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!
Showing posts with label Cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cooking. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
Vienna 13th May 2013
Today was a bit of a let-down... I made my way to the Viennese Jewish Community archive on Seitenstettengasse, which happened to be the site of the Stadttemple I wandered my way to on Friday, but the man in charge of the archive is on vacation this week and I couldn't go in. The building is only open Monday through Wednesday, so I could not have gone in even if I had gone Friday. An unfortunate string of circumstances. I will have to do with the Grubers as I did with Opa's family: email for information when I am home.
Afterward I spoke with a helpful police officer who pointed me to the Vienna City Library in the Rathaus (the city hall, essentially). I made my way there on the subway and spent about an hour and a half looking through record books from the time period of Opa's life in the city. I did not expect too much of great value (it is a small library), and everything was in German (naturally), but it was interesting to see even just the stylistic changes in the city directories, etc., that occurred in the late 1930s... Pictures of Hitler and his ministers and Austrian Nazi counterparts are scatted throughout, along with swastikas and the German eagle, and even the writing often changes to the ornate Fraktur typescript that the Nazi regime first promoted as "Aryan" and later banned as "Jewish."
I wasn't able to find the Najmans in the city directory, but many factors worked against me in that pursuit: the nearly illegible font, my rudimentary (at best) knowledge of German, particularly the specialized legalese German used for the record books I examined, etc.
After I spent some time in the library I went to a market and bought ingredients to try my hand at cooking alone for the first time. It went surprisingly well, and I learned several things: a bit of garlic goes a long way, and you have to take the purple skin off, too; and if you cook sliced sausage long enough it curls into a little bowl shape, great for holding whatever it is you're eating with them. And of course, I saved a good deal of money eating this way!
Later I will cook again and pack my things. My train tomorrow leaves at 06:52 from the Westbahnhof and I'm going to get there with more leeway this time so I don't have another close call like I did in Amsterdam!
Auf Wiedersehen!
Afterward I spoke with a helpful police officer who pointed me to the Vienna City Library in the Rathaus (the city hall, essentially). I made my way there on the subway and spent about an hour and a half looking through record books from the time period of Opa's life in the city. I did not expect too much of great value (it is a small library), and everything was in German (naturally), but it was interesting to see even just the stylistic changes in the city directories, etc., that occurred in the late 1930s... Pictures of Hitler and his ministers and Austrian Nazi counterparts are scatted throughout, along with swastikas and the German eagle, and even the writing often changes to the ornate Fraktur typescript that the Nazi regime first promoted as "Aryan" and later banned as "Jewish."
I wasn't able to find the Najmans in the city directory, but many factors worked against me in that pursuit: the nearly illegible font, my rudimentary (at best) knowledge of German, particularly the specialized legalese German used for the record books I examined, etc.
After I spent some time in the library I went to a market and bought ingredients to try my hand at cooking alone for the first time. It went surprisingly well, and I learned several things: a bit of garlic goes a long way, and you have to take the purple skin off, too; and if you cook sliced sausage long enough it curls into a little bowl shape, great for holding whatever it is you're eating with them. And of course, I saved a good deal of money eating this way!
Later I will cook again and pack my things. My train tomorrow leaves at 06:52 from the Westbahnhof and I'm going to get there with more leeway this time so I don't have another close call like I did in Amsterdam!
Auf Wiedersehen!
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