« I Went: Europe | Home | Hosts and Guests »
November 26, 2005
Il neige
Brussels has been hit by a freak snowstorm.
According to a Francophone newspaper I'm not going to link to because so few of my readers read French, the storm this weekend was one of the three most severe of the previous 100 years--for this time of year, anyway. Brusssels doesn't normally get 10 to 15 centimeters of snow in late November. (Actually, it rarely gets 10 to 15 centimeters of snow, but it's more likely in January or so than in November.) We woke this morning to--that's right, you guessed it--a winter wonderland, and I convinced Matt to take photos of the view from his balcony.
Here's a view from the guestroom balcony, which faces east:
I find the chimneys and snow-covered pitched roofs quite charming.
To the east of Matt's apartment is this lovely park. In mid-morning it was full of children sledding and building snow people.
Here's the street to the northwest:
Below is the view to the northeast--the dome at the right is the Palais de Justice.
This apartment, which is on the seventh and final floor of one of the tallest buildings in the area, has been a lovely place to be in while it's nasty outside. Last night we got home around midnight and watched it snow for a couple of hours--big, fat, wet, mushy flakes. This morning we had a leisurely breakfast and watched it snow some more. About noon the snow tapered off, and the temperature rose above freezing, and the snow started turning to icky, soggy piles of misery. Then, because Matt and his partner are lovely, generous hosts, they took me out in that slushy snow, and we walked to Pierre Marcolini, the finest chocolatier in Brusssels.
We did a little additional shopping, then came home. Matt lit a fire, we watched How to Marry a Millionaire, and we ate REALLY good chocolate. Right now I'm drinking a Kriek (an absolutely WONDERFUL Belgian cherry beer) and blogging; Matt is knitting (he's very good and has helped me with my stitches) and Leo is making dinner, which we'll soon eat. After that, well, we'll no doubt do something glamourous and exciting, because you can't just spend all weekend sitting by a comfortable fire, eating chocolate, drinking beer and watching TV--oh wait, you can!
Posted by holly at November 26, 2005 1:51 PM
Thanks for sharing the photos. Lovely! :)