The Brussels Excursion

I decided to tag along with Alec and Asha to Brussels just a few days before going, and though I’d traveled by myself before, this was my first spontaneous Europe trip, and it was so cool to be doing exactly what the stereotypes for my age tell me I should be doing – traveling through Europe with a backpack and a hostel.  And Brussels turned out to be incredibly weird, in the best ways.  The architecture is nothing like Paris.  Everything is mix-matched, so you have a line of buildings on a block, each one a different color, height, and style.  And at least one of them probably has crazy cartoon graffiti.  The streets are circular zigzags that make maps extra confusing, but the public transportation turned out to be pretty easy to navigate.  Being able to get around in a new, French-speaking city helped me feel a bit more like a grown up. 

            One of my favorite parts of the weekend was the Magritte Museum.  Many of you probably saw the Magritte exhibit when it was at the Art Institute in Chicago last year.  But this was a whole museum.  A whole, permanent museum.  And Magritte pretty funny.  His paintings are clever, and shocking, and lovely.  This weekend taught me that I am a fan of surrealism.  Thanks, Magritte.

            Another wonderful part of the trip, aside from the waffles, was the Atomium.  It’s a 335 foot tall aluminum piece of architecture designed for the 1958 World’s Fair, modeled after an atom to symbolize the hope of the peaceful use of atomic energy, technology, and modernism.  Beside this structure is a large wooded park, where I very happily spent an hour or so reading Maya Angelou in the grass and the sunshine.  A pretty perfect way to spend a weekend, in my opinion.