brussel crowe

so i forgot to write about brussels. last weekend we took the eurostar to belgium. the eurostar rocks. travelling by plane involves travelling a long way to the airport, waiting for ages, lining up, more waiting for ages, bit more waiting, then overpriced bad coffee, then more waiting, ok, you get the idea. but on the eurostar we turned up 45 minutes before our train left, passport check and security took 3 minutes and before we knew it we were on a train, which before we knew it was in belgium. and all with a much smaller carbon footprint (due to smaller carbon shoes).

so brussels is a city that wouldn't stand out if we had been on a big european trip - its got some nice cathedrals and paved streets and statues, but let's face it, which european city doesn't? but when visited alone it had a chance to shine. and the thing that made it shine was the food. wow. belgian waffles are amazing in belgium, whereas they're quite mediocre elsewhere. belgian chocolate - yum. chips with mayonnaise - yeah baby yeah. and then there is the belgian beer. which is my favourite beer made by monks.

the music instrument museum was fascinating. couldn't read the signs in french or flemmish so i had to depend on my eyes (ok reading also depends on eyes, but just humour me a bit) and my ears (i wore a headset that played a clip of each instrument as i walked past it). saw a piano owned by beethoven. bob beethoven. no, i mean ludwig. also saw some twisty clarinets called Serpents and some beautifully painted harpsichords.

unfortunately my lack of french or flemmish prevented me from going to the tintin or jacques brel museums.

we also went to bruges, a gorgeous little town which looks like it should be made of gingerbread. too cute to be taken seriously. loved it.

its good to be the ben

one more thing about the tube (then i'll stop)

so on the tube there's nowhere to look except down at your book or shoes. which is normally ok because i have good books and i like my shoes. but sometimes when a really good song comes on my ipod i find i can't look down. because when good music is playing you have to look up. and around. which you can't do on the tube. leading to a conundrum today when Magnetic Fields came on my ipod random. people think i'm looking at them, but really in my head i'm not even on the tube, i'm in some happy magnetic field showstopping operetta. so don't worry if you thought i was looking at you today. i wasn't. nothing personal. i just wasn't.

oh and speaking of fine fine music, i had a great boogie on new years eve at an Old Man's Beard Must Go party. i believe their next show is in Hanoi. don't miss it.

one more thing about the tube (then i'll stop)

so on the tube there's nowhere to look except down at your book or shoes. which is normally ok because i have good books and i like my shoes. but sometimes when a really good song comes on my ipod i find i can't look down. because when good music is playing you have to look up. and around. which you can't do on the tube. leading to a conundrum today when Magnetic Fields came on my ipod random. people think i'm looking at them, but really in my head i'm not even on the tube, i'm in some happy magnetic field showstopping operetta. so don't worry if you thought i was looking at you today. i wasn't. nothing personal. i just wasn't.

oh and speaking of fine fine music, i had a great boogie on new years eve at an Old Man's Beard Must Go party. i believe their next show is in Hanoi. don't miss it.