Disaster has struck, readers! In the course of today's travels I lost not just one but both of my fancy and beloved Sharpie fine-point felt-tipped pens. This is a tragedy. I am writing this entry with a standard issue ballpoint Bic pen bummed off the reception desk... Comparatively it is like writing with hammer and chisel. A moment of silence for my trusty but lost companions, who wrote me through more than half of this trip. You will be missed!
... I promise I am not going crazy, it has simply been another very long day. I do not much care for what I have started calling "travel days," the days when my just-developed sense of normalcy in a city is thrown to the wind and turned upside down in the move to a new one. But, joking aside, such abrupt changes in scenery and situation cannot begin to compare with those Opa and his family had to make between 1938 and 1945. Even on the most elementary level, mine are voluntary moves where theirs were forced. I cannot begin to imagine...
As I wrote previously I opted for the slow (free) route to Paris rather than the €30 high-speed Thalys train. I don't regret it, though there was a curve ball thrown at me...
The train supposedly from Lille to Amiens was actually a train from Lille to Arras with a bus connection from Arras to Amiens. How did I figure this out? Was it the announcements plastered everywhere on the train in French telling me to take the bus after Arras? Or the spoken announcement in French telling me that this was the final stop for the train? No. I blissfully ignored all of those... Who needs a command of French in France? No, my mistake was made apparent when I looked up from my book to see that I was the only person remaining on the entire train. A moment of panic passed when I found a nice man who helped me to right my wrong, and I made the bus.
The bus, driven by an apparent mad man, made great time to Amiens but still arrived roughly 30 seconds after my planned train to Paris left the station. Woops. I waved it au revoir and waited for the next train to Paris, only about an hour later. Luckily Eurail allows me this kind of flexibility, because I may have been stuck in Amiens, otherwise.
(Sidenote: this pen is leaking on me...)
But taking the bus was actually a very good experience. It wound (sometimes hurtled) its way through the smallest villages I have seen yet in Europe and it was nice to see that rural towns here look much like rural towns in the US: most houses have a swing set in the back yard, etc., etc. It was a very intimate and relaxing way to experience France for the first time before the rush of Paris.
In the city itself I had no trouble navigating the underground (much more busy but much more thoughtfully planned, in my opinion, than Brussels') and finding my hostel (which seems nice, if a bit small).
It is exciting to start in Paris. I need to go to the station and fix/figure out all of my bookings, and I'll do my laundry tomorrow night, but the rest of the day is free for wandering.
More on that tomorrow!
Showing posts with label Brussels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brussels. Show all posts
Monday, May 20, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Brussels 19th May 2013
It is a beautiful day here on my last day in Belgium, so I walked into the city center to eat and attempt to change my reservation for 1st June to Amsterdam, which I noticed last night I accidentally made from Toulouse rather than Lyon. Unfortunately the rather unfriendly lady at Centraal told me they cannot make reservations for trains outside of Belgium from here (how did I make the incorrect reservation in the first place? No one knows...). So I will have to do that in Paris. I am a bit worried I may not be able to get to Pau, but more on that if I have to deal with it...
I kept walking past the city center to the European Union Parliament. It was an impressive building but it is closed to individuals, so I could not go inside.
Menno suggested that I should write a bit about hosteling in general to encourage more people to travel affordably like I have been. I think it is a good suggestion, and I think hostels have two major positives that in particular students should consider when traveling: price and atmosphere.
Every hostel's price varies, of course, and in major tourist cities the price will be a bit higher. But I paid €17.00 in Vienna and €17.50 in Brussels per night, the equivalent of roughly $22.00. A night at the Super 8 in Aberdeen, by comparison, costs about $65.00 at least, and the quality is lower than some of the hostels I have been in.
