Brussels – 4 February 2015

Today was a lot of walking around Brussels, punctuated by a couple of museums.

war monument skyline with atomium atomium brussels skyline clock tower building church

Here are photos of a synagogue in Brussels.

synagogue synagogue

I passed the Square du Petit Sablon, which is ringed by a large number of statues. I was attracted to them because they seemed to show ordinary peole rather than nobles or religious figures. My OCD took over, and I got a picture of each and every one of them.

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From there, I went to the Magritte Museum, which, unfortunately, did not allow photography. However, it is a wonderful museum, and I really like Magritte’s work. There was one drawing of a pipe with the French words, “Ceci continue de pas être une pipe,” which translates to “This is still not a pipe.” The museum is connected to the modern museum and the old masters museum, which does allow photos. I still find it amazing that paintings from the 15th and 16th century are still in such good shape.

art museum interior museum interior museum interior museum interior museum rubens rubens interior museum rembrandt banker and wife sixteenth century sixteenth century tankard interior museum statuary

One exhibit by Jan Fabre did not allow photography either, but there was a quote on the wall: “ I gaze a lot at my own image in the mirror to draw myself, and every time I see someone else.” (The exhibit is at this URL; choose the link labeled Chapters I-XVIII.)

Kunstberg / Mont des Arts

Mont des Arts (Kunstberg) is the museum quarter of Brussels. The view from there is wonderful.

kunstberg view building kunstberg view sculpted faces on wall bozar colorful flags rounded building

And there is a clock with interesting figures around the dial. My OCD didn’t kick in on this one, so I didn’t get pictures of all twelve.

clock clock closeup clock closeup clock closeup clock closeup clock closeup clock closeup clock closeup clock closeup clock closeup

Miscellaneous Buildings and Statues

spotted building porte de hal statue lady with shopping bag statue

Wall Art

The last of these shows Le Chat, a popuar Belgian cartoon.

wall art wall art wall art wall art wall art wall art wall art le chat

Signage

Various signs which probably need little explanation, except perhaps the last one, which is for a bicycle repair shop.

signage belgian buns signage vaillant rabbit signage benelux signage bicycle repair shop

These are signs on a store called Mr. Ego.

signage biggest egos signage mr ego

This one is for a Brussels tourism site; a clever name, as be is the two-letter country code for Belgium.

signage be everywhere

A rather weird poster for a performance by someone named Éric Antoine.

signage poster eric antoine

This one had me confused for a moment until I realized that boom (pronounced boam to rhyme with foam) is Dutch for tree, which is what the French arbre means. So, this is a street sign for “Tree Street”.

signage l arbre boom

Some clever person added text to this sign; peau lisse means smooth skin, and happens to have the same pronunication as the French word police.

signage peau lisse