May has been a mighty wonderful, mighty busy month around these parts. Before and after and all around my mama’s visit (catch part un ici et part deux ici..and deal with the language mix as it is life in Brussels – Land of the Every Language. Dank u.) we’ve been taking advantage of the many festivals.
There were the tulips at Keukenhof in Holland. So, of course we took a trip to The Netherlands to see the Garden of Europe, which might be the largest flower garden in the world, but don’t quote me on that…just wiki.
Then there was the Fête de l’Europe where the EU institutions opened their doors and Justin got to act like Vedran in the interpreters booth, except he’s ooooobviously not doing it right in this photo, because EVERYone knows you only listen to the speaker through one headphone so that you can still hear yourself interpreting. Oooobviously. But, seriously, you should try interpreting something asap…even if it’s just in your mother tongue. That shizz is cray-hard.
And along with that there was Fête de l’Iris..
So, in front of Brussels’ royal palace there’s this big driveway, where they put a huge stage ready for Jessie Ware or someone of equal Euro fanaticism (I say this from my limited pop culture knowledge here, but people looooved her at Pitchfork), although we’ll never know because not one band performed the whole time we were there. In front of the driveway is a park. In the middle of this park is a gazebo. And on this one particular day, there was a DJ who set up shop playing some kinda dance music. People filled in around the gazebo and filled up the entire park where ever there was sunshine. If it was green and shiny, people were sitting/laying/juggling on it. I’m pretty sure these were the Brusselites who were hibernating all winter. I have no doubt it was the park’s favorite day. It probably felt like a king. Like, all up in front of the palace.
Last weekend was the Jazz Marathon all over Brussels. We staked out the events on the Sablon because we’ve been curious about their weekly vintage markets. where do they get this stuff? Brussels weather is not partial to outside pop-up shops – do they really set up every weekend? who buys that 2k euro salt and pepper shaker? are we walking amongst fancy vintage traders who know exactly what everything is worth? I wanna see that in action.
Aren’t those cow balloons misleading?! No. It’s not for Chick-fil-A..even though they even used a similar font, which should be named Cruelty to American Expats Who Can’t Taste Our Heavenly Goodness For Another 15 Months or maybe a Sans Serif of some sort..
MontgomeryFest 
