The Sprayberries

Nouveau Message
[tyson]

So here we are in Brussels and what a place it is.

When we stepped off the subway onto the street the first thing that came to both our minds was an overwhelming sense of being back in Africa. The heat, the people, the music, the chatter, and the subtle olfactory presence of trash that should have been removed sometime last week. It all felt like Africa. Between colonial Congo refugees and a growing East African diaspora our particular area of Brussels happens to be a very ethnically diverse area. Bonus for us. We like Africa.

I didn't check a calendar but I hope today was a Belgian holiday. We went wandering downtown and encountered the most focused shoppers and consumers heretofore known to mankind. They sped over rough terrain and yielded to the left despite the traffic rules of their country. They moved with purpose and destiny as they accumulated plastic bags of widely varying shapes and sizes. They stopped briefly to devour Shishi smoothies and smoke a cigarette before moving on to max out their credit limit. They left us agape in their wake holding our hotel-issued water bottles and wondering what the hell just happened.

Lesson learned: Cobblestones render a Henry incapable of movement. She got about 30 meters down the road before she was forced to resort to a Frankenstein-like gait and politely request we take another road. Damn illio-psoas muscles.

Tomorrow we head to Rome. More to come. Stay tuned.