Discovering Brussels Canal

Just in my last post I mentioned the "missing water element" in Brussels, but of course, there is the canal. However, it is quite well hidden, and it was only a month ago, when I went to see the Brussels Affordable Art Fair at Tour & Taxis exhibition complex, I finally saw it. The neighborhood seems to have developed in recent years and some nice apartment buildings have been built along the canal. Unfortunately, the full potential of the neighborhood is all but used.

The canal is only a few hundred meters away from the cool neighborhoods of Dansaert and Sainte-Catherine, but it is also a clear social border that divides different communes. Just after the canal, you find the infamous commune of Molenbeek, which is known for high rates of poverty, social problems, and concentration of immigrants. You don't need to live long in Brussels to hear about Molenbeek and how it should be avoided. It is among the poorest communes in whole Belgium, but only a walking distance from the fancy shops of Avenue Louise, which only highlights the drastic inequalities in the Brussels region.

I must admit that only now, looking more closely at the map, I realize that this is where Molenbeek starts. I only walked along the canal so I didn't venture more inside to the neighborhood. By the canal, it was rather nice.

My destination was the Affordable Art Fair, an annual art fair where you can buy contemporary art with a more modest budget (I think the upper limit is 6 000 Euros, but most pieces were around 1000 Euros). I can definitely recommend this event even for those not planning to do any art purchases. Below some nice sculptures that caught my attention. Next February again!

Windy meditation escape

I got tired of city-living and decided to do a little countryside escape to the region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais in France. 

I took the 1-hour Eurostar train to Calais on a Friday evening and spend the night in Calais before heading the next morning to Wissant, a small village by the sea. 

For frugal travelers, it should be mentioned that there's no buses from the Eurostar train station to the city centre of Calais in the evenings, so you need to take a taxi for the 10km trip which means 30 Euros on top of your train ticket. Luckily, this expense is a bit compensated by the fact that the bus from Calais to Wissant is only a ridiculous 1 Euro.

The trekking map can be found here with instructions (but it's not very good, so I also used my mobile phone's map on the way). 

I had found some options for little treks in Côte d'Opale (the Opal Coast) and decided to do this 27 km trek in Le Cap de Gris-Nez. After arriving to Wissant around 9 o'clock, I immediately headed to the beach and started walking towards Cap Gris-Nez. It was windy but sunny, and it was good to smell the sea and jump over puddles of seawater. Open water is something you really start to miss in Brussels. How can a city thrive without a river or a coast? Maybe this is the ultimate problem with Brussels...

On the background you can see Cap de Blanc-Nez.

After the beach, the trek continued a bit inlands in the dunes and was better covered from the wind. However, it wasn't like this for a long. When I arrived to Cap Gris-Nez in the last corner of land, the wind was truly devilish and it stayed like this for the remaining 20 km I had to walk. Just before Audresselles, where I had lunch, I was so desperate that I even thought of taking the bus back to Wissant. Of course, I didn't.

There are some studies showing how spending time in the forest is good for your mental well-being and lowers your stress level. I was wondering for a while if any kind of nature-walking has the same effect, but discovering the wind, I realized that at least walks by the sea cannot have this well-being effect. At moments, the sound of wind was so strong I could hardly hear my own thoughts. But well, maybe that was the meditation part of the trek: you basically focus all your energy and thoughts against the wind. Maybe it's healthy to feel angry at the forces of nature, afterwards there's no angst left in you.

While the part of the trek that followed the coast was beautiful, the inland part was very dull flat agricultural land where your thoughts are mostly concentrated on EU agricultural subsidies and erosion (if not on wind). For someone seeking a true nature-experience, this is not the place. But as an outdoor sport activity the trek was ok and you do deserve your beer back in Wissant. 

Revelations: finding good coffee in Brussels

Despite the large Italian community in Brussels, sometimes it is hard to find good coffee in this city. When you ask for a cappuccino, you can actually get a black coffee with whipped cream (!!). When you politely try to complain, they say it's a "Belgian cappuccino". And you wonder if you just took a time machine to the early 1990s... 

