A few days ago, we had the first really nice weather of the year after so much rain and cold. I anticipated the nice weather arriving, so I booked off a day to relax and enjoy. I have never been to Kenwood House, which is located at Hampstead Heath, so I made my way there. Kenwood House is managed by English Heritage, and it is located at the edge of Hampstead Heath on a hill with views. The house is known for its paintings, and on my visit, they had some talks about some of the paintings. The painting collection is impressive with works by Constable, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Gainsborough, and Turner.

Constable lived in Hampstead Heath area from 1819 and often painted on Hampstead Heath and captured the clouds and sky for studies. These four paintings are the work by Constable, and they show the different views over the heath from Kenwood and studies of clouds.

When I arrived, I had not had any breakfast, so I went to the cafe and ordered a slice of battenburg cake and a drink from the little cafe. The weather was so warm, but I enjoyed sitting outside to eat. The cafe was very busy as well and a lot of people were out enjoying the grounds. 

I then had a quick walk around.

At Kenwood, there is also gardens and a lot of park land to explore, which is sat right amongst the heath. The landscape designer was Humphry Repton, and it was completed at the end of the 1700s. He used the London skyline of the time, and he was inspired by Greek and Roman paintings.

Kenwood was purchased for the public by the founder of Guinness, Lord Iveagh. He purchased the property and had some of his collection of paintings put into the house. He saved it from being demolished as a lot of grand houses were falling into ruin after the first World War. The house was opened to the public in 1928, but he never lived at the house.

There are some sculptures on the grounds too, such as the two below by Barbara Hepworth (first) and Henry Moore (second).

After that, I headed into the house for a look around the rooms and the paintings. There were about six rooms to see in total. 

The most beautiful room is "The Great Room" or "Library", and this is where guests would be entertained. 

I was able to get the first painting talk of the day, and there were three of these talks at different times of the day. This talk was about the little girls dressing up the kitten painting. The painting uses light and shadow, giving it an almost sinister look of these seemingly-innocent girls dressing up a kitten, which is a little bit cruel but also expresses promiscuity. We were told about the painting, the artist, and the a little bit about the history of the paintings at Kenwood.

One of the other paintings that was going to be discussed later was the painting on London Bridge. This is the historical London Bridge with the shops and buildings built onto the bridge, not today's new London Bridge. Unfortunately, this discussion was in the later afternoon and I did not want to wait three hours.

I enjoyed my visit to Kenwood House and had a nice walk on the heath to Hampstead village where I had lunch. I hope to visit again. I think this would be a lovely place to visit on a sunny autumn day.

Earlier this year, I was finally able to do a little bit of travel and ticked Brussels off of my list of places to visit. I visited the city twice. My first visit was in the middle of February, right before Valentine's Day. My second visit was in April. Both visits were over a "long weekend" to make the most out of my time off. This post and photographs gives you a quick guide to some of the attractions, museums, galleries, and food that the city has to offer.

I arrived in Brussels on the Eurostar, which is a really quick way to get to the city. I went Businss Premier (basically first class) on my first visit and Standard Premier on my second. Both options included a meal, although the meal was better in Business Premier and included alcohol. You can read more about my expeirence travelling in Businss Premier here: Eurostar Business Premier to Brussels. 

I stayed centrally at Amigo Hotel in Brussels, which was a perfect location next to the main square and other attractions. Hotel Amigo was the perfect base for me, and you can read more information here: Hotel Amigo in Brussels.

The central square is probably the most famous and busiest place in Brussels. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and this is where the city was governed. The two main buildings with the towers are the city museum and former town hall, and both of these are open to the public for tours. More information is discussed futher. The dark building below is the city museum. 

On the left of this are guildhall buildings, which are highly-detailed with gold plating. 

Opposite the city museum is the former town hall, which has retained its beautiful rooms for visitors to view in tour. The administration offices moved into a new building now. I will cover more on this museum later on.

The square has attractive buildings all around, and these function as restaurants and bars and shops.

