Finally Seeing The Atomium

For our first week back in Brussels, we were graced with several consecutive days of sunshine and warm weather. Yes, days plural(!) and in a row. Hooray!!! We wanted to explore more of the city and we knew we must take advantage of the weather windfall by being outside as much as possible. So that first Saturday back, after brunch at Passiflor (a lovely neighborhood café) we rode the metro out to the commune of Laeken to visit a particularly Bruxellois oddity: The Atomium.

Troy standing (in shock!) in front of The Atomium


Constructed as part of the 1958 Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles, (aka Expo 58 aka The World's Fair) The Atomium is essentially a super gigantic atom. It is supposed to represent an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. (For real, I did not make up that number.) Standing 102 meters (~335 feet) high, it is a shiny aluminum-clad steel structure that is as much sculpture as building. The 1958 World's Fair was the first one held after WWII, and the expo came at the height of 50's optimism in "better living through chemistry." Hence, the giant atom.

One of the Art Deco buildings on the Expo grounds. They pre-date the exhibition by ~25 years.


Architecture buffs will love wasting time on the Atomium's website. There is an incredible interactive map of the exhibition grounds. Click on a sector, mouse over a building footprint to see what country it represents, then click on the building you wish to see. There are photographs, sketches, and/or models of each country's national pavilion. Two of my favorites are Thailand and Norway (I have eclectic taste), while Austria is my stock image of an ugly 50s building, my apologies to its architects.

Knowing that a visitor someday will probably want to go up in The Atomium, we confined our visit to the grounds. There was an interesting photo exhibit showing the various national pavilions at the time of their construction, though sadly none remain. Such a waste. However, there is a new pavilion-esque sculpture/building made of yellow beer crates that kind of resemble giant Legos. Full of cultural references, it manages to be subtly mocking while staying light-hearted.

The Pavilion de Bonheur

A friterie (French fry stand) near The Atomium


From The Atomium grounds, we wandered through some of the nearby parks, which we learned were formerly royal estates. We eventually got back on the metro, and rode it down to the Sainte-Catherine area of town. Known as the Marché aux Poissons and built on the former site of Brussels' harbor (sadly, it was demolished in 1870 when the River Senne was filled in), the area is now the fish and seafood district of Brussels. Since it was only about 5 pm, we opted to tour the square and scope out potential restaurants for future visits, all the while eating really amazing ice cream that we purchased from an artisanal chocolatier -- ice cream made by a fancy chocolate-maker, does it get better?

As the sun dipped behind the buildings, and the temperature started falling with it, we knew it was time to go home. A lovely way to say goodbye to summer.

Back to Brussels...

We have been back in Brussels for a week now. Well, to be precise, I have been back in Brussels for a week. Troy had to go to Tongeren (BE) last Tuesday, Nettetal (DE) last Wednesday, and then he drove to Dusseldorf (DE) Sunday evening to be ready for a two-week-long business summit that began this morning, so he has been in Brussels for about a combined 96 hours in the last week.

At any rate, our first visit to the States since moving overseas was a great one. After spending a fantastic Labor Day Weekend in New York City with Troy's brother, sister-in-law, and their two super cute kids, plus hanging out with our NYC friends, we flew to Colorado for two and a half weeks.

Top of the Rock with Empire State Building behind


In Brooklyn looking at the Manhattan Bridge


The Hudson River at Battery Park


Well, again, I was in Colorado that entire time, but Troy had to split his time between working in Phoenix during the week and relaxing in Denver on the weekends. We spent a lot of time with family and friends, enjoying sunshine and the mountains, and generally remembering how great Colorado is!

BBQ at Simone's parents' house with family and friends the day we arrived


B'day dinner for Simone & her dad at The Fort


At a friend's b'day party in Vail


But, after nearly a month abroad, it was back to Brussels for us. We tried a new flight plan this time: non-stop from Denver to Frankfurt (9-ish hours flying time), a short layover in Frankfurt, and then a quick 40-minute flight to Brussels. Pros: Getting the big chunk over with at the beginning; having enough time en route to safely grab some chemically-assisted sleep; getting home in the afternoon and thus only having to stay up for 6-7 hours before bed. Cons: Flying through the continental hub that is Frankfurt's airport -- we had to descend bleary-eyed onto the tarmac, board a crowded bus bound for the terminal, and walk for seemingly FOREVER to our gate. Not fun after a trans-Atlantic flight. Still, on the whole it is a pretty easy way to do it, especially if you don't get flustered by changing gates at a European airport instead of an American one.

And, it was good to have a relatively easy time traveling home as our whirlwind fall schedules began the day after we landed. Brussels tends to follow the school schedule, i.e. it slows down in the summer and picks up again in September. However, because we were traveling during the transition, it has taken a little adjusting to the pace change. It's sort of like running to catch the train and jumping on right as the doors are closing. Everyone else has a seat and some have even started reading their papers, so it feels like everyone is staring at you as you abruptly enter the scene. Like that, sort of.

While Troy has been criss-crossing Northern Europe, I have begun several new activities, the most exciting of which is taking French classes. Troy likes to tease me about getting excited for school, but I have been literally waiting all summer for school to start (as opposed to when I was a kid and it was the opposite). I am taking classes three mornings a week at the lovely Centre D'Etude du Français, located about a 15-minute walk away in my neighborhood. I joined the American Women's Club of Brussels, and I have also started attending rehearsals of the Brussels Choral Society, a choir for which I am auditioning this week. (Look for an upcoming post about the audition results -- hopefully it is a happy one announcing my success as opposed to...well, you know, the other possibility.)

Troy was out of town, so I had to take my own 'first day of school' pic


Though it was hard to say goodbye to everyone in the States, it is good to be back home in Brussels. We are loving this opportunity, and trying to cherish each day (even the rainy ones).

The Drive Home

So, we are actually in the States right now (Troy has business in Phoenix, and I am in Denver), and we realized that we have fallen behind on our blogging. At first, Troy was attempting to come up with a clever post about our drive home from Italy, but he ran out of time and ideas. As such, I am taking over. We have some lovely pictures of our roadtrip home, and basically just wanted to share those.

We took the northern route from Menaggio, Italy, through the Val Bregaglia,  over Maloja Pass to the chi-chi resort town of St. Moritz, Switzerland. An interesting diversion for lunch, but a little rich for our blood.

From there we drove over Julier Pass and passed through a series of incredible high alpine valleys. The drive was beautiful, but technical -- not the type where you zone out or drive with one hand.

We then took a detour to visit the tiny country of Liechtenstein. For those of you not familiar with Liechtenstein, it is home to secret banking and the coolest looking license plates in Europe.

After Liechtenstein, we drove to Strasbourg, France, where we spent the night in the same lovely hotel where we stayed on my birthday. The following day we visited the Strasbourg Cathedral, the church of light-and-sound-show fame Troy featured on my birthday blog post. It was built on the site of a Roman temple, and the oldest part still standing dates from the 12th century. For centuries, it was the tallest building in the modern world, and is an awe-inspiring church even amongst a continent of amazing churches.

After this final stop of the Simone Olympics, we jumped in the car and headed home to Belgium. An easier drive due to the flat landscape, but high motorway tolls in France and heavy traffic outside Brussels made us really happy to get home.

Click Here to View Our Roadtrip Album