Zaventem

Now that the blog is up and running, we can show you some pictures of things described in the first post, plus tell you some interesting facts about our first apartment here in Belgium.

While we are awaiting the arrival of our "stuff" from the States, Avnet is putting us up in nice temporary accommodations in Zaventem.

That's our apartment above the "tiles * ceramica" sign -- that is our terrace off the living/dining room.

The living room, then foyer, then view back to the kitchen/dining room (and Troy!).

To be technical about it, our apartment is just over the provincial border from the Bruxelles Capital Region into Vlaams-Brabant, and on a commune level, our address is at the intersection of 1930 Zaventem, 1932 Sint-Stevens-Woluwe, and 1950 Kraainem. But, that is splitting hairs unless you are attempting to use Google maps.

Zaventem et al are small towns that are now part of the Brussels/EU/NATO metro-area. Like the rest of Brussels, they also suffer from an utter lack of urban planning. There are completely beautiful, historic buildings right next to utterly hideous remnants of the 70s.

Flemish row house

 
 

View from the terrace across the alley


View up the alley

Sint-Stevens-Woluwe

Still, Zaventem is a livable place, with banks, pharmacies, groceries etc...nearby. Transit by Metro is a bit further, but there is a bus stop located across the street (the Flemish carrier De Lijn).

Advantages of living in Zaventem: Well-furnished apartment; close to Troy's office in Diegem; close to every home improvement and home furnishing mega-store in Brussels (Ikea is just the tip of the iceberg!); exposure to Flanders and the Flemish language; on auto-dealership row, which makes walking to test-drives a possibility.

Test-driving an Aston-Martin (yeah right)




Actually, just passing the dealership while walking to the 'O Cool', the gourmet-food-store-slash-frozen-food-emporium.

Disadvantages: aforementioned stinky smells; construction noises at early hours; long commutes downtown via multiple modes of public transit; oddly named "Family Game Center" casino located in the basement level of our apartment building.

This is the street view of our apartment building, complete with casino, just across the alley from the pretty historic row houses above.

On the whole, though, this is a pretty nice place to be in the short term...