How do hostels offer such a low price? It is simple: in hostels you rent a bed in a dormitory setting rather than an entire room to yourself. Most offer all-male, all-female, or mixed dormitory options, and the dorm life has not been a problem at all; it is a bit like school, just with a few more people in a room (my current room is eight people mixed, in Vienna it was six mixed, in Amsterdam 12 all-male). For the most part everyone I have met has been very kind and very interesting. That brings me to...
Atmosphere. Hostels, frankly, are fun. Students and people our age from all over the world are the primary clientele of hostels and it is exciting to meet people and share stories. The experience is different in every hostel, obviously (I seriously highly recommend the Hostel Ruthensteiner in Vienna... It was amazing.), but most have friendly staff and people which is huge, particularly when traveling alone.
So would I suggest hosteling? Yes! Take the chance to see the world while you're young. As we get older money will get tighter and our expectations will get higher; travel will never be easier than it is today, so do it!
Tomorrow I will spend the day on trains heading to Paris and then locating and settling into my hostel there.
Until then!
I kept walking past the city center to the European Union Parliament. It was an impressive building but it is closed to individuals, so I could not go inside.
Menno suggested that I should write a bit about hosteling in general to encourage more people to travel affordably like I have been. I think it is a good suggestion, and I think hostels have two major positives that in particular students should consider when traveling: price and atmosphere.
Every hostel's price varies, of course, and in major tourist cities the price will be a bit higher. But I paid €17.00 in Vienna and €17.50 in Brussels per night, the equivalent of roughly $22.00. A night at the Super 8 in Aberdeen, by comparison, costs about $65.00 at least, and the quality is lower than some of the hostels I have been in.
How do hostels offer such a low price? It is simple: in hostels you rent a bed in a dormitory setting rather than an entire room to yourself. Most offer all-male, all-female, or mixed dormitory options, and the dorm life has not been a problem at all; it is a bit like school, just with a few more people in a room (my current room is eight people mixed, in Vienna it was six mixed, in Amsterdam 12 all-male). For the most part everyone I have met has been very kind and very interesting. That brings me to...
Atmosphere. Hostels, frankly, are fun. Students and people our age from all over the world are the primary clientele of hostels and it is exciting to meet people and share stories. The experience is different in every hostel, obviously (I seriously highly recommend the Hostel Ruthensteiner in Vienna... It was amazing.), but most have friendly staff and people which is huge, particularly when traveling alone.
So would I suggest hosteling? Yes! Take the chance to see the world while you're young. As we get older money will get tighter and our expectations will get higher; travel will never be easier than it is today, so do it!
Tomorrow I will spend the day on trains heading to Paris and then locating and settling into my hostel there.
Until then!
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Brussels 18th May 2013
If Brussels gave a poor first impression, Ypres did the opposite.
It was a warm and relatively clear day and I have done everything related to Heinz that I need to in Brussels already so I took the chance to catch a train out of the city.
It is a two hour train trip due west to Ypres from Brussels. The trains are smaller and less luxurious on these intercity jaunts but I still got a great view of the countryside. I love spring, even with my allergies. The greens are darker than summer, everything is new. In Belgium rolling hills are broken apart by wooded fence posts and barbed wire holding cows and sheep in their idyllic pastures. It couldn't be more stereotypically rural European, and I doubt it could be more beautiful.
Ypres itself is an ancient city renowned as the site of numerous deadly battles fought during the first world war. It is a pretty and small city, so I got to enjoy most of it throughout the day.
A farmers' market was ending just as I arrived, so I ate a good and affordable lunch and then wandered the fort wall that surrounds the city. It offered an impressive view of the river flowing around the city and the surrounding countryside. It also was a beautiful hike, with a lot of Queen Anne's Lace (Opa's favorite flower) everywhere. It was eerie to think of the many that died here, and I don't know that anyone is certain as to why...
There were two cemeteries inside town and numerous outside. The poem In Flanders' Fields was written about Ypres. I visited both and lingered for some time. They were both very pretty and very sad. I hate war...
