Twitter posts from this time period:
Kay Burnett arrived Bruxelles SAT PM; attended Son Del Sur Flamenco Festival: fabulous: Maria Pagés; travel disturbance upside: low jet lag -- May 17 at 7:46am ·
Kay Burnett Day 2 Bruxelles: Horta Museum and neighborhood tour of Art Nouveau architecture; trappist beer from Maredsous -- May 17 at 2:03pm ·
Kay Burnett bright, sunny, windy morning in BRU: fortified castle is out of public transit range, central city and EU commission on tap -- May 18 at 3:15am ·
Kay Burnett Bruges: medieval city -- May 19 at 7:43am ·
Kay Burnett Bruges: horses pulling carriages, bicycles, boats, and pedestrians all touring the well-preserved & maintained 17th century city. See "I ... -- May 19 at 9:53am ·
Kay Burnett bright, sunny, windy morning in BRU: fortified castle is out of public transit range, central city and EU commission on tap -- May 18 at 3:15am ·
Kay Burnett Bruges: medieval city -- May 19 at 7:43am ·
Kay Burnett Bruges: horses pulling carriages, bicycles, boats, and pedestrians all touring the well-preserved & maintained 17th century city. See "I ... -- May 19 at 9:53am ·
Kay Burnett Security at Brussels airport: 40 minute wait! -- May 20 at 6:20am ·
Eric and I arrived in Brussels on Saturday, 5/16/2009 after traveling from Chicago on the evening of 5/14/2009. We used twitter and its connection to facebook to alert our friend, Charlie, awaiting our arrival, to our delay. They had made plans for us all to attend the Maria Pagés flamenco performance on Saturday night. After a shower and a lie down, I was able to go out. The original plan was for us to have had a day to relax into the performance but our delay put us there with a few hours to transition.
The flamenco was amazing. Maria and her ensemble of dancers worked together to tell the story of lives of people in a village; the love stories, the relationship stories, the community stories, the rivalry stories. It was all communicated with stomping feet, guitar string tunes, a small bit of drums and accapela voices. Very moving, very entertaining.
We went often to drink beer in the cafes and taverns. Beer is plentiful and diverse. It can be dark, sweet, foamy, still, tart, biting and tasty. I love the dark, but not too dark, hoppy and not sweet, rich and not heavy beer. The beers in Belgium all have their own glass with a shape, size and iconic label that distinguish it and make it unique to the beer it holds and represents.
Our friend, Anna interprets for the European Union. She interprets from Polish to English, Polish to French, French to Polish. She took us to visit her workplace on a day she was not working. We did see a press conference and related debate about a video representing the 20 years of liberty accomplished under the EU. She spends her days in these halls deeply involved in the affairs of state and country. I expect she knows more about the operations of the Union than most people. We are proud of her service and to know someone who is so driven to accomplish the mission her skills afford.
In Brussels, we visited the Horta Museum and then walked around the area where there are great examples of Horta's work and the work of other Art Nouveau architecture.
Bruges to follow...
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