As I was staying just behind the square, I often got to see it at dark. In February, when there were less people around and darkness came earlier, I managed to get some nice photographs of the square.

Also on the square is a statue in bronze of Everard t'Serclaes. Touching the arm of the statue is meant to make you return to Brussels. A lot of tourists were touching it. 

I enjoyed seeing some of the details on the historical buildings.

Another one of the famous attractions in Brussels is Manneken-Pis, a statue of a little boy urinating into a fountain. There's also a girl and dog urinating in other places in Brussels. Manneken-Pis has his own wardrobe of outfits, and I caught a few of these during my visits. The below posts are about Manneken Pis.

• Meet Manneken Pis - Outfits
• Peeing Statues of Brussels

Another one of the icons of Brussels is the Atomium, which was built for the World Fair of 1958 and can be visited. There's also a restaurant in the top. See my Visit to the Atomium and restaurant. I wanted to go back to have a meal in the restaurant on my second visit, but it was very busy in April.

Mini Europe is next to Atomium and is a huge model village of all of the European countries, show-casing some of the most famous or iconic buildings per country. The attraction shuts over the winter months, so I visited it in April. You can read my post about it here: Mini Europe.

A lot of the time that I was in Brussels, I walked around and did some shopping. The city is a decent size without feeling too large, and I was able to walk around without any issue. The subway or trains are needed to visit some attractions that are further away from the city centre, such as Atomium. I enjoyed seeing the city at dark and during the day. 

Street of Butchers is one of the most picturesque streets.

There are many bars all around Brussels.

For shopping, the Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert is a covered area of shops. The shops range from designer goods, art, jewellery, books, to chocolate and cafes.

Another large building in Brussels is the Royal Stock Exchange.

Opposite is Auguste Orts Monument, which appears to be a memorial to celebrate a university professor.

Opposite Saint Nicolas church, which is also not far away, is an attractive small sculpture of blind men "The Blind Leading the Blind" inspired by the work of artist Bruegel.

There are interesting views and artwork everywhere I looked. 

Belgium is also famous for comics and "The Smurfs", so I saw this sculpture.

Below is a sculpture of artist Charles Buls.

The architecture also had quirky sculptures and details.

I also went south of the main part of the city where it is an artistic area, and I discovered a second hand market.

Brussels also has a lot of little green places. Parc de Brussels is one of them, and it has views over to the royal palace and Art Mountain.

A walk further past Brussels Park is Parc Cinquantenaire, where the auto museum is located. However, just before approaching that park are the European Union buildings and headquarters. It is a long stretch of road.

The palace is pictured below, and it is locatd opposite Art Mountain where the galleries are located.

Square of Petit Sablon and the Church opposite are not far from Art Mountain and a picturesque and quiet place.

In April, I visited the botanical gardens north of the city, and this little pond was filled with tortoises. The tulips were mainly over except for one variety.

Th below statue honors a boy who saved a little girl from drowning. The little pond has the yellow iris flowers, which are native to Belgium in the wild and a symbol of the country.

The building itself no longer serves as a botanical garden, and I believe events and concerts are hosted there today.

I also had a walk through Parc de Laeken.

Brussels has a lot of street art to see. Some of the street art is officially part of the Comic Trail in Brussels, and other street art has been placed up unofficially too. As there was so much street art around the city and artists that I recognised from London, I created several posts dedicated to the street art and the Comic Book art trail across the city.

• Street Art in Brussels
• Pavement Project
• Street Art from Above in Brussels
• Jef Aerosol and Radical Playground Street Art in Brussels
• Phelgm 2019 Street Art in Brussels
• MifaMosa and Invader Street Art in Brussels
• Brussels Comic Book Street Art
• Jaune Stencil Street Art
• Isaac Cordal in Brussels
• C215 in Brussels
• Phelgm on Art Mountain

Next up, I will go into the museums that Brussels has to offer. Brussels Art Mountain contains the art galleries, which I covered here: Brussels Art Mountain and Art Galleries.