I vastly underestimated the amount of walking that a trip like this entails. I am exhausted at the end of every day. I slept for some of the train ride back and am spending tonight in the hostel relaxing. I skyped with Oma and Aunt Audrey tonight, that was very nice!
Tomorrow I think I may see the EU Parliament and the Atomium and then pack. I am not sure what time I will leave in the morning on Monday.
Until tomorrow!
It was a warm and relatively clear day and I have done everything related to Heinz that I need to in Brussels already so I took the chance to catch a train out of the city.
It is a two hour train trip due west to Ypres from Brussels. The trains are smaller and less luxurious on these intercity jaunts but I still got a great view of the countryside. I love spring, even with my allergies. The greens are darker than summer, everything is new. In Belgium rolling hills are broken apart by wooded fence posts and barbed wire holding cows and sheep in their idyllic pastures. It couldn't be more stereotypically rural European, and I doubt it could be more beautiful.
Ypres itself is an ancient city renowned as the site of numerous deadly battles fought during the first world war. It is a pretty and small city, so I got to enjoy most of it throughout the day.
A farmers' market was ending just as I arrived, so I ate a good and affordable lunch and then wandered the fort wall that surrounds the city. It offered an impressive view of the river flowing around the city and the surrounding countryside. It also was a beautiful hike, with a lot of Queen Anne's Lace (Opa's favorite flower) everywhere. It was eerie to think of the many that died here, and I don't know that anyone is certain as to why...
There were two cemeteries inside town and numerous outside. The poem In Flanders' Fields was written about Ypres. I visited both and lingered for some time. They were both very pretty and very sad. I hate war...
I vastly underestimated the amount of walking that a trip like this entails. I am exhausted at the end of every day. I slept for some of the train ride back and am spending tonight in the hostel relaxing. I skyped with Oma and Aunt Audrey tonight, that was very nice!
Tomorrow I think I may see the EU Parliament and the Atomium and then pack. I am not sure what time I will leave in the morning on Monday.
Until tomorrow!
Friday, May 17, 2013
Brussels 17th May 2013
Today has been one of significant ups and downs... I am not sure now whether I am satisfied with how the day went or not.
I started by walking north toward Rue Verte 3, the address of the building in which Opa and his family lived once they reached Belgium in late 1938. It was a fairly long walk (something like two miles) in the rain and I was soaked by the time I reached it. The street is in a much more modern area of town than most of the city center and, much like Klosterneuburger Strasse in Vienna, today it is a poor neighborhood inhabited primarily by Moroccan and Turkish immigrants. I could not find no. 3, so I entered a nearby hotel and asked if either man inside knew of it. One of the men went out with me (in a suit in the rain! They were both very nice) and explained that nos. 1 - 7 all referred to one building demolished only the previous month! It had housed Islamic immigrants for at least sixteen years (as long as he had worked in the hotel) and then been abandoned in the last few. He did not know if the building had stood in the late 1930s.
They also looked up the name Blanchet for me in the phone book online, as a "Mrs. Blanchet, Rue Verte 3" was listed as a reference for the Najmans on the paperwork I found yesterday at the National Archive. Alas, no Blanchets remain today on Rue Verte. C'est la vie.
I wandered my way back to the hostel to dry off, stopping on the way at a large cathedral (signs simply called it "the Cathedral," so it seemed worth a stop), very pretty and impressive.
I cooked my most ambitious meal yet when I arrived back at the hostel. I wondered what it might take to make my own pasta sauce, and recipes I found online did not look difficult, so I gave it a shot. For those who want to play the "Cook Across Europe with Mike" game, it went something like this: I bought canned whole peeled tomatoes, hand crushed them to the right consistency, grated a carrot, chopped an onion and a clove of garlic, boiled them all together and enjoyed the delicious results. I was really impressed. It tasted something like Oma's pasta sauce and the Olive Garden's mixed. So I can't be doing too badly. Protip: 1.2 kilograms of canned tomatoes makes WAY more sauce than one person needs. Again, I am really enjoying cooking and the whole thing cost me €3.83. Can't complain about that...
