Brussels, Belgium
In which I unearth the history of the Grand-Place, and discover that it is the people and the stories that make the city, not the streets and buildings.
If I were asked to innumerate the pleasures of travel, this would be one of the greatest among them - that so often and so unexpectedly you meet the best in human nature, and seeing it so by surprise and often with a most improbable background, you come, with a sense of pleasant thankfulness, to realize how widelyy scattered in the world are goodness and courtesy, and the love of immaterial things, fair blossoms found in every climate, on every soil.
-Freya Stark
When last I wrote, it was about Antwerp - longer ago than I’d like to admit. When I wrote that letter, I didn’t expect that I would be able to wish you a Merry Christmas in my next letter but here we are. Oh, how time flies.
Before I start to tell you about my stay in Brussels, I want to take a moment to send you my best wishes for a wonderful holiday season. I hope it is filled - in the words of Freya Stark - with the best in human nature: goodness and courtesy, and the happiness that the love of immaterial things can bring.
And smooth travels. Of course smooth travels.
Which brings me to Brussels, and the two-word phrase that can strike fear in the heart of the European traveler like almost no other…