De Wand Tram Stop

de_Wand2

This tramstop is about to have more grafitti murals added to it, financed by the Brussels municipality. It's a lovely place in a tree lined well below road level. The trams enter and exit through tunnels.

I like the mural that is already there and the pale blue walls. I hope further murals add to the appeal.

Bob and Bobette

Bob and Bobette

Another of Brussels' famous cartoon murals. not the most glamarous of surroundings though.

bob and bobette are known by a bewildering amount of names in each country/ part of country, but you can find out more about them over here.

Maelbeek entrance

maelbeek entrance

This is the exit I use whenever I have to turn up in the office. I love the Benoit faces on the platforms and the collage in the entrance hall, but these squiggles aren't as interesting.

I also liked the graffiti on the lower red wall, as you can't tell if it's part of the artwork or not.

Behind the shutters is a small sandwich bar. Every now and then someone opens one up, but they never seem to last long. The last one was only open 2 hours a day, so I wasn't suprised when it vanished.

Cubitus

cubitus

A day of heavy showers but I managed to get some photos taken - and sheltering in bars from the rain in between. One of them is of this mural of Cubitus dislodging the Mannekin Pis from his plinth.

Then I went back to the pub.

yellowpinkgreenhouse

yellowpinkgreenhouse

Near Sint Guido, I happened across this small street. Each house was decorated in tribute to a particular artist and painted in different colours.

I've got a couple more photos in my Flickr stream and I liked the Miro house.

Something strange, unusual and delightful when you least expect it. Wonderful Brussels!

together banner

together banner

I do try to be positive about the EU, but I find it all exasperating sometimes. This banner is hung outside the European Parliament, celebrating 50 years of the EU.

The problem is that it is utterly unreadable. It looks like technicolour vomit, as though a heavenly hippie has just regurgitated on the wall.

The logo's a problem too. I utterly detest it, and if you look closely you can see that the red letter in it has a white halo effect - a sign of a bad photoshop.

It's absolutely horrid and is on public display at Place Lux where it is frightening small children and disconcerting the after work drunks.

Ric Hochet by Tibet

hanging from wall mural

There are a great many murals around Brussels and there's even a tour you can take of them all (Info here and a map of the route). For a list of comic art in Brussels look here.

Personally I liked finding them by chance, each one becoming a surprise. Many of them really suit their location, like this one, and use it well. I've usually photographed them close up, but I think I'll go back and take more of them in context.

What a great way to enliven a city. This is why I tried to get one of the Art Cows for outside our house. Sadly this cultural delight was prohibited when my beloved vetoed the plan.

Mmmm Coffee

java-shutter

I loved this globe, painted on a trendy cafe's shutters, especially the added red arrow pointing at Belgium and saying 'You Are Here'. You've got to look for bad coffee in this city and even the Quick does a decent cup.

There's a Tea Room next to Anneessens that does a lovely 'revive the dead' cup that works for me, but Zoe doesn't like it at all.

So, where should I go for coffee? Who does the Best in Brussels?

Tram and Mural

mural-and-tram

This is one of Brussels' famous murals, depicting cartoon figures. This one is Marcel Marlier's character 'Martine'. Passing by is one of our new trams. They're faster, smoother and quieter than the old ones.

They're also as dull as ditch water. Instead of the bright yellow and blue we get grey and beige. A somewhat uninspiring combination. It also makes them hard to spot, something you would want to do.

Anyway, enjoy the scene

Asterix Mural

asterix-mural

Belgium may be the land of Tintin, but my favourite has always been Asterix and I was delighted to see this mural, in a school playground, depicting our heroes, smashed to the gills on their secret potion about to get medieval on some hapless Romans.

Truly inspiring for any school is this mix of drugs and violence!

Painted Building

Painted Building

Yesterday I wandered around the canal and then into Molenbeek for the weekly market. On the way I took a detour to photograph this remarkable building. I just love the comic book murals that are dotted all over the city, but this takes things one step further. I'm all in favour of anything that brings colour and imagination into the city.

The market was fun, but with an Arabic feel to one end and a Flemish feel to the other. It was massive and I gave up wandering through the narrow, crowded streets after a while.

A La Bonne Fortune

Hands on the Wall

This is about 2 meters high on a wall of a Chinese health shop and it depicts the meanings of the various lines. I'm not one for a lot of this type of stuff, but I used to do Tai Chi and it really was beginning to work. I also think Taoism is interesting and something that I really should pick up again.

There is a reason for choosing this photo today, because I'm off this morning for a job interview. Even better, it's for an interesting job, one that involves using open source approaches to networking schools, teachers and pupils as well as lots of Web 2.0 stuff.

Translation: It's doing lots of cool and innovative stuff with computers that will inspire collaborative learning. Please wish me la bonne fortune!

Join Mannekin Pics!

I'm also happy to gaze into my palms and see that Mannekin Pics has a bright future. I would like to thank the people who have joined so far and have made this a much more interesting place.

We're always looking for more people to join us - all you have to do is send me an email. and i'll send you an invite.

We ask that people follow two rules:
1. The photo is taken in Brussels or it's environs
2. Some text accompanies the photo.

That's it. Please remember we're looking for diversity. This isn't the place for 'best' photos, just pictures you like, find interesting or are informative. You don't need to be a 'good' photographer or have expensive equipment.

The more people join in, the better the site will be.

Hello from Princess Benelux

Hello!

I love Brussels, it's a cool place to live with lots of opportunities to go out and have fun.

I'd like to thank Quarsan for letting me join this blog and I'd like to start with a photo of one of my heroes, Tintin, who is one of the reasons I heard Belgium in the first place. Like Tintin, I'm a journalist, but sadly I haven't managed to crack any international jewel-smuggling rings yet - and I don't have a cute white terrier either!

This mural is a big Brussels cliché but I still love it - especially because the next stage on the tour when I'm showing friends round town in normally a beer in Delerium...