Anti-Social Behaviour

I think drinking Red Bull in public should be added to the list of things you just shouldn't be allowed to do. Particularly on public transport.

On my train this morning was a big, hideous middle-aged woman drinking this stinking foul stuff. She looked like a bull but without the ring through her nose. God knows how the woman whose head she was dangling it above coped. That stuff smells like vomit. Bleurgh!

Above image: The man in the row behind just opened a can of Red Bull with devastating results

We're

ba-ack! And by gum was it was nippy in Belgium.

After a delightful night at Travelodge Kings Cross Royal Scot (really DON'T stay there - read my review on TripAdviser - its a noisy shithole) we got Eurostar to Brussels bright and early Sunday morning as planned. It was quite a comfy journey, the time whizzed past and 2 and a bit hours later we were there.

First thing we did was leave our bags at the train station and head off to the centre. There was a little Christmas Market on there so we browsed, had hot chocolate and went into the Musee de la Ville de Bruxelles just to have a look at this little chap's clothes. As promised in the guidebook, they do actually display his outfits. I particularly liked the Cosmonaut, Elvis and the Mexican Cowboy. But he had all sorts: different national dresses, schoolboy, train driver. Shame that he was all naked again when we saw him.

Then we had our first sample of Belgian food which was more of a mixture of French & Dutch it being croque monsieur and bitterballen (two of my favourite things). P doesn't really care much for bitterballens which means I can eat most of them myself he he. Then after one more wander around the beautiful main square it was back to the station, on the train and an hour later we were in Bruges.

Our hotel was much nicer than the doss house we stayed in on the previous night. Our room overlooked the pretty Japanese Garden. Although the hotel was almost fully booked it was nice and quiet and not too many other guests around. We unpacked and went for a little wander. There's not a whole lot around in this area but we did uncover a really nice little bar which served what looked like lovely food. We intended to come back for dinner on another night but when we did it was closed.

MONDAY

Next morning, on our way into the town centre we stumbled upon the 'Friet Museum'. I said 'No, it can't be' but oh yes it was. It is a museum dedicated to chips/French Fries/Frites - whatever you want to call them this place actually had potatoes displayed in glass cabinets. I mean we couldn't not go in. And we also learned the proper way to make Belgian Frites (double fried don't you know)

The Christmas Market here is a bit lame. They had all the little huts but they mostly had woolens on sale and the others sold nasty food and drinks. Later that night P had a hot chocolate with rum which almost blew her head off. It must have been all rum and no hot chocolate it was truly vile.

We had a look at the Belfry but decided that walking up the tower would most likely kill us and opted to marvel it from the ground. I'm sure the view up there was splendid! Instead we went for lunch where P had her first bucket of Moules Frites and I had Flemish Stew. I can report that both were Yum-mee!

After a few wrong turns we managed to find the Heiligbloed Basiliek (Chapel of Blood) which claims to have a phial of Christ's blood. This is a lovely little church which is tucked away in a corner of a backstreet square. It has the most amazing pulpit in the shape of the globe and is suspended high up on the wall. After that we headed off to the Chocolate Museum. I found this quite dull (not as bad as the Frites Museum though) but I did like looking at all the old chocolate wrappers and packaging. There was a chef on hand to display how to make praline. Belgium is a bit like chocolate aversion therapy because after one day of seeing a chocolate shop literally every 3 yards you can't bear it any longer.

Back at the hotel we decided that it would be just rude to not make use of the facilities so we booked ourselves into the sauna, jacuzzi and steam room. Armed with big fluffy bathrobes and armfuls of towels we unlocked the door and hooray! we were the only people in there. Yay I could skip around naked which is so much more relaxing! An hour and a half later we emerged deep cleaned and totally relaxed.

TUESDAY

We went back into the centre and had another wander around a slightly different area so we could visit Onze Lieve Vrouwerkerk (The Church of Our Lady). I really liked it in there. They had music playing through the speakers which added to the atmosphere. P said it was a Tozet (or however you spell it) which you just sing or play (this one was string music) over and over. Whatever it was I really liked it.

