Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Happy Birthday Belgium!!!







Originally I was planning on writing about my first celebration of Belgium’s Independence Day; however, in looking over some material, I discovered that out of the years I lived in Belgium/France, only twice did I actually spend that day in Belgium (and one of those was when I was officially living in France!). So for all my Belgian friends and any other celebrants, here are the mainly non-Belgian ways I celebrated Belgium’s special day while living there. Truly had no recollection I spent those days out of the country until I began researching this post.

The first 21st July was in my future home city of Paris. Hanging out in the sixth arrondissement and enjoying the Rive Gauche were the objectives of the weekend visit. And despite the early wake up call from the market place beneath my hotel window (never saw the stalls!), the hanging and enjoying were most satisfactorily obtained. Anyway, I was staying next to Belgium, so that should count for something, right?

However, for the second 21st July I was nowhere near Belgium. Spent the morning visiting the Ateneum Museum and in the afternoon taking a guided bus tour and two of the stops were the Sibelius monument and the Rock church. Where was I? Give up? The Nordic capital city of Helsinki was that year’s place of visitation. But Belgium was in my thoughts for in the evening I wrote postcards to the Eurodesk (remember that name?!) and to Philippe Lambrechts (where is he these days?).

The third 21st July found me back in France, but this time in the southern part of the country attending the Festival d’Avignon. Spent the day exploring the first walled city I’ve ever visited and the whole trip was of full of fun and frivolity. One highlight was walking on the almost destroyed Saint Bénézet bridge (or Avignon bridge), as in the song “Sur le Pont d’Avignon”, and looking over the Rhône river.

For the fourth 21st July it was a trip to the Iberian Peninsula that took me away from Belgium. Specifically, the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition was the attraction for my first trip to that part of Europe and it was my first exposition as well. Walking and aching, standing and waiting are the realities of a world expo! Lisbon did a good job and I came away with strategies for attending any future world exposition – one is to immediately, on your first day, go to the main gift store and buy souvenirs/exposition passport booklet. I also took time to see the beautiful Lisbon buildings and areas around where I was staying – if only my camera was working – sigh, sigh.

Return to Iberia was the theme for the fifth 21st July. Now it was to Madrid that I went and this trip my camera was working and inadequately capturing the beauty of the buildings in that capital city. No special event brought me here – just the wish to see Madrid and to visit the museums, such as the Prado.

Finally, the sixth 21st July was spent in Belgium! The only activity I have a record of is seeing the film “Gladiator” at the UGC/Toison d’Or in Brussels and the ticket price was two hundred Belgian francs. At least the film was in keeping with the day’s idea of independence – the quest for personal freedom and the toppling of tyranny.

Seventh 21st July was a return to France for the third time and back to Paris. The afternoon was spent walking around Père Lachaise cemetery on a guided tour. After all these years of wandering around Père Lachaise on my own, I finally decided to be guided and the tour did go to areas I had missed. Plus, once again, Jim Morrison’s grave had been moved - a dead rocker is impossible to keep in one place. Speaking of music, the evening’s activity was listening to the classics. Went to Parc André Citroën to hear the Orchestre National d’Île de France play Ludwig von Beethoven’s Symphony number 6 (“Pastorale”) and a piece from a Richard Strauss opera.

For the eighth and final 21st July, I was in Brussels and apparently did nothing worthy of note. Perhaps it was just a day of reflection on life in Belgium. Anyway, even though I did not stay in Belgium for the first Independence Day I could have experienced, I was here for the last and had a quiet one.

There it is - my saga of the date 21st July. And though I never really celebrated Belgium’s special day, being in the country gave me the opportunity for exploring other places and for that I am grateful. Celebrate well this day of Belgium!!!




Belgium’s Motto:
Eendracht maakt macht (Dutch)
L'union fait la force (French)
Einigkeit macht stark (German)
"Strength through Unity" (or literally, "Unity makes Strength")





Images:
Left: Leffe Blonde from the website en.wikipedia.org
Center: Flag of Belgium from the website en.wikipedia.org
Right: Callebaut candy bar from the website chocosphere.com

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