At 6:00 PM I headed to the Rue de la Regence to attend services at the Great Synagogue. I am starting to get a feel for the city and can navigate fairly well. I got there around 6:30 but the doors were closed, so I did what is best outside a synagogue: I loitered.
It did not take long before a passing woman looked at me suspiciously and reported me to security. A nice man in his early 30s greeted me firmly and asked what exactly I was waiting for. I told him that I would like to attend the service, and a bit about my project. I showed him my passport, and he asked me if I frequented any Jewish communities in the US. I told him that I did not, and he told me that I would not be allowed to enter tonight.
This essentially boiled down to me not being "Jewish enough." He insisted that it is a matter of security, and I understand that, certainly. But it was honestly a little hurtful to not be accepted by a community that I have felt more and more tied to as this project has progressed. It is, frankly, a disappointing commentary on our time that houses of worship of any denomination should feel the need to resort to insularity to defend themselves from perceived threats. I think for the Jews this feeling is doubly strong given both the historic and contemporary tensions that they have and do face as a group.
Anyway, he was just doing his job. I will try in Paris next Friday if I can.
Tomorrow I may either see some last tourist sites in Brussels or, more probably, hop on a train from Centraal to Ypres, the city in Flanders made famous by numerous battles in World War I memorialized in the poem In Flanders' Fields. I memorized the poem in high school for Trem's English class, and I figure it's an excuse to get outside of the city. There are hourly trains and it is a two hour ride, so it should not be too bad.
Until tomorrow!
I started by walking north toward Rue Verte 3, the address of the building in which Opa and his family lived once they reached Belgium in late 1938. It was a fairly long walk (something like two miles) in the rain and I was soaked by the time I reached it. The street is in a much more modern area of town than most of the city center and, much like Klosterneuburger Strasse in Vienna, today it is a poor neighborhood inhabited primarily by Moroccan and Turkish immigrants. I could not find no. 3, so I entered a nearby hotel and asked if either man inside knew of it. One of the men went out with me (in a suit in the rain! They were both very nice) and explained that nos. 1 - 7 all referred to one building demolished only the previous month! It had housed Islamic immigrants for at least sixteen years (as long as he had worked in the hotel) and then been abandoned in the last few. He did not know if the building had stood in the late 1930s.
They also looked up the name Blanchet for me in the phone book online, as a "Mrs. Blanchet, Rue Verte 3" was listed as a reference for the Najmans on the paperwork I found yesterday at the National Archive. Alas, no Blanchets remain today on Rue Verte. C'est la vie.
I wandered my way back to the hostel to dry off, stopping on the way at a large cathedral (signs simply called it "the Cathedral," so it seemed worth a stop), very pretty and impressive.
I cooked my most ambitious meal yet when I arrived back at the hostel. I wondered what it might take to make my own pasta sauce, and recipes I found online did not look difficult, so I gave it a shot. For those who want to play the "Cook Across Europe with Mike" game, it went something like this: I bought canned whole peeled tomatoes, hand crushed them to the right consistency, grated a carrot, chopped an onion and a clove of garlic, boiled them all together and enjoyed the delicious results. I was really impressed. It tasted something like Oma's pasta sauce and the Olive Garden's mixed. So I can't be doing too badly. Protip: 1.2 kilograms of canned tomatoes makes WAY more sauce than one person needs. Again, I am really enjoying cooking and the whole thing cost me €3.83. Can't complain about that...
At 6:00 PM I headed to the Rue de la Regence to attend services at the Great Synagogue. I am starting to get a feel for the city and can navigate fairly well. I got there around 6:30 but the doors were closed, so I did what is best outside a synagogue: I loitered.
