Love Letter from Brussels
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Limited Time Edition (No.20)
August 26, 2015
This time I would like to introduce tourism in Brussels with limited time edition.
Flower Time
I’ve written before about the “Flower Carpet”, an event held every two years where the Grand Place in the center of Brussels – which is said to be the most beautiful square in the world – is covered in flower petals forming a design. As a matter of fact, since 2013, there is another event linked to flowers which is held in the years when the Flower Carpet is not organized. This event is called “Flower Time”. During Flower Time, the Grand Place only plays a minor role while the majority of the event takes place in the Town Hall on the square. The inside of the Town Hall, which boasts a beautiful gothic architecture dating back to the 15th century, is then decorated with bountiful ‘flower arrangements’ (which I think is a more fitting term than ikebana).
This year’s second edition as well was held for a limited number of days from the 13th to the 16th of August from 10:00h in the morning to 22:00h in the evening and welcomed a lot of visitors. Not only were the flowers gorgeous, the interior of the Town Hall that is usually not open to the public is also definitely worth seeing. These two elements beautifully combined were very impressive.
When visiting the event, I was first of all surprised at the boldness of the city authorities to open most of the Town Hall, which is in actual use, to the public, even though just for four days, since the entire building is considered world heritage. The way the flower arrangements are organized is also striking. When I saw that they had even decorated the frames of century-old paintings with big flowers I thought to myself: this would probably be impossible in Japan. Then there was a splendid room that looked like an office of a very important person and it was also full of flowers. I wondered if anyone could get any work done here.
By the way, the entrance fee was 5 euros (a little less than 700 yen). It is an extremely good deal. Next year’s Flower Carpet with its Japanese design is something to look forward to but I’m also excited for Flower Time’s next edition, the year after that.
Open Day at the Royal Palace
Next is the Royal Palace. The palace of the Belgian royal family is located in the center of Brussels. This palace is currently used for official affairs and ceremonial duties of His Majesty the King. His Majesty himself lives in a different palace called the Palace of Laeken, which is located on the northeast outskirts of Brussels.
In my previous letters I’ve mentioned how the royal greenhouses in the Palace of Laeken are made accessible to public once a year in spring. Once a year, around this time in summer, a part of the Royal Palace, which is used for ceremonial duties, is also open to the public. The Palace is open for a month and a half, except on Mondays, starting from the day after Belgium’s national holiday, from July 22 to September 6 from 10:30 to 16:30h.
I have visited the Royal Palace on several work-related occasions but I had not entered all of the rooms that are now accessible. The Royal Palace is a marvelous building that flaunts the past and present glory of Belgium. The ornaments in each room, starting with the ceiling, the walls, the chandeliers… They all are very distinct and very beautiful. Here and there you’ll find photos of the Royal House on the wall, which gives you a feeling of familiarity towards the royal family.
Incidentally, my wife and I were having friends over from Spain and we took them with us to visit the Royal Palace, where we made a little discovery. One of the rooms that are open to the public is actually called the “Goya Room”. Three magnificent tapestries adorn the wall there, all three based on Goya’s designs. According to my friend from Spain, the original design in painting that Goya himself drew hangs in the Prado Museum in Madrid. Next time when I have the chance to visit the Prado Museum, I definitely want to look for that picture!
By the way, the entrance to the Royal Palace is completely free! It is open for approximately two more weeks so I encourage everyone to visit it. For more information: visit http://www.monarchie.be/open
