…and the Brussels Christmas Market

The flight from Brussels departs at 10 am, not enough time to take the express in from Maastricht, even with the new high-speed link.  One of the big downtown hotels was having a special, though, so I slipped over the night before.  I arrived in time to take a quick walk through the central Market, unique in it’s way as all of the others before it.

The Brussels Market weaves across the city center, neither confined to a public square, nor distributed across venues. The path through the market is highlighted with street decorations, so it’s easy to find the way along it.

The main venues are the Town Hall and the Ice Rink, capping the two ends of the street walk.  The Town Hall display is a wonder: a continuous light show synchronized to opera and rock music piped over the square. The Ice Rink has most of the vendor’s stalls and the skywheel, several blocks of light and color.

 

The main differences in Brussels are that the food is higher class (foie gras, truffles, cured sausage. and escargot) and there are more causes (lots of political organizations and, strangely, a venue celebrating Mongolian culture).

The fun continues everywhere until January 2, and more pictures are posted at Facebook and on my Flickr site.