It did not take long before a passing woman looked at me suspiciously and reported me to security. A nice man in his early 30s greeted me firmly and asked what exactly I was waiting for. I told him that I would like to attend the service, and a bit about my project. I showed him my passport, and he asked me if I frequented any Jewish communities in the US. I told him that I did not, and he told me that I would not be allowed to enter tonight.
This essentially boiled down to me not being "Jewish enough." He insisted that it is a matter of security, and I understand that, certainly. But it was honestly a little hurtful to not be accepted by a community that I have felt more and more tied to as this project has progressed. It is, frankly, a disappointing commentary on our time that houses of worship of any denomination should feel the need to resort to insularity to defend themselves from perceived threats. I think for the Jews this feeling is doubly strong given both the historic and contemporary tensions that they have and do face as a group.
Anyway, he was just doing his job. I will try in Paris next Friday if I can.
Tomorrow I may either see some last tourist sites in Brussels or, more probably, hop on a train from Centraal to Ypres, the city in Flanders made famous by numerous battles in World War I memorialized in the poem In Flanders' Fields. I memorized the poem in high school for Trem's English class, and I figure it's an excuse to get outside of the city. There are hourly trains and it is a two hour ride, so it should not be too bad.
Until tomorrow!
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Brussels 16th May 2013
It has been a rainy and overcast day in Brussels which has done little to improve the past few days' impression of the city, but I had a productive day nonetheless and learned some exciting new information at the Belgian National Archives.
Because of the rain I decided to take the subway this morning. I was a bit alarmed when a man waiting outside the entry turnstiles sprinted to fit in directly behind me so he did not have to pay the fare... Before I realized what he was doing I was ready to hit him for running up on me so unexpectedly... I laughed afterward.
I got off the subway at Place de Palais, a large and vibrantly green park situated in front of the Royal Palace. The palace is the work place of the Belgian monarchy (they live in a castle on the outskirts of town), primarily constructed by Leopold II, that most genocidal of monarchs... It is an imposing building, though...
I wandered the Rue de la Regence all the way to the Palais de Justice, an enormous and important building in Belgium's court system. The plaza here allowed expansive views of the lower city. On the way I found the "Great Synagogue of Europe," a pretty building watched over (perhaps coincidentally) by a policeman armed with a rifle. Two men outside told me that I could not go in today, as prayers had just begun, but invited me to services at 7:00 PM tomorrow. I intend to go.
I had some considerable trouble finding the Nation Archive, but I stumbled upon the Belgian Jewish History Museum. I went inside and looked at the exhibits and then got directions to the archive from a friendly worker.
After considerable paperwork, I registered as a researcher at the archive and was granted access to the files found for me prior to my arrival by Evelyne Haendel (who has been incredibly helpful throughout the planning and execution of my project... Thank you!). I had no idea what to expect and was impressed by the documents. They showed the date of arrival for the Najmans in Belgium (creating a concrete timeline of events is very important for the project), they confirmed various pieces of Opa's memoirs (Moses Najman was arrested and imprisoned for ten brutal days on Kristallnacht), they showed me pictures, finger-prints, and the signatures of Moses, Chana, and Helene )Moses' is a beautiful signature... And I nearly cried when I saw Chana's...), and, perhaps most exciting, they gave me the names, birth dates, and birth places of Moses' and Chana's parents. I did not expect this information at all. I was able to expand my growing family tree by eight people... I am the descendent of Icek Najman, Chaja Billart, Simche Szmckier, and Reize Kamerman. I will expand my genealogical research to include these people. It is rare to discover eight ancestors in one sitting!
I took copious pictures: my time was limited and my French is neither perfect nor fast. One file did confuse me... It mentions Chana and Opa in Brussels but is dated 1945, three years after Chana was killed at Auschwitz and Opa had made his way to Switzerland. A hand written note on a document dated 1972 mentions this 1945 date but I cannot make out the scrawl, especially in French. I will have to study it more closely.
