weekend rundown

as colin farrell says: "if i grew up on a farm, and was retarded, bruges might impress me. but i didn't, so it doesn't." ok not true. we were impressed.

we climbed up the belfry and got some great views of the city. all charming medieval buildings and red roofs.
we wandered a lot (not too big of a place, not a big deal to get lost!) visited the main squares (markt and burg) and, by dave's recommendation, spent the end of our afternoon relaxing in "de garre."
half-sized double-strength house triple shown, served on doily with delicious cheese.
brussels was also great, definitely a mix of new and old, instead of just old, like in bruges. brussels, home to:

"schtroumpfs" and other famous comic characters (like tintin)

...belgian waffles
...pleasing art nouveau architecture (staircase of the horta house featured here, unfortunately couldn't see the whole place because of long lines)...and sweet flemish art, like the fall of icarus (!)

next stop was luxembourg city. casements were closed but we still had an amazing time exploring the bridges, stairways, etc. the day was appropriately dark and damp, fitting for a fortified stony city.

also went to MUDAM, the striking contemporary art museum designed by i.m pei.
languages we heard on the trip: english, flemish, luxembourgish (luxembourgeois?), french, possibly portugese.

things didn't slow down when i got back to paris. my free time this week (vacation not greve, though greve continues full speed ahead) gave me the chance to go to:

1) the aforementioned ysl collection, harry tells me the matisse and duchamp went yesterday for "a bajillion dollars"

2) the salon de l'agriculture (saw some of the biggest horses and bunnies i've ever seen in my life, ogled at fowl and bought redcurrant jam in the "regions of france" exhibition hall)

3) free student night at the jeu de paume, to see the robert frank photography exhibit. the exhibit had a section of shots from a book he made going cross-country in america, and another section of photos he took in paris. very cool. also a couple of videos - one narrated by jack kerouc and featuring allen ginsberg! i hadn't heard of robert frank before. guess he was a beat.

*deep breath* and that is it for now. don't mean to make y'all drool. there is just so much to do here!