I also visited the automobile museum, and there was a special event going on with a Volkswagen car day. I enjoyed seeing the cars and visiting the museum, which has so much information. My posts can be clicked on to read more about my visit: AutoWorld Museum and Love Bugs Parade Around Autoworld Brussels

One unusual museum is the Garderobe Museum for the statue of Manneken Pis. The museum is free to visit with entry to the city museum, so do not miss it. The museum is located not far from the Manneken Pis statue. To read more, see Manneken Pis Garderobe Museum.

I already discussed the famous UNESCO square and the two museums here. I went to the town hall, which was where the government and administration controlled the city. Visits are by guided tour only, and there are two tours. Both tours cover different rooms. The standard tour visits all of the rooms except for a couple, and visitors also get to go out onto the balcony and climb to the top of the tower for views. The standard tour did cover more rooms. Both were good, but I would have liked a combined tour. For more information and photographs, see my post: Brussels Town Hall Pararomic and Standard Tours

I also visited the Brussels City Museum, which has many exhibitions about the city and its history, including the fire and the old city and parks, and also some information on Manneken Pis. More information can be seen here: Brussels City Museum.

Another museum that I visited was the Design Museum, which is located near to the Atomium, and entry was free. See more information in my post here: Design Museum in Brussels

The Brussels Chocolat Museum includes information about the history of chocolate, Belgium's contributions to the chocolate industry, environmental and social factors of chocolate, and it finished with a demonstration of chocolates and tasting of chocolate. I included more information in my post here: Brussels Chocolate Museum.

Earlier, I mentioned some of the artwork I discovered. The below posts include some temporary sculptures or art around the city. Jean-Michel Folon Sculptures in Brussels were on display in April, and I caught the "Le Chat" sculptures from a comic strip in February: "Le Chat" Walks Brussels Sculpture Trail. I also discovered the Brussels Statue of Madame Chapeau statue, and I already covered the famous urinating sculptures in Brussels.

Brussels has a lot of options when it comes to food and drink. Belgium is known for its beer, chocolates, waffles, but there's a lot more to the city. My first visit to Brussels was a couple of days before Valentine's Day, so I sampled the chocolates, of course. I covered this in a lot of detail in my post Visiting Brussels For Valentine's Day.

I also discovered some delicious cookies, called Laura Todd Cookies. I enjoyed Cup Pasta when I wanted a light bite to eat for lunch. Another Italian restaurant that I found very good was Pasta Divina. Restaurant Mozart is a Belgian restaurant, and it was ok. There was a lot of food.

Noodle Bar was just down from the hotel, and I enjoyed a light snack from here. There are a lot of restaurants on this street.

I enjoyed Wolf, which is a street food area jut north of the main centre. There is every cuisine in this area. I visited it in February, and I tried the Indian. It is made different from the English version and is catering more to Belgians. On another visit, I had the cookie from the dessert place. This place was so busy when I visited it again in April, but in February, it was quiet.

On my April visit, I saw queues for the fries and everyone seemed to be enjoying fries. I decided to try some too, and I queued for at least fourty-five minutes. Unforunately, they went straight into the bin as they are cooked in beef. (I don't eat beef, and I was not warned in advance.) The next morning at breakfast, I met an American couple, and they were vegan and vegetarian, and I informed them of this. 

I also discovered an excellent bakery Aux Merveilleux de Fred. I tried a few items, and the food was always good. The thin waffles were delicious.

The best thick waffles go to The House of the Waffle - Le Roi de la Gaufre. They sell simple syrup ones, and you can also get them with different toppings.

Near the very good bakery, I discovered a Mediterranian patisserie. I was much too full, but I told myself to leave some room on my next visit. 

Another famous and well-loved place is Maison Dandoy. This is a biscuit shop, and it is also a cafe. I tried some of the different biscuits, and these are all for hot drinks. 

