Easy Listening in the Belgian State Archives....

It was about time, but I spent the whole day in the archive today. I left the US two weeks ago today and I'm as settled as I can be. It felt good to be back among documents and books and to have a purpose to my day. Yes, there will be plenty of travel and time off -- the girlfriend booked her ticket for the first week in November! -- but it's time to get to work. So, I figured I'd share two things this post: the commute and my first day of work. (Neither are too exciting, but made an impression on me. Like I said not all of this will be crazy tales of me escaping EuroPol or making a fool of myself in French....)

It takes me no longer to walk from my place near Place Louise to the archive just behind the fine arts museum than it did to walk fro my car in T-Lot to Wood Hall when I was back at UConn. The major difference is that instead of walking by whatever is festering in the lake outside the Chemistry building, I take my life into my heads crossing the street and walk past some of the most beautiful spots in Brussels.

Walking in Brussels is easy enough. In fact, it's a pretty walkable city. (Your feet get used to the cobble stones after a while, but I'm interested to see what happens in the rain and the winter....I already saw one poor woman, I think a judge or lawyer (she was wearing a robe, and in Europe often times lawyers wear robes in court) wipe out in her heals.) The major pain is the traffic. It's terrible -- evidently there was no drivers licensing until the 1960s -- and the only way -- and I mean only way -- to make it across many tough intersections is to just step out into traffic, and that includes the (wonderful) trams. If there is no light -- and not every crosswalk has a light -- you just gotta go. Place Louise is one of the most congested spots and, right now, it's under construction so that makes it worse, but enough of that.



After surviving the first 200 feet or so of my commute, it becomes something different, a little surreal even. As I head from Place Louise I pass the Palace of Justice on my left. It's huge. Bigger in area than St. Peter's in Rome (but not as beautiful.) On the right are newer offices with judges and lawyers running in and out in black robes with white cravats and something that kinda of looks like a fur scarf, but probably isn't. (Yes, ignorant American!)



Then it's a sharp right turn down Rue de la Régence and toward Place du Petit Sablon, one of the prettiest squares in the city and past Notre Dame du Sablon, one of the prettiest churches in the city. A gothic chruch from the 15th/16th century, it's not a bad thing to see at the start (and end) of the day.

Then it's down a narrow side street -- cobble stones all the way -- to the State Archives which are housed in a lovely neo-Stalinist style building.

When you walk in, there is a picture of the king, Albert II and his consort Queen Paola. The same picture graced the walls of the Belgian consulate in New York. I don't know why, but I always notice them and look for them in official buildings. I know the President's official picture is in American government offices and such, but these pictures are just different. I guess it's just part of the (generalized) American fascination with the concept (and reality) with royalty. On Sunday I went to Mass at the main cathedral here, Sts. Michel et Gudule, and at the end of mass (which was said in Dutch and French) there was the "priere pour le roi" (prayer for the king).

Now inside I went to floor -5. No, that's not 5 floors under ground, it's up. I really don't know why they use the negative sign, but they do. Anyway, today I decided to go to the library to look over a diary of a Belgian woman who lived in Brussels during the war. The diary has been edited with a lengthy introduction and takes an interested view of the war. The woman, Constance Greaffe, was of English, French, and German extraction and was partial to the *German* side during the war! Others in her family were not. One of her sisters actually housed CRB delegates and was more decidedly pro-English. Anyway, that's what's there.

The librarian does not speak English so I muddled through in my French -- and pointing -- to find out how to order up a book. Until about 11am I was the only other person in the room, but that's okay because we were listening to Belgian easy listening radio which, oddly enough, is a lot like easy listening back in the US. Actually, it's the same because it was all American, except for the ads and traffic update.

Now, I will say I don't think the librarian -- who is extraordinarily nice -- has a great deal to do day-in and day-out, so the radio, I guess, fills the void, but I did find it weird to be in a library -- there were books around me, signs to be quiet -- and be listening to music. It was doubly weird to be in a foreign country and listen to the exact same music I could hear on a light classic rock station back in CT or NY. I'll make sure to bring my iPod tomorrow, maybe some classical would suit the mood better.

What is really nice about such an easy commute is that I can come home for lunch and 1) eat at home and save some money and 2) hop on Skype to talk to the girlfriend before she heads to work in the morning.

The rest of the week will be more of the same, I'll post if something exciting goes on. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the weekend...will I attempt to leave Brussels and go to Antwerp, maybe?! I just don't know....