Anyway, that's enough for today. Tomorrow I will go to the address I found for the Najmans in Brussels and then to services at 7:00.
Until then!
Because of the rain I decided to take the subway this morning. I was a bit alarmed when a man waiting outside the entry turnstiles sprinted to fit in directly behind me so he did not have to pay the fare... Before I realized what he was doing I was ready to hit him for running up on me so unexpectedly... I laughed afterward.
I got off the subway at Place de Palais, a large and vibrantly green park situated in front of the Royal Palace. The palace is the work place of the Belgian monarchy (they live in a castle on the outskirts of town), primarily constructed by Leopold II, that most genocidal of monarchs... It is an imposing building, though...
I wandered the Rue de la Regence all the way to the Palais de Justice, an enormous and important building in Belgium's court system. The plaza here allowed expansive views of the lower city. On the way I found the "Great Synagogue of Europe," a pretty building watched over (perhaps coincidentally) by a policeman armed with a rifle. Two men outside told me that I could not go in today, as prayers had just begun, but invited me to services at 7:00 PM tomorrow. I intend to go.
I had some considerable trouble finding the Nation Archive, but I stumbled upon the Belgian Jewish History Museum. I went inside and looked at the exhibits and then got directions to the archive from a friendly worker.
After considerable paperwork, I registered as a researcher at the archive and was granted access to the files found for me prior to my arrival by Evelyne Haendel (who has been incredibly helpful throughout the planning and execution of my project... Thank you!). I had no idea what to expect and was impressed by the documents. They showed the date of arrival for the Najmans in Belgium (creating a concrete timeline of events is very important for the project), they confirmed various pieces of Opa's memoirs (Moses Najman was arrested and imprisoned for ten brutal days on Kristallnacht), they showed me pictures, finger-prints, and the signatures of Moses, Chana, and Helene )Moses' is a beautiful signature... And I nearly cried when I saw Chana's...), and, perhaps most exciting, they gave me the names, birth dates, and birth places of Moses' and Chana's parents. I did not expect this information at all. I was able to expand my growing family tree by eight people... I am the descendent of Icek Najman, Chaja Billart, Simche Szmckier, and Reize Kamerman. I will expand my genealogical research to include these people. It is rare to discover eight ancestors in one sitting!
I took copious pictures: my time was limited and my French is neither perfect nor fast. One file did confuse me... It mentions Chana and Opa in Brussels but is dated 1945, three years after Chana was killed at Auschwitz and Opa had made his way to Switzerland. A hand written note on a document dated 1972 mentions this 1945 date but I cannot make out the scrawl, especially in French. I will have to study it more closely.
Anyway, that's enough for today. Tomorrow I will go to the address I found for the Najmans in Brussels and then to services at 7:00.
Until then!
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Brussels 15th May 2013
I've felt that something is "off" in Brussels since I got here, but I cannot quite put my finger on what exactly is wrong... The string of minor issues I mentioned yesterday compounded into a poor introduction to Belgium, and I think my "funk" may also have something to do with the location and nature of my hostel.
It is located in what is clearly a poor part of town, an Arabic and Islamic district, judging by the two nearby mosques, the "Gaza" stores, and the "Call Afghanistan: €0.16" signs. To see people piled into such a small space is difficult, particularly given the nature of my project, and it is hard to find Belgium's impressive imperial legacy, its grand gold-clad buildings, as beautiful when I walk through this area in the morning and am reminded of the costs of such splendor...
The hostel itself suffers from a similar syndrome... As opposed to the locally run Hostel Ruthensteiner in Vienna, the Meininger Brussels seems... corporate and detached... There are more people but fewer seem open to chatting... There are more staff but they seem flustered and annoyed rather than interested in the stories of their guests... And the stark modernism and emptyness of the building (formerly a brewery) seems indulgent in a place so crowded as I already mentioned.