Next up are the drinks. I did not have too much to drink on my visits. I stopped at Cherry Bar to have a cocktail. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to return for another one, but there was a new member of staff, and they were out of ingredients for cocktails, and they made me something that was not good at all. 

The other place that I visited was called Sneakers, and this bar had rows of new shoes along the walls. I tried two different cocktails from their list.

Further afield, I visited Beersel Castle, which is a moated castle that is in a semi-ruined state. For more information and photographs of the castle, see my post here: Beersel Castle

I enjoyed my visits to Brussels, and I hope that this helps decide what is worth visiting. 

For my birthday this year, my friends and I headed over to Chin-Chin in Pinner for a Pan-Asian bottomless brunch. It was the first of the hot weekends of the summer, and we had the venue virtually to ourselves. Normally when we have had bottomless brunch, the food is smaller portions. However, Chin Chin does not skimp on the food. We had more than enough food to share between the three of us.

The venue is located on the picturesque Church Street in Pinner.

We liked the decor with the pink blossoms in the restaurant. 

Th champagne glasses were unique too, and we really liked them. The Prosecco I did not care for the taste, and such large portions of food and a busy week at work combined with the hot weather sent me to want to sleep.

We were first provided with vegan prawn crackers and a selection of dips to go with them. Most of us accepted the vegetarian menu, so they brought out vegan prawn crackers.

Afterwards, we had another starter too.

In the first official round of our meals, we received a selection of vegetarian sushi, which we all enjoyed.

Second, Next up was bao buns, and these were vegan tofu or chicken. I had the chicken. These were served in a little basket.

Third was the wok dish that we ordered with our choice of noodles or rice. I ordered the chicken curry with jasmine rice, but others could order noodles instead.

The last item was dessert. The only item that we could not select on the menu was the dessert, as we got a miniature selection of desserts, which were mainly cheesecake at which I am not a fan of. As it was my birthday, it came out with a candle and birthday greetings.

As we were not a big fan of the Prosecco, we ordered additional cocktails. They were very strong. On top of that, we went to the pub across the street for more drinks. I was full and tired, and I just wanted to sleep.

My friends also got m a gift of afternoon tea, and I enjoyed this in th garden the next day. I think we had planned to have it after Chin-Chin, but we were all stuffed with the amount of food.

Overall, we enjoyed the food at Chin-Chin, but service was slow, and the Prosecco was not good quality and a struggle for us to enjoy.

Hotel Amigo is located in the heart of Brussels right behind the main square, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and a couple of minute walk from Manneken-Pis, the urinating fountain sculpture of a boy. The hotel is owned by the Rocco Forte group, and the hotel has two unique themed suites suite. One of these is dedicated to fashion designer Diana von Furstenberg, and the other to Belgian comic TinTin. Apparently, the TinTin room contains a drawing by Steven Speilberg, who stayed at the hotel for the premiere of the 2011 film about the comic. I stayed in the hotel for two long weekends - February and April, respectively - and enjoyed my stay both times. 

The hotel building is over 500 years old, and it was used as a prison in the 1500s. Spanish prisoners were held there, and the name of the hotel stems from its days in prison where the term for prison was confused with "friend" by the Spanish, so the name "amigo" stuck. Karl Marx was a prisoner in the mid-1800s. The prison was used until 1930 when it was destroyed by fire, but in 1957, it became a hotel for the Brussels World Fair. Rocco Forte took over the hotel in 2000. 

Fresh flowers and a small box of chocolates awaited me on the first night on both visits, and throughout my stay, I received free sample items - a day cream, night cream, a card for a free box of Maison Dandoy specaloos, and so on.

The rooms (I stayed in the Deluxe Rooms) are also spacious and bright. On my first visit, I was stayed in a room with red bedspread and red marble touches in the bathroom. Both of my rooms had a small framed TinTin character in a frame in the bathroom as a nod to comics and paintings or artwork by surrealist artwork from Rene Magritte in the bedroom.

