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Work & BBQs
I was based in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, and now the capital of the European Union, for three weeks in July, as part of a pilot project for Bridgestone. My work involved meeting various technical personnel, marketing staff, tire dealers and service engineers from Bridgestone, as part of the requirements analysis.
It was an exciting job, ranging from suit-and-tie meetings with the Director of IT, BSEU (Bridgestone, Europe) and the Japanese head-honchos at the Bridgestone headquarters in Brussels, to visits to garages in France and UK, discussing usability issues with tire fitters who came to the meeting in greased overalls.
It wasn’t all work though (well, maybe it would be more appropriate to say that I did work for some of the time *wink*). I stayed with Marco, a career political analyst and ex-NATO, and evenings were usually spent in the company of his friends from NATO and the EU, discussing Berlusconi, Bush and Blair over BBQs on his lawn, or watching slide shows of Marco’s trips around the world.
Brussels: The Heart of Europe
Brussels is a city in search of itself. Trying hard to assume its role as the new, trendy heart of the European Union, with more than 10-15 percent of it’s population consisting of foreigners, while maintaining its identity as the seat of Belgian monarchy. Gleaming, impressive buildings of the NATO and the EU Parliament in one of the most boring quarters of the city housing the EU Commissions and embassies in brown, sooty buildings from the 70s provide a study in contrast. On the other side of town, the exciting old parts of the city with the Gland Plaza, Avenue Sablon, the Grand Palace and the Bourse are a far cry from the sleazy streets of Gare du Nord.
Weekends in Belgium
I spent my first Saturday visiting two lovely cities, Ghent and Bruges, to the north of Brussels. These are in the northern territory of Flanders, which for all purposes is a different country, in every way. They even have their own parliament.
These cities used to be bustling ports in the medieval ages, till the river got silted and the boats stopped coming. Then it fell into really bad times, and other ports like Antwerp came into prominence. Now they are major tourist stops.
The best part of the tour was a boat ride through Bruges’ lovely network of canals. No wonder it’s called the Venice of the North. (Interestingly, even Amsterdam is called the Venice of the North!)
Monday, 21st July, was a national holiday in Belgium. I met up with an Indian family from Florida, and we rented out a car and drove to Dinant and Namur, two lovely towns nestled in the valley of the river Meuse.
It is the kind of Europe you saw and fell in love with in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. We took a ropeway lift to the chateau at Dinant, shopped in the flea market and had lunch at a quaint inn along the Meuse, and drove back into Brussels by night-time, munching fresh strawberries all along the way.
My last Saturday was spent in Antwerp (or Antwerpen), a bustling city and one of the busiest harbors in the world.
My visit to the Chateau Bouillon (pronounced Bu-yon) was an exciting trip into the years of the First Crusades, when the European Christian princes (including Count Godfrey of Bouillon) set out to take back Jerusalem from the Turks.
The American monument at Bastogne commemorates the Battle of the Bulge which lasted from December 16, 1944 to January 28, 1945 and was the largest land battle of World War II in which the United States participated. More than a million men fought in this battle including some 600,000 Germans, 500,000 Americans, and 55,000 British. At the conclusion of the battle the casualties were as follows: 81,000 U.S. with 19,000 killed, 1400 British with 200 killed, and 100,000 Germans killed, wounded or captured.
Cheese and Clogs in Holland
If you find yourself in a place where a Coffee Shop sells marijuana, old ladies and children mingle with eager customers under doorways with red lights bang opposite an imposing old church, and where car washing is banned on Sundays, you are probably in Amsterdam. The Netherlands easily combines very liberal attitudes and lifestyle with one of the most orderly and orthodox societies on earth.
Windmills and cows dot the vast, open landscapes. Much of Holland was reclaimed from the water, and no matter where you look, you cannot miss the lovely waterways, canals and dykes. Cheese, clogs (wooden shoes) and tulips are the most famous exports from Holland.
Amsterdam itself is a beautiful city, and a boat ride is the best way to soak in the atmosphere of this naughty city.
Boring UK
I was in the UK for 2 days, as part of an official visit to Bridgestone, UK. Unfortunately, we did not have time for much sightseeing, and had to be content driving miles and miles through the beautiful, but boring countryside, visiting dealers in sad, red-brick towns like Newark, Burton, Northampton, Warwick and Leamington in the British Midlands, the land of Shakespeare.
By the end of the 2 days, I had learnt how to say “Cheez Bye” and had seen enough British weather to understand why the British are such a boring people.
Simply French
Mention Paris, and you can’t help think of the Eiffel tower. For me, it simply meant a 1 hour 15 minutes train ride from Brussels on the high speed Thalys TGV train, running at 300 kmph, meetings at Bridgestone France (which were in French!) and then another Thalys back into Brussels by evening.
Fortunately, this was my second trip to Paris, and memories of the earlier trip about a month back were still fresh in my mind.
Lovely Luxembourg
Not even big enough to accommodate its name on most maps of Europe, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg makes up in style and beauty what it lacks in size. A respected member of the European Union, a tax haven, and a benchmark in quality of life, Luxembourg enjoys a prosperity that nations many times larger aspire toward and envy.
Lovely arched bridges, quaint old quarters, chateaus and imposing villas and palaces jostle for space alongside sleek, glass and steel structures housing international corporate offices and dozens of banking and financial institutions, in perfect harmony.
Finally, after three exciting weeks in Europe, I returned back to India, on Swiss flight LX 155. The return journey was not without it’s own excitement, but that’s another story!
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