However, with the help of my "500 hidden secrets of Brussels" guidebook and coffee-loving friends, I've been able to find a few spots with excellent coffee in Brussels. Going to these cafés is my weekend pleasure here. 

The top three places for excellent coffee in Brussels are definitely:

1. Aksum Coffee House, no. 132 in the list of "The 5 best coffee bars in Brussels"

This Ethiopian place is my favorite café for sure. It's in a beautiful green house close to the Grand Place. Their coffee made with Ethiopian beans is just fantastic and the cakes they serve are also delicious. They do organise Ethiopian coffee ceremonies at request and probably you can order an Ethiopian style coffee any time, but so far I've only had Italian style caffe lattes. Of course, the Ethiopian jazz in the background is just about the perfect choice for Sunday coffee moments.

2. Parlor Coffee, no. 131 in the list of "The 5 best coffee bars in Brussels"

Parlor  Coffee has a nice Nordic vibe in the ugly and noisy Chaussée de Charleroi in Saint-Gilles. Besides good coffee, they also serve nice small things to eat. I had a veggie bagel that wasn't a mind-blowing experience but suitable for a light Saturday lunch.

3. Or Coffee, no. 134 in the list of "The 5 best coffee bars in Brussels"

Or Coffee has two cafés in Brussels, one in the Dansaert quartier in the centre and the other one at Place Jourdan. I've only been to the latter one. It's a great spot for working as well; there are too few places like this in the city. 

Too bad the Place Jourdan branch is closed on Saturdays, it would be a perfect place to go after my Saturday yoga class next door.

Being vegetarian in Brussels

I hope this will be part 1 in a series of posts on vegetarianism in Brussels and the rest of the series will be slightly more positive... So far, I've been struggling a bit with my conviction of not eating meat or fish - not mentally but in pragmatic terms. The Belgians are a meat-loving people. It's like France, where the cuisine is heavily based on animal-products, but at least Paris is modern and diverse enough so that you'd find plenty of vegetarian, vegan or macrobiotic restaurants there - however, not Brussels. In one restaurant, they could actually only propose a green salad to me (really!!). Ok, but asking 16 Euros for it was kind of ridiculous. 

It should be said however that the EU cantines do provide a daily vegetarian option which is as poor as any of the non-vegetarian options. Obviously, I feel that all public administration and international organisations should do what they preach on reducing carbon footprint: provide only vegetarian food, or at least adhere to the Meatless Monday movement.

Sorry for getting radical once again... But the point is (never mind saving the planet) that I don't know how I will succeed in visiting all the restaurants on my "Brussels 500 secrets" list. Many of the restaurants on the list are a bit old school and probably they find the very idea of vegetarianism against their beliefs. There are a couple of vegetarian places mentioned in the book, in the "Healthy food" section. I'm glad to eat healthy but labeling vegetarian food rather healthy than just good food that is able to compete with any carnivore meal is saddening and old-fashioned. At least in Helsinki, all the fine-dining restaurants are already offering great value for vegetarian money (vegetarians are no poor hippies any longer...).

                    

Until a few days ago, I believed that at least one traditional Belgian food is not only vegetarian but even vegan: the French fries, les frites. Well well, in a rush before a concert I had my fries and smelled like fried oil for the rest of the evening among the cool hipsters in Beursschouwburg. My friend educated me afterwards that the Belgian fries are fried in animal fat, most often beef fat - no wonder the smell sticked on a vegetarian skin so well. So that's it, even this safe option for vegetarian food is now gone. Although, I have to say that I'm not very sorry for losing the opportunity of eating fries, especially because luckily already years ago I have visited no. 76, Frit'Flagey, and no. 79, Maison Antoine, on the list of "The Best Places for Proper Belgian Frites" (later on I was told by a proper Belgian that actually you can find proper fries only outside of Brussels...).

This (and having gained a few extra kilos here) brings me to the issue of healthy eating in Brussels. Belgium is the biggest consumer of fat internationally with a consumption of 95 grams per day per capita. Germany (86,5 g) and Finland (80,8 g) follow a bit behind. When it comes to sugar, Belgium is number 6 with 95,0 grams after for example the USA (126,4 g) and Germany (102,9 g). Finland takes the eight positions with 91,5 grams of sugar per day per capita (see the article on Washington Post). However, at the same time, the share of obese people in Belgium is below the OECD average. I guess they do better in resisting the pains au chocolat etc. than I do. In any case, I have hard time avoiding sugary and greasy products, so missing out on fries is quite welcome... 

