From eaa3b1c9942f830e7de38f43606d21ad3724cfb7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Brian Picciano Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2018 11:27:55 -0400 Subject: added brussels to mr-worldwide --- _drafts/mr-worldwide-pt-1-europe.md | 83 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 83 insertions(+) (limited to '_drafts') diff --git a/_drafts/mr-worldwide-pt-1-europe.md b/_drafts/mr-worldwide-pt-1-europe.md index 8a5eb97..023c2c0 100644 --- a/_drafts/mr-worldwide-pt-1-europe.md +++ b/_drafts/mr-worldwide-pt-1-europe.md @@ -117,3 +117,86 @@ so I tried my best to spend as little as possible on it. Having spent a few days in Munich, recuperating and figuring out my next steps, I continued on... to Brussels! + +## Brussels, Belgium + +The bus arrived in Brussels super late at night, and I woke up to the voice of +the bus driver over the intercom: "Welcome to Brussels! Donald Trump says it is +the shithole of Europe, and he has it right!" So it was a warm welcome. I only +stayed in Brussels for two nights; it was more of a pit-stop on the way to +Bruges than anything. My hostel was, apparently, on the site of one of Van +Gogh's old studios, but that fact was played up in favor of actually making the +hostel any good. But the city was nice enough, and despite the bitter cold I +enjoyed myself. + +{% include image.html + dir="mr-worldwide" file="brussels-2018.jpg" width=556 + descr="Comic murals like this can be find all over the city. Brussels, 2018" + float="right" + %} + +Besides being the capital of the E.U., Brussels is also famous for its history +of comics. Not just superhero comics, but also political, children's, humor, and +historical comics too. While wandering around I visited a number of comic stores +with huge selections, almost entirely in not-English (Belgium has three +official languages), and there were huge comic murals all over the city. +Brussels' comic history would also provide me with my favorite museum experience +of the entire trip. + +The majority of museums I went to in Europe were only loosely ordered. Large +collection museums would organize be era, and maybe by year within the era, or +perhaps by artist. Those museums are fine for wandering around, but the really +good museums are those that tell a story. The Escher exhibit in Lisbon, the +Picasso exhibit I went to in Barcelona, and the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam +tell the story of a single person's life, and by having that focus can be really +compelling for the visitor. Those with a more broad focus have more difficulty +being as compelling, but the Belgian Comic Strip Center nailed it. + +The museum started with a walkthrough of how comics are actually made, from +initial blocking, to pencil sketches, to coloring, and finally inking. It +covered materials used in past and present, and how digital tools like +Photoshop and 3D modeling, which allow the entire process to be done digitally +and quickly, have changed the landscape. + +From there the museum opened up into different sections, some focusing on +specific countries, others on a particular artist, others on a theme. Each had +a series of wall texts guiding you through the section, not just by giving +information on a specific piece, but giving overall information on context. +There were sections on specific Belgian artists, famous comic characters, a +whole section on comics in propaganda, chinese and japanese comics (_not_ +manga), and much more. There were sections on the different mediums that comics +appeared, e.g. newspapers, comic books, and posters, and even a whole section on +the Smurfs. Overall it was one of the most thought out, well designed museums +I've ever been to, and it made the trip to Brussels worth it on its own. + +After the Comic Center I didn't have much else I wanted to do. I wandered +through the tourist-y area, saw the statue of the peeing kid that's apparently +famous, and ended up walking a long while to visit what is, according to _the +internet_, the best belgian fries joint in the city. It was pretty good (though +the best belgian fries I'd have would turn out to be in Amsterdam), and I sat +down in a little plaza to eat them. While there I caught the eye, for better or +worse, of a guy coming out of a bar, and he immediately bee-lined for me. His +English was not solid, but that didn't slow him down in the least. + +He opened by telling me he was waiting for his taxi, and then immediately +launched into a tirade against capitalism, in favor of communism. I told him I'm +from the U.S. and we (mostly he) talked about consumer culture, the plight of +the working man, and the like. After a few minutes his taxi showed up, he wished +me a good trip, and we said goodbye. It was a fun but extremely odd interaction. +"Are all Belgians so eager to espouse communism to random passerby?", I'd wonder +to myself. + +After wandering a while longer I decided to just catch a bus back to my hostel. +A woman walked by with her two kids while I was waiting at the stop, and turned +back to tell me something, though she didn't have hardly any English to work +with. After some struggle we managed to land on "no bus". Damn. So I walked down +to the metro station to take the train instead. While waiting for the train I +overheard on the intercom: "Train delay due to worker strike". Which explained +everything instantly. The Brussels public transit workers were on strike, so +there was no bus, and no train, and a man (I'm betting one of the workers) was +drinking in the middle of the day, waiting for a taxi, and super primed to talk +about worker's rights. + +While it was a funny situation, in a way, it did make my life quite a bit +harder. Once I finally got back to the hostel I stayed in for the night, and the +next day headed on to Bruges. -- cgit v1.2.3