On my February visit, I did not pay for the breakfast buffet option. I did order the room service breakfast and enjoyed a selection of fruit, cereals, toast, eggs, French Toast, or waffles. I was not keen on the waffle as it was very dry, but the French Toast with fruit and syrup tasted delicious.

My April visit was at the front side of the hotel with the view of the famous Grand Palace in front of the room with views into the historical rooms that I saw in February; the top of tower was in view too. I preferred this room out of the two as the marble and bedspread used green tones, and the room felt brighter and was on the street instead of at the back of the building. I always prefer to hear the noise and the bustle.

On this visit, I paid for the breakfast buffet and enjoyed a range of fruit, toast, pastries, cereals, cold and cooked items, and I ordered the French Toast. At the buffet, they also offered Belgian food items, such as chocolate and specaloos. There is also bottomless Prosecco at the breakfast buffet to make Mimosa cocktails, so I got a fair usage out of that.

The hotel also has a nice bar, which is styled in Art Deco. On my visit in February, I came back to the hotel with a full party in swing with a jazz musician, and the music was brilliant. I was hoping that this same musician would be back in April, but he wasn't. However, there was a pianoist, but it was not as good. I only wish I'd known about the jazz musician beforehand as I missed the majority of it. 

The cocktails were good but expensive. My favourite was the top one, which was sweet and tart. I loved the way that the cocktails were served. One other was served on a block of marble. The glass just rested on this marble block, and they used dry ice to make some bubbles. 

Another one was served out of an intricate glass with a coloured flower on the stem.

Along with the drink, they brought nuts, olives, and crisps (potato chips). 

I enjoyed my stay in this hotel, and it was an excellent base for exploring Brussels.

I've been to Brussels twice this year. I first visited the city just a couple of days before Valentine's Day, and I recommend the city over this time as it is less crowded and visitors can purchase famous Belgian chocolates. (My second visit was in the middle of the spring after the tourist season had opened up, and the city was noticeably busier but did have a nice atmosphere with the good weather and slightly longer days.) Brussels is an excellent choice to visit during February.

Brussels is known for its chocolate, and it is where the filled chocolate (known as praline) was invented. There are many chocolate shops in the city, and they all catered to Valentine's Day as it is a day to give and receive chocolate from loved ones. There are several chains of chocolate shops in the city, including the ones listed below.

Mary: This chocolate shop has the most delicious chocolate, and this is the brand sold to th Belgian royals. The chocolate is more expensive, but it tastes the best and is the highest quality. This was my favourite chocolate shop, and there's a few of them around the city. The truffles were excellent, but everything is good. I bought a little selction box too. It's not cheap, but it's tasty.

BS40: This is a chocolate shop inspired by Asian flavours. The chocolate was also delicious and very smooth with rich flavours not found in other chocolate shops in the city. It's located on Butter Street, number 40, hence the name.

Elisabeth: This is a chain of chocolate shops, but I didn't think the quality was as good.

Leonidas: This is a well-known chain of chocolate shops for mass-produced treats. The company has been making chocolates since 1913 and is a favourite chain of chocolate shops in Belgium.

Neuhas: This is a large chain of chocolate shops that is mass-produced.

La Belgique Gourmande: This is a chocolate shop on a smaller scale, but it does sell some mass-produced chocolates and other sweets.

Corne Dynastie: This shop is located in the heart of Brussels and was selling a large range and seemd to be popular. I had a hot chocolate here, but I didn't enjoy it.

There are also many more brands and smaller shops and tourists shops selling chocolates.

In addition to chocolates, bakeries also got in on the Valentine's Day trade by adding small hearts to their products.

The cuberones were available to buy from one chocolate shop.

Waffles could be used in place of chocolates for those who would rather not have too sweet a Valentine's Day. "The House of the Waffle" does the best waffles that I tried in Brussels. I had the cream and cherry waffle.

A lot of chocolate shops in the list about can be found in the galleries shopping area.

Some beautiful flowers were starting to come out in bloom.

The city also kept up their decorations.

