Me n Brussels

I like Brussels. Not with tourist-first-glance kind of “like”. I didn’t meet too many people who actually like Brussels. Of course there are European capitals which are cleaner, more fashionable, richer, with better night life, with better shoe stores (had to mention :)), but Brussels is special :) It’s sort of more real, but in a nice way. Its not too clean, but that’s how people live – we are messy. It not too well taken care of, but this is how people are – they forget to take care of old things. At the end of the day – this is what makes a city: people. And people you find in Brussels are that way: they like to enjoy lying on the sun in the park, have coffee on the open terrace, they are open to different things, they accept all the things that happen in Brussels, - government issues, constant public transport strikes (people would just work from home, not a big deal), if there’s a green day – drivers really leave cars at home, they would enjoy all those crazy cultural events happening in the city - together with all the tourists... you can see things that don’t come together: graffiti on the wall of old church, homeless guy dancing to the music outside of the latino bar, it seems like people just take it easy and don’t stress about things. At the same time, not to give you the wrong impression, its not all like that - there’s perfectly “normal” around-EUcommission area as well :) There’s also a lot of quiet Belgian neighborhoods…though I gues we attract the city we like, we see what we want to see :) Sometimes I think this city is constantly living on the edge of chaos and order, and people sort of enjoy living their life in this chaordic city.

I love to walk around Brussels and notice things. Luckily there are people who are not scared of “lets go for a walk” invitation. You need sometimes to get away from usual places you go to. You can find some many strange old-stuff shops, famous antique markets, vinyl shops, second-hand book stores, funky cloths shops, hidden cafes, weird karaoke pubs :).

And then now there’s all this Autumn charm :)) And once again I am wondering if I will experience all seasons in Brussels again. Can I stay here for another year?