Bruce Peter's Blog: Antwerp and Brussels

Some images from last weekend's trip to Antwerp and Brussels:

Antwerp Central Station: a baroque railway cathedral from 'La Belle Epoque'.

Eccentrically-styled Belgian commuter trains, one TV-like and the other doggy-like:

The Post Office and Telegraph Company's symbol.

Luncheon out of doors on a sunny spring day. On the menu was rabbit cooked in a rich sauce laced with beer.

Art Nouveau details on town houses in a very haute bourgeois inner suburb of Antwerp:

On the road to Brussels, I passed Belgian versions of roadside Americana. Love the bowling alley with the cor-ten steel portico:

The Atomium in Brussels, an icon of the nuclear age built for the 1958 World's Fair:

In Brussels, I checked into the recently-opened Pantone Hotel, a boutique establishment themed on the range of standard colours beloved of graphic designers - obviously:

Even the toilet paper was in Pantone colours - but strangely they seemed to have avoided the brown shades.

Above: The underside of an elegant railway bridge and a 1930s commercial frontage.

Grand Place, where the All-Belgium Society for Political Correctness were on parade:

An advertisement for a fitness centre - note how much happier the couple appear with their new bodies (one could really see where their heads were Photoshopped in place):

Parking 58 gives the finest views over central Brussels, but is scheduled for demolition, alas:

Off to a trendy inner city district to see an art exhibition:

At the Argos Gallery, Hans Op De Beek's 'Sea of Tranquility' show features a mysterious futuristic cruise liner in model form, in paintings and in film. What did I think? Well, probably more decorous to have Hans Op De Beek than Hans Down De Front.

Afternoon tea at the swish Cafe Metropole:

Dinner took the form of so-called 'new Flemmish cuisine'. I had carpaccio, followed by eels in spinnach and parsley sauce. Both courses were delicious.