Day 1, Brussels!
First impressions: An incredibly green city. After 12 years in Leeds, the tree cover in this city is blowing my mind. There are rose-ringed parakeets EVERYWHERE - supposedly up to 10,000 of them - singing and gliding into cavities and holes in the old trees dotted around - and why wouldn't they! So many places to call home. ♥️ The public transport scene is fab - trams, buses, trains and a sensible 60 minute travel time limit for each ticket bought + there's electric car charging at the kerb in at least a few places. The people are friendly and helpful so far. A lack of French, German and Flemish doesn't hold you back.
Something that blew my mind: on the Brussels Panoramic @freetourcom by Belgo / guided by Imix, which was a mix of history, culture and local attractions, we learnt about Belgium's King Leopold II and his 'ownership' and resultant exploitation of the Congo, and his abuse of the Congolese people. I LOVE when we talk openly about European colonialism and the devastating impact of that colonialism on far too much of the world. We talked about colonial overreach in other parts of the world including in India, especially the Bengal famine.
This is a great tour and I highly recommend booking it.
Food: There are SO many vegan restaurants and cafés in Brussels. Many are expensive compared to England, but the food is great so can't really complain, I guess. I'll try and put up a separate post focused on the vegan food we tried here.
TL,DR: Loving Brussels!
🔖 #brussels #parcducinquantenaire #cinquantenaire #greenery #belgium #visitbrussels #visiteurope #longweekend #travel #urbangreen #colonialism #history