I snapped some photos of snowdrops and the garden ready to erupt in bloom once the daffodils spring up.

I enjoyed visiting Brussels during Valentine's Day, and it's the perfect place to buy gifts.

When I visited Brussels twice this year (once in February and once in April), I walked around to see as much street art as I could see, and I happned to discover other pieces. This post covers the street art that I found in the city. At the bottom of this post are links to the dedicated posts for the various artists that I had also covered individually and often recognised in London and other cities.

Rikardo Druskic

dward von Longus

FSTN

hmicnn

BONOM

Takir

Farm Prod, Fred Lebbe

Denis Meyers

OBETRE, Parole

Alessio-B

Unknown

Farm Prod, HELL'O

Farm Prod, Piotr Szlatcha

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Farm Prod

Mr. Chat

Sestry Feldman, Teresa, Kathaoir. This mural is painted for Ukraine and Brussels.

Farm Prod

Unknown

Gui Tar and Amandine Levy

Fitore Alisdottir Berisha

Soaz, Zouwi

Gleo

Unknown

Ralf Koning

Fotini Tikkou

Brecht Evens

Atelier de Rose

Zouwi

Hetas Apache

laec cnn

laetchx

Unknown

Mona Tusz

Rikardo Druskic

Farm Prod created the above artwork in Brussels near the palace. The artwork uss surrealism. 

Unknown

Novadead, Urbans

Steve Locatelli

Unknown

Spear, Propaganza Crew

David Selor

Anthea Missy

Unknown

ojoMAGico was painted to celebrate the old fish market, and the area was known for its fish markets and street names relating to fish.

Ledia Konstandini - "Wink"

For other street art in Brussels on this blog, see below:

• Street Art from Above in Brussels
• Street Art in Brussels by Jef Aerosol
• Phelgm 2019 Street Art in Brussels
• Pavement Project, Brussels Street Art
• Tile Street Art by MifaMosa and Invader in Brussels
• Brussels Comic Book Strip Route Street Art
• Jaune Stencil Street Art in Brussels
• Street Art by Isaac Cordal in Brussels
• C215 in Brussels
• Phlegm Street Art on Art Mountain in Brussels Celebrates Painter

The Pavement Project, Schaerbeek, is the art of having colourful tile artworks made into the pavement between standard grey slabs. These art pieces were first created by Ingrid Schreyers outside of her home, and it inspired others to create creating artwork using tiles outside of their homes. I discovered many of these artworks in Brussels, especially in certain areas. It is a way to bring creativity and colour to the streets. I enjoyed locating theese miniature works of art.

When you are in Brussels, make sure to check them out. I discovered the above in the Saint Gilles and Ixelles regions of Brussels, but I saw some other places too.

When I went to Brussels, I discovered some street art from an artist I recognised in London. This street art is from the artist known as Above, and the artist paints arrows on buildings. In Brussels, I captured this mural with a group of different colours of arrows on a beige background near the centre of the city.

For more street art by Above on this blog, see:

Street Art: Above

Craft Gin Club is a monthly subscription box. The box contains a full-sized bottle of gin, mixers, snacks, and a magazine with gin cocktail and food recipes. This post covers June 2024's box. This month's full bottle featured gin is from Australia and is called "Archie Rose Signature Dry Gin". The magazine was inspired by the Australia location due to the full-sized bottle of gin.

We only just had an Australian gin, and I did not enjoy it; I also did not enjoy this one, but Craft Gin Club allows me to try different products. Keep reading to see what I got.

The mixers include:

• Twelve Below Classic Premium Tonic. This tonic pairs well as it is made with fruit flavours from Britain, and it has won awards.
• eauYes Pink Grapefruit. This mixer has no calories nor sugar and is a sparkling water with a grapefruit flavour, which can be used in cocktails. The company also donates to charity.
• Gunna Drinks Miss Mojita Twisted Lemonade. This low-calorie drink includes vitamins and is a mixer for gin.
• BZZD Energy. This energy tonic water contains natural caffeine from honey.

