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@ -117,3 +117,86 @@ so I tried my best to spend as little as possible on it. |
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Having spent a few days in Munich, recuperating and figuring out my next steps, |
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I continued on... to Brussels! |
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## Brussels, Belgium |
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The bus arrived in Brussels super late at night, and I woke up to the voice of |
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the bus driver over the intercom: "Welcome to Brussels! Donald Trump says it is |
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the shithole of Europe, and he has it right!" So it was a warm welcome. I only |
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stayed in Brussels for two nights; it was more of a pit-stop on the way to |
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Bruges than anything. My hostel was, apparently, on the site of one of Van |
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Gogh's old studios, but that fact was played up in favor of actually making the |
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hostel any good. But the city was nice enough, and despite the bitter cold I |
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enjoyed myself. |
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{% include image.html |
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dir="mr-worldwide" file="brussels-2018.jpg" width=556 |
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descr="Comic murals like this can be find all over the city. Brussels, 2018" |
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float="right" |
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%} |
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Besides being the capital of the E.U., Brussels is also famous for its history |
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of comics. Not just superhero comics, but also political, children's, humor, and |
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historical comics too. While wandering around I visited a number of comic stores |
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with huge selections, almost entirely in not-English (Belgium has three |
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official languages), and there were huge comic murals all over the city. |
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Brussels' comic history would also provide me with my favorite museum experience |
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of the entire trip. |
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The majority of museums I went to in Europe were only loosely ordered. Large |
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collection museums would organize be era, and maybe by year within the era, or |
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perhaps by artist. Those museums are fine for wandering around, but the really |
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good museums are those that tell a story. The Escher exhibit in Lisbon, the |
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Picasso exhibit I went to in Barcelona, and the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam |
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tell the story of a single person's life, and by having that focus can be really |
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compelling for the visitor. Those with a more broad focus have more difficulty |
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being as compelling, but the Belgian Comic Strip Center nailed it. |
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The museum started with a walkthrough of how comics are actually made, from |
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initial blocking, to pencil sketches, to coloring, and finally inking. It |
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covered materials used in past and present, and how digital tools like |
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Photoshop and 3D modeling, which allow the entire process to be done digitally |
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and quickly, have changed the landscape. |
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From there the museum opened up into different sections, some focusing on |
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specific countries, others on a particular artist, others on a theme. Each had |
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a series of wall texts guiding you through the section, not just by giving |
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information on a specific piece, but giving overall information on context. |
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There were sections on specific Belgian artists, famous comic characters, a |
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whole section on comics in propaganda, chinese and japanese comics (_not_ |
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manga), and much more. There were sections on the different mediums that comics |
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appeared, e.g. newspapers, comic books, and posters, and even a whole section on |
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the Smurfs. Overall it was one of the most thought out, well designed museums |
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I've ever been to, and it made the trip to Brussels worth it on its own. |
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After the Comic Center I didn't have much else I wanted to do. I wandered |
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through the tourist-y area, saw the statue of the peeing kid that's apparently |
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famous, and ended up walking a long while to visit what is, according to _the |
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internet_, the best belgian fries joint in the city. It was pretty good (though |
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the best belgian fries I'd have would turn out to be in Amsterdam), and I sat |
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down in a little plaza to eat them. While there I caught the eye, for better or |
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worse, of a guy coming out of a bar, and he immediately bee-lined for me. His |
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English was not solid, but that didn't slow him down in the least. |
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He opened by telling me he was waiting for his taxi, and then immediately |
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launched into a tirade against capitalism, in favor of communism. I told him I'm |
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from the U.S. and we (mostly he) talked about consumer culture, the plight of |
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the working man, and the like. After a few minutes his taxi showed up, he wished |
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me a good trip, and we said goodbye. It was a fun but extremely odd interaction. |
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"Are all Belgians so eager to espouse communism to random passerby?", I'd wonder |
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to myself. |
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After wandering a while longer I decided to just catch a bus back to my hostel. |
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A woman walked by with her two kids while I was waiting at the stop, and turned |
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back to tell me something, though she didn't have hardly any English to work |
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with. After some struggle we managed to land on "no bus". Damn. So I walked down |
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to the metro station to take the train instead. While waiting for the train I |
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overheard on the intercom: "Train delay due to worker strike". Which explained |
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everything instantly. The Brussels public transit workers were on strike, so |
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there was no bus, and no train, and a man (I'm betting one of the workers) was |
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drinking in the middle of the day, waiting for a taxi, and super primed to talk |
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about worker's rights. |
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While it was a funny situation, in a way, it did make my life quite a bit |
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harder. Once I finally got back to the hostel I stayed in for the night, and the |
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next day headed on to Bruges. |
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