Les Fetes Romanes

This weekend the quiet suburb of Woluwe hosted a Graffiti and Street Performance Art festival. The two days included multiple acts, craft stands and Belgian food. A huge cirucuit was erected for a rope dancing preformance where performers suspended themselves from cord simply by their own strength. Next was a troop of jugglers who entertained the crowd with velcro costumes and lots of energy. A local artist drew pictures of children attending the event on the windows of the Wolubilis and a robot drew pictures on the ground with chalk for the same children to fill with coloured sand. Finally, an urban performance group drew pictures of a city-scape in black tape while dancing. During the final performance I sat next to a deaf family. The performanc was very sporadic and off-the-wall with no context for some of the dance moves etc. It struck me that deaf people probably have a similar experience of life at times in that they miss out on the context because of their hearing impairment. It must sometimes be a very surreal and scary world because of this at times!

The festival was amazing. I continue to be amazed by all the things there are to do in this sleepy suburb! 

A bientot,
Niamh

Landing in Zurich

This week I spent time in the city of Zurich. Upon arrival I had a wonderful hour long conversation with my taxi driver in German about the proletarian, banking and family. This is quite suprsing considering that I do not actually speak German! While in Zurich I was treated to some traditional Swiss dishes and saw the famous cow statues of the city. A very nice place to spend the week!

A bientot,
Niamh

Car Free Sunday in Brussels

Apple Juice stalls

This Sunday in Brussels was the annual car free day. As per usual there were lots of activities organised in the city to celebrate with a particular healthy lifestyle theme. The streets were filled with shiny bikes, children drawing in chalk on the roads and general merriment. My favourite part of this years celebrations were the young white guys rapping about the environment and the Lithuanian folk dancing near Manneken-Pis. The festival also featured Bug Food Gastronomy which presented daring customers with either a platter of grasshoppers or chocolate lollipops covered in meal worms. I went with the latter option and thoroughly regretted it afterwards. There were alot of cheese stands at this festival and it sure does not help with quesiness to inhale the aroma of blue cheese after gulping down maggots on a sticks! And with that wonderful image I will leave you!

Kinetic Energy Blender

Insect Candy

Lithuanian Folk Dancing

Bicycle and Toon Theater

A bientot,
Niamh

War and Tram Museums

The 14th and 15th of September were National Heritage Weekend in Brussels. As part of this event museusm and selected buildings are open for free to the public. I decided to pay a trip to the War Museum near Parc Cinqunatare. As part of the festival a French audio tour was offered to passers-by. Little did I know that the tour required participants to dance, hop and shimmy around the center for half an hour!

Later I went for dinner with my friends to a Madagascaran restaurant and enoyed some yummy cocktails!

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On Sunday I went to the Tram Museum in Woluwe. Unfortunatly this museum was not included in the Heritage Festival and genuinely was one of the worst museums I have ever been in. There was a complete absence of interesting material other than the well mantained trams.

A bientot,

Niamh

3 Festivals, 1 Day

Today in Brussels the city is alive with a myriad of festivals which are acknowledged on a global scale! The Comic Book, Food and Beer festivals may seem like pretty seperate events until you see a guy standing in a Princess Peach costume, chugging a beer and eating a crepe! The comic book exhibition was my favourite part with Asterix, Tintin, Marvel and other old favourites! There was also a baloon parade with a bit of a Brussels theme!

A fantastic day in a city I perpetually seem to fall in and out of love with!!

A bientot,
Niamh

Scotland

As I mentioned in my last post I have a pretty busy few weeks! Last week I landed after my 9 hour flight home from the US, went to work for 10 hours and then repacked my bag for Scotland the next morning! I flew into Glasgow which simply must be the most beautiful landing strip on the world! I then spent the wek in an old country manner hotel where I fully expected Heathcliff to come storming across the Moors!

Scotland is very similar to Ireland. People are quite laid back and friendly- unless of course you're British:P

A bientot,
Niamh

Somewhere in the US

President Petrarch

I have been on hiatus for quite some time from this blog! Over the past few weeks I have dona a substantial amount of travelling while dealing with an equally tremendous workload! I spent a full week in the US travelling through Philadelphia, Washington DC, Delaware and New Jersey.

I was based in Philadelphia so I made sure to see all the most famous landmarks and museums including the Liberty Bell, The Franklin Institute, The Barnes and, of course, the infamous art museum steps featured in the movie Rocky! The Barnes, a gallery filled with a personal collection of Early French Impressionist, was a particular highlight of the city for me.

On Saturday, I took the train to Washington DC to see the Nation's Capital. I was lucky enough to be in the city for the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, for which I felt very honoured. Amazingly all of the museums are free. My favourite Smithsonian Museums were the Air and Space, Natural History, American History and the  Garden Sculpture museums. Unfortunatly the Art and Industry museum was shut for roof repairs. I also got a few picturesof my favourite little penguin outside the White House. My advise for seeing the city is to stick to the main street wih museums. The White House, Lincoln Memorial and Washington Memorial can all be reached with ease from this avenue.

New Jersey Jeep

Such a young Nation- staues with guns rather than rapiers!

The actual Spudnik at the Air and Space Museum

War Propaganda

Rocky Steps!

The US was fantastic overall.. It was lovely to speak to people who were so relaxed and friendly. In all my time in Brussels I have never been approached by a random stranger to talk. Ths happened at least 5 times in the US. What a place.. I can picture myself living there very easily!!

A bientot,
Niamh