small calender, brussels 2012

At this moment, just an hour before 2013, I have a small calendar in my hand titled “Brussels 2012”. Last year, I mean, in December 2011, my former colleague and his family came from Brussels to here in Maryland, and stayed for a while for sightseeing around DC area. At the time, they gave us this small calendar as a souvenir, and since then, I’ve put it on my desk next to my PC for an entire 2012. The calendar has twelve different pictures on each month, and they are, of course, a famous, beautiful piece of scenery of Brussels city I had once enjoyed. For example, crystal twilight Atomium at Heysel is in the page of September, and a Christmas tree in white at the center of Grand-Place is in the page of December.

Curiously enough, looking at these pictures now, I find there are few people in each scene. Here in pictures, there are just historical buildings, trees and flowers, and blue sky, sometimes, twilight-orange, water-blue sky. At the end of 2012, looking at familiar Brussels scenery without any people, I feel like listening to Gymnopédies, Erik A.L. Satie’s music, maybe something like a farewell for 2012 Brussels.

Anyway, having said Gymnopedies, I once went to Honfleur to visit historic Satie’s house, though I just found the house was closed at the time.

Brussels, Belgium in my small calendar.

philadelphia sauerkraut and bratwurst

It was just before Christmas when I was at the center of Philadelphia city, and just walking along with the Broad Street. Behind me, there was an old city hall famously known by the statute of the city founder sitting on its top. I walked up the street to go to the Kimmel Center, the home of Philadelphia Orchestra, to catch up the opening of its Christmas concert. I remembered that the concert at the time would be performed by the guest-Maestro coming from Vancouver.

It was in the evening, and the wind came from cold Delaware River to this skyscrapers’ valley, and made me or anyone walking around here quite chilly. At some point, I just turned back to the city hall. I could not see the opposite side of it I've already passed through. 

Around the opposite corner of the hall, there was a small squared park, which had a small fountain at its center. At this season, the park was occupied by the Christmas market, lots of small stalls and vendors selling small Christmas ornaments. At first, I felt the market seemed to be quite similar to what I often enjoyed around the cities in Germany, such as Köln’s, though the latter was apparently bigger than here. Later I found it was actually similar, because the market was organized by German society of Philadelphia, and more than that, at least I enjoyed the same smell of hot wine and taste of sauerkraut and bratwurst here in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

golden arch and flea market in warterloo

There was a golden arch of the McDonald at the corner of the relatively newly founded Carrefour in Waterloo, and on Sunday around noon, I used to drive to there to get just a burger meal. The taste was same, and maybe, the scene I saw inside this restaurant was also same as everyone could see anywhere under the same golden arch in the world. I heard that around the Ville de Waterloo, quite suburb of Brussels, was one of the favorite places for American residents commuting to the capital by car. Quite often, I heard American-English conversation in this restaurant from the families who happened to sit next to me.

The uniqueness of this McDonald was not belonged to this fast-food-store itself, nor a huge Carrefour store sitting next to it, but the flea market opened at the parking of these stores in every Sunday morning. This flea market was opened in the very early morning and closed around 13:00. So, sometimes, I was walking among vendors while biting a burger and French flies with my fingers, and looking for nothing, but enjoying looking at what they were selling. They were selling toys for children and antiques.

Here was Waterloo, Wallon Brabant, Belgium.