The Groeninge Museum has Hieronymus Bosch's Last Judgement on display and I wanted to see is so off we went. I really liked this museum and saw some wonderful paintings by artists who were new to me and who I'll investigate further.

After lunch we visited St Salvator-kathedraal. It has some truly amazing artwork in there. I found it slightly creepy but P loved it.

That evening we went to Winter Wonderland. P was most eager to go here. I definitely had my doubts. Mainly because it was kept at a constant -6 degrees so that the ice sculptures don't melt. In actual fact it was a nice thing to visit. It was just a big room made from ice which was full of ice sculptures. And there was a bar where we felt it was for the best to drink a shot of vodka from a hollowed out ice cube.

WEDNESDAY

Our last day so it was back to Brussels for us where once again we put our bags in the left luggage and headed off into the town centre for one more wander and lunch. I had oysters for the first time and can report that they are most acceptable and as such have been added to my list of Food I Like.

Some last minute shopping (well it is actually illegal to refuse to bring chocolate back from Belgium isn't it?) and one last drink in a quaint bar on the square it was back on Eurostar for us. The journey was going quite nicely thank you until we stopped at Lille where at least 2 thousand screaming brats embarked all sugared up and hyper after their treat to EuroDisney. Little bastards. I don't think kids actually like Mikey Mouse and all that crap. I know I wasn't that interested when I was a kid. My theory is that parents think that this is something their spawn will like and take them whether they express an interest to go or not. Its just down to Disney's marketing which goes along the lines of 'Children who are deprived of a visit to DisneyLand will grow up to be crack addicts and wife beaters'. Honestly. Just look at the advert.

Anyway we had a v. nice time in Brussels/Bruges. We did loads of stuff but never felt like we were rushing around.

Next stop: BARCELONA New Year's Eve. Yeee-har!

Bruges

Hooray!  Sock Monkey & P are off on a little holiday.  Tomorrow we are going to Bruges. We're staying in a lovely 4* hotel which has a sauna, steam tub & jacuzzi and overlooks one of the canals.

The Christmas Market is on so we'll be wandering through that trying to find nice things to buy. Then we will visit the Markt area and attempt to climb the Belfort (bell tower which has 366 stairs!).  I quite fancy having a look in the Basilica of the Holy Blood the interior of which is described as 'bizarre'. We also plan to visit Engels Klooster which is an English convent. You ring the doorbell and a nun answers and lets you in!  I'm also looking forward to visiting the Groeninge museum which has a collection of paintings by Hieronymus Bosch, including 'The Last Judgement'. I do like Bosch and his weird paintings.

We are going on Eurostar and so have to go to Brussels first.  We have some spare time there so I want to visit the Musee de la Ville de Bruxelles.  Several time a year the Manneken-Pis (the statue of the little peeing boy) is dressed.  Yep they put clothes on him.  In fact they have a dedicated dresser who designs and makes his clothes.  It all started in the 18th century when the statue was stolen and left outside a brothel.  Louis XV apologised and offered the statue an outfit to make up for his embarrassment. So his first outfit was a gold brocade suit.  Henceforth the little statue was presented with costumes 4 times a year and so far he has accumulated 784 different outfits.  These include an Elvis Style jumpsuit and a Cosmonaut's space suit. Nowadays he gets a new outfit roughly every month. Anyone can propose a costume and each proposal goes before a committee. Once accepted the little statue is dressed at a formal ceremony where he turns his pee into wine.  How on earth could I miss this!

And of course I have to bring back some Belgian food.

I shall give you a full report on my return!

Catch Up Time

I know, I know.  I've been a very bad little monkey in the updating the blog area.  But Sock Monkey has been soooo busy!  Sock Monkey is never in and doesn't want to update at work in case I-Know-Who sees me (this tune follows her around: da da da DAAAAAAA!).

So I have written all about what I have been doing for months but have written it in little bite sized chunks.  So you don't have to read a 40 page post.

What a considerate little Sock Monkey! :)

The Undesirables Have Gone!

They have been evicted, they have been evicted (sung to the conga tune).

Got home the other night and both Mr & Mrs Undersirable had their front door open (as opposed to it hanging off its hinges) and were rummaging around in carrier bags.  This, however isn't unusual.

