy pissing into a fountain, done in the classical style.