But, in any case, I have to press on... I spent today wandering the city as I did on my first days in my previous two locations. Even with everything in mind, Brussels is an impressive city in places, with triumphant architecture that rivals those in Amsterdam and Vienna, remarkable considering that the Netherlands and Austria were historically more powerful on a world scale than Belgium ever was... In the back of my mind, though, I know that much of the wealth in Brussels, many of the imperial buildings and plazas and statues were funded by an exploitative genocide in the Congo that pre-dated the Holocaust and caused the deaths of an estimated ten million people... Each one of those people deserves a story like Heinz and will likely never get one.
I went to Central Station and tried to make reservations to go to Paris, but the high-speed Thalys train, privately run, charges a €30 reservation, so I have decided to take the slower non-reservation trains instead. I decided to make a reservation from Toulouse to Amsterdam on 1st June to ensure that I can get back for my flight to the US on 2nd June. I also tried to reserve a seat from Paris to Pau but the high-speed trains appear to be fully booked, which is alarming, but I was told to try again when I reach Paris. If worse comes to worst, I can take slower regional trains, but that will mean less time to spend in the city itself... I will worry about that when the time comes.
I cooked myself dinner again, this time I tried a new concoction: noodles fried in butter with onions, tomatoes, peppers, and garlic. It turned out to be really good! I don't know why I never tried cooking for myself before; I am really enjoying it, honestly.
Tomorrow I will go to the National Archives of Belgium and spend time there researching Opa's family during their time in Brussels. A woman from Liege who responded to my post on JewishGen.org was very helpful and verified for me that there are files to find there relating to Opa, his parents, and his sister Helen. I am excited to see what information they contain. I hope that they include a Brussels address I can visit.
On Friday night I intend to attend Jewish services. There is a synagogue not far from the Archive. I may find it tomorrow if I have time.
Until then!
It is located in what is clearly a poor part of town, an Arabic and Islamic district, judging by the two nearby mosques, the "Gaza" stores, and the "Call Afghanistan: €0.16" signs. To see people piled into such a small space is difficult, particularly given the nature of my project, and it is hard to find Belgium's impressive imperial legacy, its grand gold-clad buildings, as beautiful when I walk through this area in the morning and am reminded of the costs of such splendor...
The hostel itself suffers from a similar syndrome... As opposed to the locally run Hostel Ruthensteiner in Vienna, the Meininger Brussels seems... corporate and detached... There are more people but fewer seem open to chatting... There are more staff but they seem flustered and annoyed rather than interested in the stories of their guests... And the stark modernism and emptyness of the building (formerly a brewery) seems indulgent in a place so crowded as I already mentioned.
But, in any case, I have to press on... I spent today wandering the city as I did on my first days in my previous two locations. Even with everything in mind, Brussels is an impressive city in places, with triumphant architecture that rivals those in Amsterdam and Vienna, remarkable considering that the Netherlands and Austria were historically more powerful on a world scale than Belgium ever was... In the back of my mind, though, I know that much of the wealth in Brussels, many of the imperial buildings and plazas and statues were funded by an exploitative genocide in the Congo that pre-dated the Holocaust and caused the deaths of an estimated ten million people... Each one of those people deserves a story like Heinz and will likely never get one.
I went to Central Station and tried to make reservations to go to Paris, but the high-speed Thalys train, privately run, charges a €30 reservation, so I have decided to take the slower non-reservation trains instead. I decided to make a reservation from Toulouse to Amsterdam on 1st June to ensure that I can get back for my flight to the US on 2nd June. I also tried to reserve a seat from Paris to Pau but the high-speed trains appear to be fully booked, which is alarming, but I was told to try again when I reach Paris. If worse comes to worst, I can take slower regional trains, but that will mean less time to spend in the city itself... I will worry about that when the time comes.
I cooked myself dinner again, this time I tried a new concoction: noodles fried in butter with onions, tomatoes, peppers, and garlic. It turned out to be really good! I don't know why I never tried cooking for myself before; I am really enjoying it, honestly.
