I think I recognized a place in a photo on my friendslist.

So, I looked and found ( this ) in my collection.

There were lots of faces on the walls in Brussels, some vaguely familiar, others completely unknown.

There was a modern Madonna collage in the spot above a door where once the statue of a saint guarded the house:

( Heads )

Wow - that last post got through without a glitch. Let's continue then while things are working.

The bowl area of the skate park wasn't being redecorated with girls' heads, so we got to see how the original artwork had grown over the years. It was also the favourite spot for all the boys to show that they were adventurous.

( See for yourself )

There was also an adventure for me which made the whole drive seem like a piece of cake. I'd always imagined Brussels to be flat which it isn't. So, in order to get from the Palais de Justice which deliberately sits at the top of a hill down to where the poor people used to live you can either walk or take the lift. It's one of those modern glass constructions and that's fine by me, but to get to it you have to cross a small pedestrian bridge. Bridges - along with patience - aren't my strong suit. (The card game connotations are coincidence!) So, I braced myself and managed to conquer the abyss:

( One picture at a time )

Is this collection of short posts terribly annoying? Just say, no, not at all.

Brussels - like so many European cities - mixes the traditional with the modern a lot. The 1960s and 1970s city planning didn't do any favours to any European city. It was all about accomodating automobile traffic and erecting blocks of concrete. Still, Brussels has got lots of charming streets and would have offered pretty views across its several hills if the sky hadn't been quite as grey. Here's some beauty I found in unexpected places and angles:

( It's only one pic, just accept it already )

The drive to Brussels (it's only two hours) was smooth until I chose the wrong lane on the motorway, ended up in a traffic jam and did some damage to my front bumper by gently hitting the car in front of me. Luckily, they had a small trailer attached to it, so I struck that and the triangular scratch would only worry a car-obsessed German. The trailer came out unscathed and the passengers of the car got out briefly, we both decided it was nothing and went our merry way. Well, I was slightly panicked, did some frantic mobile phoning and surprisingly found myself back on the proper route in no time at all.