The snacks include:

• Tyrrells lentil crisps in Sweet Chilli and Red Pepper flavour. These lentil crisps contain less fat and are healthier than standard crisps. Some readers would have received the Sour Cream and Onion instead.
• Lotus Biscoff. These biscuits from Belgium are delicious, and they pair nicely with gin too.
• Lovecorn crunchy corn. I love this product already, and it tastes amazing with gin. I also have my friends addicted to it.
• Maldon Sea Salt flakes. I received a couple of packets of this to include for putting on the rim of the glass for margaritas.
• RM Curtis chocolate-coated cranberries. These cranberries are covered with chocolate and pair well with gin cocktails.

I also received a card from "Rosie Made a Thing" about gin.

The cocktail this month included Paloma Cocktail syrup, which pairs with the gin. I also received some garnish for the gin.

In the spring and summer, Brussels is honoring the sculptor and artist Jean-Michel Folon across the city. As part of this, twenty sculptures have been on display from February to May of this year. The sculptures were not around in early February, but I saw them on my visit to Brussels in April. They celebrate 90 years since the birth of the sculptor, who was a native of Belgium but gained worldwide fame, and his work is on display worldwide in museums and public. 

There are three areas where the sculptures are displayed in Brussels, and these were the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, Art Mountain, and Petit Sablon square. The sculptures were free to visit.

I also saw this nice cat sculpture.

There were twenty sculptures on display, but I selected the best photographs of the work.

Street artist Jef Aerosol is a French stencil artist who has been adding his street art to walls across the world, but he is most popular in France. He has been spraying the street art since 1982, and he has created a lot of work in Brussels, which I discovered earlier this year. His work mainly features portraits of people and include Bruce Springsteen, Dylan, Beatles, Hendrix, Elvis, and more. His work usually features a red arrow. 

The largest mural that I could find from the artist features music with different people playing a musical instrument or participating to music in some way.

The bottom of the mural held a cat, which is perched on top of a column part in the building.

I saw a lot of his artwork scattered throughout the city.

I saw stencil artwork in a similar style around Brussels as well, but these were paste-ups and it's by the artist Radical Playground. The items are all wearing 3D glasses.

June is my birthday month, and I was away for it this year, but there will be a post coming up about that. I have bottomless brunch planned with my friends later this month, and I cannot wait for that. This year is flying by quickly, and I have been attempting to use up my annual leaves and make time for myself. I have done some travel to make the most of my time. Work is as busy as always, but I have been trying to keep my limits. I have spent less time in front of the laptop and more time reading books and listening to audio books.

As soon as I can, I will update you on what has been happening. I am a little slow this year on my blog updates.

When I was in Brussels in February, I came across this sculpture of an elderly lady and took a photograph of it. The statue celebrates a Belgian comedy play, "Bossemans et Coppenolle" by Joris d'Hanswyck. The character Madame Chapeau is carrying a bad with a rabbit and vegetables, and in the play, she tries to exchange these for a ticket to football.

The status is located on Rue du Midi in the centre of Brussels.

In 2019, street artist Phlegm painted in the city of Brussels. The artist is originally from Sheffield in the UK, and he was inspired by the work of Bruegel, a popular classical artist from the city of Brussels. Phlegm would return to the city in 2020 to paint on Art Mountain, which I covered here:  Phlegm Street Art on Art Mountain in Brussels Celebrates Painter. 

At the end of last month, a friend I have known for many years visited me in London. He had just gotten off the train, so we went to Crust Bros outside the station. I have been wanting to visit this pizza restaurant for some time. Visitors to the restaurant can select from a list of pre-made pizzas or build their own to personalize their pizza.

I personalized my pizza with two types of cheese and added chillis for a cheesey pizza. I also ordered a margarita cocktail. My friend had a meaty pizza, and it was one of the options on the pre-made menu.

