I had a quick business trip to Brussels during the week, with a free evening and good weather, so most of the photos in this blog are from there. There are of course some “local” images at the end.
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After my usual routine of landing at Brussels airport, making my way to the hotel, hanging the clothes for the next day etc., I descended into the metro and went to Place Ste-Catherine:
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The square was full of people enjoying the warm evening. It is one of my favourite places in Brussels:
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Wall art:
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Rue de Flandre:
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Shop, Rue de Flandre. Yes, this is a real dog sleeping in the shop window:
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This restaurant on Place Ste-Catherine holds fond memories for me. When we lived here in the 1990s, I would bring my then 8-9 year old son here for a Dad-and-son lunch of traditional Belgian food like stoemp or moulles:
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I ended the evening at The Monk, one of my 3-4 favourite watering holes in Brussels, where, as I discovered on this occasion, they also make excellent spaghetti (man does not live by beer alone):
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Next morning, I had a meeting at the Commission at 9:15, but as I am an early riser, there was time for a walk in the nearby Parc Léopold, another favourite spot of mine:
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On the way to meeting later in the morning, I passed this building. It shows off one feature of Brussels’ European quarter. It is not just a place where the EU institutions are located, but also offices of numerous business lobbies and, as seen here, regions of EU member countries that also feel the need to be represented in the capital of Europe. I liked that this particular building was shared by four regions from Germany, Italy, France and Poland:
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Brussels is full of modern architecture, which I happen to like, a lot. This is the new Council building:
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And these buildings are near the European Parliament:
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Entrance to the Parlamentarium, the public exhibition area of the European Parliament:
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Plaque at the European Parliament, honouring the Solidarity movement that was a big contributing factor to the demise of Communism and paved the way for the subsequent reunification of Europe. With all the problems, we are still much better off today than before 1989:
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An iconic image, in front of Berlaymont, the Commission’s headquarters:
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My meetings done, I was back at Brussels airport less than 20 hours after arriving the night before. My last Brussels picture this time was the Tintin rocket in the departure hall:
More photos from my morning walk in the park are available here.
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Back in the office on Friday, we went for lunch together, and I took this casual portrait of Carolina, which all involved liked very much:
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A couple of images of beach life; this one in the middle of the afternoon:
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And early in the morning:
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At the weekend, I was out and about on my bicycle as usual. This is road between Busot and Jijona, the world capital of turrón:
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The Río Seco was for once not completely dry, and the goats liked it that way, apparently:
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It is by now a tradition to pay a visit to the mercadillo every Sunday, usually to buy some olives and a roasted chicken for lunch. But I always take a walk through the fruit and veg section:
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The vendor’s shirt says “taste me”:
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And finally two photos from my usual Sunday afternoon activity, a beer at one of the beach bars while watching the people on our own Playa Muchavista:
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Feeding time on the beach:
