Bruxelles Un

It's been forever since I've written so I have a lot to catch up on. Brussels was great, it's such a happy, vibrant place. All the people there are super friendly and always willing to help. Also, even though it was cold most of the time and the sky was usually gray, the streets and the people were full of color. Jasmine even liked to comment on the color scheme for the metro lines; the colors were nice candy colors, so all of the maps and guides were super vibrant.

Well, just my first overview. I have now been to the following museums in Brussels.

1. Musée d'Art Ancien (Ancient art, not really my thing, but it was great to hear Jasmine comment on the pieces since she took Honors Art History at UT).

2. Autoworld Brussels (whenever I think of cars I automatically think "TyHow would be jealous," which is exactly what happened at this car museum. Most of the cars were old, but it was really neat to see a European perspective on classic automobiles).

3. Musée de la Banque Nationale de Belgique (The National Bank of Brussels Museum; I really enjoyed it, it taught me all about money supply, inflation, deflation, the euro, and the functions of the European Central Bank! Also one of favorite rooms showed forms of currency since the Roman Empire. My favorite was the Belgium Franc right before the introduction of the euro, it had pink, purple, blue, and green flowers, abstract art, and beautiful French writings. I wouldn't have switched had my currency been that gorgeous, then again, the pound has Adam Smith, as Asher likes to repeatedly point out!).

4. Musée BELvue (History of Brussels museum, it was interesting and I love learning about urban planning and architecture for some odd reason).

5. Musée du Costume et de la Dentelle (As you can probably tell, it's the Museum of Costumes and Lace! I think Jasmine most enjoyed this museum especially since the main exhibit was 60s clothing. I just kept thinking that my mom would really enjoy it, all the patterns, fabrics, and mod fashion. The lace was very interesting as well and I still don't understand how lace it made).

6. Coudenberg, Ancien Palais de Bruxelles (This is the Brussels ancient palace dating back to the 11th century, mostly it's just stones but I love imagining princes and queens and such galavanting around in gold lined costumes with iron chandeliers and tapestries on the wall).

7. Musée des Instruments de Musique (The Musical Instruments Museum, it was very cool, all one would do was walk around with a headphone set and listen to different types of instruments, different music genres, and different musical styles according to region. I could have stood in front of the piano for an hour listening to it play Rhapsody in Blue, which it did, and I may actually have stood there for an hour).

8. Musée de Jouet (Museum of Toys! It was super fun, but there was a birthday party going on so kids were running around screaming... speaking French, which is cute though).

I just had to put these pictures up, Jasmine is totting around on a wooden horse, and I'm being shown up by a little kid in some sort of magnet game. He told me I was good though, "Tu es bien, mais je veux ca!" I was good, but he wanted it.

9. Musée Magritte (My Favorite! This whole museum was just of the artist René Magritte, who is now officially my favorite artist. He is into surrealism and the museum was covered in his quotes which are oh so characteristic of an artist "The question is not to be or not to be but to be more or not to be" or "Life obliges me to do something, so I paint" or better yet "Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist." Somehow I enjoy this hippie crap... but make fun of it). Note: no pictures were permitted :(

10. Musée des Brasseurs Belges (the Belgium Beer Brewers Museum, it was the smallest museum ever, but we got free beer at the end!)

Ok, I'll fill in the gaps soon. C'est tout maintenant, au revoir!