But I have discovered that these were no ordinary carrier bags.  Woah no.  These must have been their suitcases!  For the very next evening I arrived back at Sock Monkey Mansions to discover their keyhole taped up and an eviction notice taped to their front door.  They have 14 days to make arrangements to pick up anything they have left then they are vaporized.  Or something. Probably move into some other poor buggers' block.

I think it may have been Mr Undersirable leaving the gas on and passing out/going out or whatever he did.  The Authorities frown upon people blowing up entire blocks of flats.

Bye now! *waves*

La Damnation de Faust

P's birthday present to me was tickets to see Berlioz's 'La Danmation de Faust' at the IMAX.  It was being staged at the Met Opera Hose in New York and transmitted live to London.  The thing that made it extra specially exciting for me, though was that Robert Lepage had staged it.  And as I have said before, he is my favourite theatre director.

The sound system in the IMAX is amazing and that, coupled with the big screen made me imagine that this would be almost as good as seeing the opera live.  I had tried to get tickets for the showing at the Barbican but they had sold out but the IMAX would be much better due to this fantastic sound system.

Lepage has used interactive film as part of the staging.  The performers can trigger different pieces of footage to be projected onto the scenery with their movements and voices.  So although the actual set is on 4 levels and simply looks like 4 large open cubes, 4 rows high we have footage of people sinking into deep water, a cathedral's stained glass windows, horses galloping and grass blowing in the wind to mention just some.  I was so excited to see what he had done.

The show stared off with an introduction to the opera by Susan Graham who sang the part of Marguerite.  She was fantastic. Beautiful voice.  Then we saw the conductor, James Levine walking to the pit. Everyone actually did refer to him as Maestro!  Why do music (as opposed to bus) conductors and mad scientists always have hair like Albert Einstein's?  Simon Rattle?  I rest my case.  Lights down, audience hushed, conductor taps his baton and here we go! 

5 Minutes into the opera we knew we were going to be sorely disappointed.  Whoever directed the camerawork is one truly amateurish director.  The camera zoomed into the singer's faces.  It was so close we could see if they had fillings or not.  And we could see every tiny bead of sweat on their faces.  When the camera wasn't zooming right in and cutting every single other part of the stage out it was panning left, right, up, down! A 4 year old could have done better.

Because we could not see the whole stage we could not see how it worked properly.  We missed a lot of the video effects and completely missed the grandeur of so many singers, dancers and acrobats on stage.  What a missed opportunity!  It must have been phenomonal to see it live on stage and not through someone else's eyes.  The camera work gave you the effect of looking at the stage through a telescope.

I loved John Relyea as Mephistopheles.  Is it bad to say you loved someone's interpretation of the Devil I wonder? Did like his red outfit. And a special mention for Marcello Giordani who played Faust.  Although we started watching the opera at 6pm in London this was actually a matinee performance in New York.  Marcello stood in for an ill performer to play the part of Pinkerton in the evening performance of Madame Butterfly.

I do hope the Met manage to sort out the transmission of their operas. Its a brilliant idea and there are several more in this season but based on Saturdays filming and the very negative comments coming from the audience in London not many tickets will be sold here.  Robert Lepage was apparently watching a live transmission in Los Angeles on Saturday.  I wonder what he made of it?

I Have Become What Age??

Harrumph.  Sock Monkey is, like Queen Victoria, not amused!  Next thing I'll be picking up my bloody pension.  Oh actually, no I won't.  We don't get pensions any more.  I'll be raking through bins scravanging for food. 

In order to mark the momentous occasion of Sock Monkey turning another year older but not much wiser some friends and I went out for Sunday Lunch at a nice new place in Crystal Palace which I'd been keen to try out.  And I wasn't disappointed.  My Mr Piggy Pork was just delicious.  

And there were gifts!  Which softened the blow.  My favourite, though, had to be the notebook with a red cover and picture of Chairman Mao on the front.  It matches my watch. I like to ask "what time is it?" and reply to myself  "I don't know lets ask The Chairman". He waves his arm in time to the second hand. Like the one above but mine has a red face.