Image from the Washington Post article.

Art Nouveau at Square Ambiorix

Even though there are no visible traces here so far, I've been following my "500 hidden secrets of Brussels" new year resolution really well. Let me present you a few examples that can actually be found on my way to work.

No. 228: Maison Saint-Cyr, one of the 5 most striking art nouveau houses in Brussels.

It needs to be said that the Instagram square format doesn't do justice to this amazing art nouveau piece at Square Ambiorix as it is very tall building but only 4 metres wide. It was designed by Gustave Strauven in 1900. The light green iron decorations are beautiful and I can actually remember the building already from my first visit to Brussels in 2001. 

Unfortunately, the gate is locked with a big padlock and it seems that the building has been empty for a quite a long time already - what a pity. (Check out the blue sky, evidence that it's not always raining here...)

Villa Germaine, one of the cutest brick facades (outside the official 500 list).

Villa Germaine, also at Square Ambiorix (or more correctly at Avenue Palmerston) is actually not on my Brussels 500 -list. But it is a pretty building close to Maison Saint-Cyr. Indeed, while Brussels is not often regarded as a very charming city (and personally, I'd agree that it is not), it has some amazing pieces of architecture scattered around if you just have the patience to look up and around - don't get that umbrella on the way. Often a gorgeous art nouveau facade is squeezed between some awful buildings or the facade is covered with a lot of dirt, but it is worthwhile to look up!

Villa Germaine, built in 1897, is actually of an eclectic style and not so much of an art nouveau building. But if you do an art nouveau tour at the square, don't miss this one either.

A bit further down from Villa Germaine is this beauty by Victor Horta.

No. 235: Hotel van Eetvelde, one of the best UNESCO world heritage sites in Brussels.

It actually took me a while to notice this building at Avenue Palmerston and only later I happened to find it on my 500 list and read that it is designed by the most famous art nouveau architecte Victor Horta in 1895. Van Eetvelde who commissioned the house and lived there, was a secretary general of Congo, bringing in mind where the money for the construction of the late 19th century Brussels was coming from... 

In this website, where you can find descriptions of Brussels' architectural patrimony (even my home is mentioned on the website!!), you can also see what kind of treasures this facade hides. Luckily there are some places in Brussels, where you can also enter the buildings and have a closer look at the art nouveau design. Musée Horta, Horta's own home, is a good example. 

There are three other Unesco sites by Horta in Brussels (including the museum). They are all listed in my "hidden secrets" - if you can call a Unesco world heritage site a hidden secret, but still. Brussels is a great city for art nouveau fans, at the turn of the 19th century, the city was the heart of  art nouveau style and Horta its foremost guru. Around a thousand art nouveau town houses were built that time, while today half of them exist. Plenty to do for Sunday strolls...

So, when in Brussels, keep your eyes open - but be careful of dog shit as well!

Discovering Brussels in 2015: food and fashion

Happy New Year!

I was asking my friends if they had any good new year's resolutions, but most people were avoiding any such promises. Me, on the other hand, I couldn't invent any meaningful resolutions. Maybe I'm such a perfect - or ignorant - person already?

However, back in Brussels after Christmas holidays in Finland, I got this great idea of trying to follow one of my new Brussels guidebooks "The 500 Hidden Secrets of Brussels" by Derek Blyth and write down my thoughts about these discoveries here in the blog. 

It's a very nice guidebook listing cool bars, Belgian-style restaurants, small museums, beautiful parks etc. usually off the beaten tourist track. I'm sure it has plenty of ideas even for people who have lived in Brussels a while already.

I followed the book's advise for my choice of lunch today as I wanted to get out of the apartment despite the heavy rain. In the list of "The 5 most exotic Asian restaurants", there was Hong Kong Delight in Rue Sainte-Catherine in the Dansaert quartier. Blyth writes that it serves some of the best Cantonese food in town.

