Finnish au pairs, 10 years later

When I asked the two attractive young ladies whether they were tourists, they said "yes, we are from Finland but we lived in Brussels before, 10 years ago". They must have seen my surprise because I thought they were young to be talking with nostalgia about times gone by.  So,  they added they were living here as au pairs and wanted to find out what had changed. 

Cinema Vendôme

When you go to the movies at cinema Vendôme in Brussels, you feel like you have gone back to the past. It starts when you buy the ticket at the booth in the street and it never ends, not even when you sink deeply into the red velvet chairs.  The infrastructure has been updated but the feeling of times gone by is definitely very present.  

World Wildlife Fund

The man working for WWF tried to talk this lady into contributing to the good cause. He did his best to attract people's attention by explaining elaborately and seemingly in a convincing way what he stood for and what the purpose of his fundraising was. The woman drew even more attention because of her unusual jacket, colorful striped bag and stuffed animals in a plastic bag she carried over her shoulder. She liked his story that much was obvious. I did not stick around long enough to see whether the man received the contribution he was trying so hard to get.

City sunbathing

It might be a dog, it might be a foot, it might be just about anything ... point is, everyone enjoys the deepening spring and gets the most out of it in his or her way

Easter in Brussels

A gift from Croatia's Koprivnica-Križevac region, this painted Easter egg is on display at Brussel's "Sablon" square. It is customary to give painted eggs at Easter in Eastern European countries. In Belgium the custom is, of course, to give chocolate eggs!  The Atomium, icon of Belgium and symbol of the 1958 World fair held in Brussels, appears on the egg.

The egg painters are Vladimir Dolenec, Branko Matina, Stjepan Pongrac and Ljerka Tropsek.

Easter chocolates

On holidays Brussels always lives up to its reputation as chocolate capital... you can not possibly miss it. People taking photographs of chocolates, guided chocolate tours, tourists relaxing in front of Wittamer. On the square "Sablon",  all brands are present :   Leonidas, Wittamer, Marcolini, Godiva, Neuhaus

Bastille

Breakfast on Parisian terrace, Place de la Bastille.