I enjoyed the pizza, but I found it too doughy and too chewy, and I left a lot of the crust because it was a bit too doughy for my taste. Is it London's best pizza? No, at least it's not my favourite in London, but do not let that put you off.

Brussels has a concentration of art museums located at Art Mountain in the centre of the city and near the palace; there is a wonderful view here with landscaped gardens. There are a couple of art museums located here. The museums form the collective Royal Museums of Fine Art of Belgium. One is the Old Masters, and another is the Magritte Museum. The museums are very different. The museums and Art Mountain are located only a few minute walk from the main central station (not the Eurostar terminal). I visited it twice this year.

My second visit to Art Mountain was in late April, and spring had brought the mountain to life when compared to my earlier visit in early February. The tulips were nearly over, but some of the dark purple or black ones remained, and the colour looked beautiful. 

This is compared to the photographs that I captured in early April, which shows that the plants were hibernating.

Looking up Art Mountain, there are an attractive row of buildings and the palace in the background. There was a green apple sculpture on top of one of the museums, but I did not notice it there in April. In April, there were a fw sculptures dotted around in an outdoor exhibition.

I visited the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Dutch Masters collection, which was founded by Napoleon. This collection contains a lot of religious Christian artwork as that was a popular subject then and realistic paintings, but other parts of the museum had modern art and surrealism and special exhibitions, which I did not see. In the Dutch Masters collections, works by Bruegel, Peter Paul Reubens, van Dyck, and others. 

I preferred the pastoral and landscape artworks and still life paintings. Dutch artists were known for their still life and floral artwork. I took some photographs of some of the paintings that I enjoyed.

The above photograph is amazing in that the artist captured the wood grain and even etchings in the grain along with the pinned rooster.

Bruegel is one of the most celebrated artists in Brussels, and his paintings contain slice of life themes. I enjoyed seeing the ones in the snow.

The museum is centered around an interior courtyard, and around these are rooms with different artworks.

I just love the landscapes, which give a glimpse at the rural slice of life and depict how people used to live.

The other museum is Magritte Museum, which shows surrealist paintings by Magritte. There are a couple other museums or areas showing more modern artwork too. I think a great place to start is with the Old Masters as these are the historic and popular artworks, and the more modern and surrealist works may appeal to particular lovers of those art genres.

Katie's Waffle Cabin is a relatively new eatery selling waffles, pancakes, sweet treats, and hot drinks in Ruislip Manor. I visited at the end of May. The cafe specialises in pancakes, and the room is decorated in American-style items including a juke box playing country music. The service was very friendly, and I enjoyed a blueberry pancake with the blueberry compote made freshly earlier that day. The blueberry waffle and hot chocolate was delicious. 

This is an amazing place to have breakfast or a sweet treat if you are in the area.

When I was in Brussels in April, I visited the Chocolate Museum, Choco-Story Brussels. The museum opened in 1998, and it is located in the centre of Brussels near the main attractions. Belgium is known for its chocolates, so the chocolate museum was appropriate. The museum showcases the history of chocolate through the ages and offers free samples and a short chocolate-making exhibition about the pralines, which were invented in Belgium. 

The story of chocolate starts with the Aztecs and how chocolate came to be 'discovered' by Europe and then refined into what it is known today. There are also sections on the envrionment and sustainability for the production of chocolate and fair trade rules as well as health benefits of chocolate. 

The first part of the museum was dedicated to the Aztecs due to their use of the cocao bean.

Afterwards, when chocolate was transported into Europe and served as a drink, the various equipment for consuming chocolate were on display.

Chocolate was loved by the French and considered erotic. 

Information on the cocao farming followed and then the introduction of the praline by Belgian chocolatiers.

There was also a section on chocolate themes for different occassions, such as Christmas and Easter, with moulds on display.

There were also vending machines on display, and these would dispense chocolate.

Another room gave free samples of different qualities of choclate and location of the beans before entering the chocolate workshop, where we were informed about the praline and allowed a free sample.

Overall, the museum was interesting, and I learned about the history of chocolate while enjoying a few.