My knowledge of Cantonse food is not very refined as such distinctions are rare in the Chinese food scene in Finland. However, I must say that the food we ordered with my sisters in Espoo from a Chinese restaurant called Jufu was really good and better than the food I had in Hong Kong Delight. Jufu's aubergine in garlic sauce was excellent while Hong Kong Delight's tofu with Chinese vegetables was just basic good. 

Taken that the place features in the list of the most exotic Asian restaurants in Brussels, I was expecting something a bit more exceptional and surprising. For sure, the food was good and there were many vegetarian options (which is always positive in Brussels), but I expect there to be a dozen similar places around the neighborhood. However, I wouldn't mind going back there again for a simple lunch.

Oh, I dream of the Gourmet Dumpling House in Boston, the best Chinese place ever!

No 28: Hong Kong Delight in the list of the 5 most exotic Asian restaurants.

I managed to visit another place listed in the book during my Saturday rainy day stroll in the Dansaert quartier. Dansaert / St. Catherine in the city centre is, by the way, a cool neighborhood with hip boutiques, like my favorite Cotélac, and some nice-looking bars and restaurants that also feature in my Brussels guidebook. So, obviously it is a quartier I need to visit many more times in order to finish my 2015 to do -list.

The January sales was of course a good moment to visit the "most inspiring Brussels designers". One of them, Annemie Verbeke, has a boutique at Rue Antoine Dansaert. Despite the sales, the clothes were still a bit too expensive but otherwise they were really cool and would fit my garderobe. For a special occasion maybe...

It is interesting to notice that the Belgian fashion and design scene is mostly occupied by Flemish designers. Some of them seem very cool indeed. For me, there are many discoveries to be made in this area. And window shopping is enough!

No 160: Annemie Verbeke in the list of the 5 most inspiring Brussels designers. Photo from the website of Annemie Verbeke.

I visited another shop of Flemish design further down the street and bought this pair of funny shoes. There were also a tempting collection of colourful cardigans. Unfortunately, the shop of Roos Vandekerckhove was under "liquidation totale" so I don't know if the whole business has come to an end. It would be sad because of the "Made in Belgium" label in the clothes. I was hoping that decently priced cardigans can still be made in Europe (in a profitable way)!

Shoes by Roos Vandekerckhove. My own discovery. You know, they are also possible...

Road tripping - with Mum and Dad...

It was like my childhood holidays. We packed the car, took the boat to Sweden and drove across Europe.

My dad had come up with the idea that he could drive me to Brussels. Mum was eager to join. This is what we used to do when me and my sisters were small, we would drive by car to Southern France or Italy from Finland. I have good recollection of those car trips across Germany; hardly making any pauses on the way, car fully packed, the views flashing by. Perhaps we spent a night in a guest house and enjoyed a great German breakfast in the morning. 

I can't remember those long boat trips across the Baltic sea to Travemunde, and this time as well, we decided to rather drive across Sweden than take the approximately 36-hours long boat trip in a potential autumn storm (also more expensive than going via Sweden).

This time it was me planning the route. Well, Via Michelin planned the route for me. A total of 17 hours of drive from Stockholm to Brussels.

Here's our route:

1) Helsinki-Turku harbor: 2 hours (with a quick stop in Kaarina). Boat at 20h55.

2) Turku-Stockholm by Viking Line Grace (118 Euros for a car, three people in a cabin and breakfast buffet), arriving to Stockholm at 6h30 local time (just in time to avoid all the traffic jams).

3) Stockholm-Eskilstrup (Denmark): 10 hours with some traffic jam around Copenhagen and three breaks on the way (including lunch at a gas station: I had a veggie burger, but I'm still doubting if it wasn't meat after all). We took the route via Öresund bridge, the setting for the great Danish-Swedish crime series "The Bridge". Bridge toll: 40 Euros.

4) Night at a lovely Bakkegaarden Bed & Breakfast in Eskilstrup. The place was set in the Danish countryside and it would have most likely been really beautiful if we could have seen it in the thick fog. The B&B is totally recommendable even though it was a bit hard to find at first. The couple keeping the place is lovely and the lady insisted in speaking in Swedish to us. "Joo, joo, vi pratar svenska, så härlig här!"