Tomorrow I will go to the National Archives of Belgium and spend time there researching Opa's family during their time in Brussels. A woman from Liege who responded to my post on JewishGen.org was very helpful and verified for me that there are files to find there relating to Opa, his parents, and his sister Helen. I am excited to see what information they contain. I hope that they include a Brussels address I can visit.
On Friday night I intend to attend Jewish services. There is a synagogue not far from the Archive. I may find it tomorrow if I have time.
Until then!
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Vienna to Brussels 14th May 2013
I am on the train again today, traveling the opposite direction as last time, heading to Brussels, Belgium. It is another long ride, just under 11 hours. But again it feels shorter than a similar time would on a plane, so it is not too bad. The weather is nice again, at least, so I get an excellent second look at the German countryside.
It seems strange that my time in Vienna is done... I have already been in Europe a week, and I have a little less than three left. I am very happy with my time spent in Vienna. I have a better feeling now for the city than I possibly could have a week ago, and that will certainly help me to write Heinz.
Visiting Opa's home was the most moving part of the trip to Vienna by far. It was strange to stand so near a place where Opa spent so much time, and where such injustice took place...
In this journal I have already written over 20 pages in my week in Europe, and I think it has been helpful in organizing my thoughts and keeping myself focused. It would be very simple to lose my way in the vastness of the cities I visit, in the vastness of Europe, but I have to stay on task.
Seeing Bavaria in its early summer makes me long for Vermont, though, and a string of chaotic occurrences on my arrival in Brussels (trouble finding my hostel, trouble finding an ATM, trouble finding food, only one washer and dryer for the entire hostel, and my padlock is too big for the lockers here!) have made me feel homesick (not for the first or last time, I am sure). I am enjoying this trip and my project, of course, but I will be happy to be home in June.
I also am inspired by my travels here to travel more in the US. Ethan, we've talked about it and you wanted a mention in my famous blog, so here it is: Let's make a trip happen, maybe on Thanksgiving like we discussed!
Anyway, I am tired. I am going to spend the rest of tonight relaxing and tomorrow I may meet my friend Kaylie who does not live far from Brussels and has offered to show me around the city. Then, as soon as possible, I will visit the national archives to see what information their records hold. I hope that there is an address, since Opa left none for Brussels, just a description of the area.
Until tomorrow, everyone!
It seems strange that my time in Vienna is done... I have already been in Europe a week, and I have a little less than three left. I am very happy with my time spent in Vienna. I have a better feeling now for the city than I possibly could have a week ago, and that will certainly help me to write Heinz.
Visiting Opa's home was the most moving part of the trip to Vienna by far. It was strange to stand so near a place where Opa spent so much time, and where such injustice took place...
In this journal I have already written over 20 pages in my week in Europe, and I think it has been helpful in organizing my thoughts and keeping myself focused. It would be very simple to lose my way in the vastness of the cities I visit, in the vastness of Europe, but I have to stay on task.
Seeing Bavaria in its early summer makes me long for Vermont, though, and a string of chaotic occurrences on my arrival in Brussels (trouble finding my hostel, trouble finding an ATM, trouble finding food, only one washer and dryer for the entire hostel, and my padlock is too big for the lockers here!) have made me feel homesick (not for the first or last time, I am sure). I am enjoying this trip and my project, of course, but I will be happy to be home in June.
I also am inspired by my travels here to travel more in the US. Ethan, we've talked about it and you wanted a mention in my famous blog, so here it is: Let's make a trip happen, maybe on Thanksgiving like we discussed!
Anyway, I am tired. I am going to spend the rest of tonight relaxing and tomorrow I may meet my friend Kaylie who does not live far from Brussels and has offered to show me around the city. Then, as soon as possible, I will visit the national archives to see what information their records hold. I hope that there is an address, since Opa left none for Brussels, just a description of the area.
Until tomorrow, everyone!
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