In crossing the German Eifel reserve into the Belgian Hautes Fagnes park I exited a land of cultivated hillsides with furrows of rich coffee-colored soil and entered a wild and misty reserve of twisted and gnarled trees carpeted with ferns. Further still, on the other side of the reserve, industrial Belgium awaited me - a place that is now dear to my heart. Eastern Belgium has suffered economically and that is evident in the deserted soot-faced coal plants and crumbling textile factories, such as the one pictured above. It was not that I was celebrating the economic ruin; rather it was the subtle charm of the inhabitants of this financially broken canton that captured my attention. Unlike other areas of industrial death it was quiet, and it appeared that a new way of living had emerged from the rusting remnants of prior days of toil and oppression. As I cycled through one such town in the evening a young woman was sitting dangerously high in a windowsill with a book in one hand and a cigarette in the other. It was the perfect picture of counter-puritanism and an abandonment of the production/consumption work ethic. But my time here was brief and I may presume too much. (8/31/04)

Outside of Liege in eastern Belgium. This town had an atmosphere of industrial decay that reminded me of Dentsville in Lynda Barry´s book, Cruddy. If it were not for the oddly-hued, deep yellow stained glass windows in many of the gabled brick row houses, and the ducks swimming in the clear Meuse River (which was not ablaze with petrochemicals), it might also remind me of Detroit. (8/31/04) *

It seemed to take forever to exit Liege the next morning due to inadequate directional signs. But it was a beautiful fall afternoon with squadrons of elderly bicyclists out for afternoon spins on the cycle paths, so I was not stressing the poor signposting too much. I passed through Lueven, a large University town, on the way to Brussels, and I was feeling nostalgic as I watched the students milling about the campus area. The cycle paths in Leuven were full of two-wheeled traffic, and the paths even had the circular turnouts that are in use on the highways. I made it to Brussels, and after nearly two hours of trying to find a camp ground I settled for a hostel in the center of town. This is a photograph taken the next morning of the Grand Place in Brussels, which is truly a grand square. (9/02/03)

Brussels is big on comics, including its native Tin Tin and Herge, and large murals are located throughout the city, making it feel a little like a Sunday afternoon comic strip. I think Brussels´ main products are beer, chocolate and Tin Tin paraphanelia. (9/02/04) *

The architechture in Brussels is very ornate, and there are several Royal Tennenbaum style structures in the city, an example of which can be seen above. But I will digress for a moment to the topic of youth hostels. I have avoided these institutions for most of my trip, and if camping is not available, I will generally try to find a cheap pension. But Belgium is really expensive, so I decided to cut costs with a hostel. The first night I was in a coed dormitory room with seven other people, and the non-ventilated air was sticky and filled with the sounds of rickety bunks creaking, snoring, and other anti-sleep-inducing noises. As the moonlight at 3 o´clock in the morning hit the trees outside the window and cast swaying shadows on the ceiling above my bed, I said to myself, Michael, your too long in the tooth for this folly, old sport. The courtyard always had a fop of a guitarrist playing tortured classics, such as "The End" (the Doors), to a reluctant but captive audience. (9/02/04)

Brussels bedroom weightlifting, punching bag exercises and cosmetics. This is one scene from a series in the Musees Royaux des Beaux Arts. This is the capital city´s main museum, and it used an interesting format of opening only half of the museum in the morning, then sounding a loud alarm in the early afternoon to signal that the presently-open half was closing and the previously-closed half was opening. I imagine this was to save on security staffing costs (the museum was one of the cheapest I have seen yet). (9/02/04)

The Musees Royaux des Beaux Arts was a nice place to pass the day. Aside from a handful of name brand foreign artists the museum placed its primary emphasis upon Belgian works - including some rather obscure material. Although I was already acquainted with cubism, I had not been introduced to the Belgian offshoot - tubism - which used tubes instead of cubes as the primary compositional element. I really enjoyed the Belgian surrealists, particularly Delvaux, whose paintings seemed to call for a complete abandonment of logic. But this is not such a bad thing because, as someone else once said, in the end logic will break your heart. (9/02/04)

The European Union parliament in Brussels, where nearly all of the EU politcal machinery is located. Although this is where the business of unified Europe is conducted, the building itself is rather modest and is even fronted by a well-worn basketball courtyard. There was a pick up game at the time I walked by; the shooting was not too sharp. (9/04/04)

Bruge, Belgium is a former medieval metropolis that was frozen in time when the waterway that connected it to the Flanders seaside silted up in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century - this caused an exodus of the population that at the time had exceeded London. It was nice walking around the city in the early morning when the streets were empty and the canals were calm enough to reflect the buildings. You can see two swans making their way down the canal. The city is exceptionally well preserved, and unlike other medieval towns filled with crumblies, Bruge is full of intact buildings that appear freshly built. I bought a museum pass, and feeling the need to maximize the value of the ticket, made the mistake of running through four musuems in one day. My favorite was a wealthy merchant's house adjoining an enormous cathedral. One of the mansion's higher level rooms had a window that actually connected to the interior of the cathedral and looked down from a height into the cavernous cathedral - the family could attend church services in the privacy of their home while the kids played or what have you. The museum collections and exhibits were generally rather small, but still I think I am burnt on museums for the time being. (9/07/04) *