5) Leaving Bakkegaarden at 8h40. Taking the Scandlines ferry from Rodby to Puttgarden in Germany at 9h40 (69 Euros). This is the ferry where we always ate Danish red sausages when I was a kid (always? once? I don't know if it even was this ferry or the one from Sweden to Denmark...). My parents kept on asking: "But don't you remember this?" Well, after all, it was more than 20 years ago... Mum was excited about the cheap dog food in the ferry shop, but I felt that the ferry was way too crowded and the smell of sausages disgusted me.

6) Arriving to Germany at 10h25. Scenery starts to be more diverse and even though it was the first day of November, the temperature was still +20C. Dad drove 160 km/h at some points; looking cars driving past when we had a pause at a gas station, the speed looked completely crazy.

7) Driving so fast in the German autobahns, we approached Brussels much earlier than planned. We arrived there at 18h30 after driving around 9,5 hours.

8) I managed to find a little shop and bought frozen pizza for supper. My parents thought it was delicious. Sometimes it's easy to travel with non-snobs.

And then in Brussels, of course, time for Manneken Pis.

Coming up: a two-year escape to Brussels...

Oh man, only three blog entries this year! It's not like I haven't had anything to write about, the opposite actually; big and small escapes making it hard to find any time for blogging. 

Dolphin as seen in Naples beach, Florida. Oh, such a great thing to swim close to free dolphins playing wildly in the ocean.

I wanted to write about Myanmar before the big tourist groups enter the country or my recent trip to Washington and Florida;

Painting old chairs for kitchen.

I wanted to expand the content of my blog to interior design issues with the decoration boom I'm having in my new apartment;

The craziness of the amazing Shibuya crossing in Tokyo. What a wonderful and curious city!

I wanted to go through my thoughts about my encounter with the Japanese society; 

Andy Warhol exhibition in Sara Hildén art museum in Tampere was worth seeing -  especially for the photo I took of my parents with the Mao painting...

and I wanted to recommend cultural activities in Helsinki and elsewhere. 

Well, I wasn't able to follow my own guideline in blogging: keep it simple and short. If it's not simple and short, it's inexistent... 

Only two champagne glasses got broken during the housewarming party.

Less than a year ago, I bought this wonderful place in Käpylä (at least this is something I have written about) and in April we had a nice housewarming party with my flatmate. Now, six months later, I'm packing my stuff once again and embracing my new status as a landlady and Brussels resident :)

Enjoying the beginning of the hot summer in Café Esplanadi, Helsinki.

Brussels is calling. For the third time in my life, I'm moving to Brussels. As a consequence, October has been a month of goodbyes and little farewell parties. And today, on the day of departure, I need to wipe some tears.

The idea of leaving Helsinki after a gorgeous summer was a bit of a heartache but as the autumn is growing grey, the idea of being once again in the centre of Europe and living a bit of a cosmopolite life is increasingly appealing. Brussels may not be the coolest city in Europe - for sure, it is not - but it has some good qualities that I will enjoy greatly (hopefully, I will manage to write about them later). And those major disadvantages, like poor public transportation and awful biking opportunities, well, I guess I just need to learn to live with them. 

Autumn is now getting colder and darker, but I managed to enjoy some sunny autumn days in the forest - now, good to go...

Moving, especially moving to another country, can be an excellent place for making other changes in life as well. I'm thinking of new hobbies (argentine tango, painting, salsa?), more time for reading good novels and non-fiction (I still have that Piketty unread), and completely vegan diet (with some mussels, obviously). However, I also hope that I will find a good ashtanga yoga shala in Brussels. Yoga has truly been beneficial for my inner peace, clear mind and good physical health, therefore I would love to keep on practicing with good teachers. 

Getting my yoga mat from our yoga shala here was quite sad. It's been such an important place for me for the past two years. But what I have also recently realized is that I can be happy anywhere if I choose to do so.

Frog buddha in Florida... Don't take life too seriously, I think he says.