And then we learnt we're going to have a baby. We tried to arrange our 1-bedroom apartment to fit in two people and a crib. We tried hard. But it didn't work. We needed new place.
Long story short, we had to say goodbye to the lively Flagey district, the bars of Cimetière d'Ixelles and the European districts around the Pl. Luxembourg. We found ourselves in Anderlecht. The "other" side of Brussels. North of the Canal.
Now, most people that know anything of Anderlecht, know the bad. I saw people giving me the "oh, I am so sorry for you" look when I just mentioned our new home. But you know what? We are loving it!
Anderlecht can look pretty grim and industrial in many places, so no wonders people have a bad image of it. But as usually, it depends on a certain place. There's no hip were we live. Not many bars, restaurants, no people speaking every language on the planet. There is no fancy houses, with big gardens and bigger cars in front. In exchange we get calm neighbourhood, all the shops within a walk or short drive, lots of grannies that would steal the baby if they only could, and young families just like us. And a park. Big and beautiful park.
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Closed by two big streets (Avenue Marius Astrid and Boulevard Maurice Careme) and a highway on top of it, surrounded by concrete apartment blocks from the 60s.... This park is pulling it off! And yes, it is so important it is on the list of protected monuments.
It is bigger than you would expect it to be. First time we decided to have a walk there, it felt as if the park kept revealing itself in front of us indefinitely. The impression is strengthened by the surroundings of the Parc J. Vives across the street, and a no name green site, with another lake, extending beyond the highway and hosting the badminton club with a cozy pub upstairs.
You can see lots birds wandering around, sometimes all over the avenue as well, so you got to be driving carefully (unless you want a fresh duck for diner, which I only assume would be completely illegal).
It's a pleasure to walk around the park (with a stroller in my case), but you can also get some rest on one of many benches "with a view". Back in the summer we also spontaneously thew a little picnic there on the grass.
There is an area in the park completely closed for visitors. It provides shelter for the park's wildlife. It's not really possible to see what's inside, but the flash of my camera apparently scared to death _something_ in there, so I just stopped taking the pictures, and focused on the outside.
There are several fountains all over the lake (which are turned down for the winter), but one is especially eye-catching, being several meters high and, good wind provided, sprinkling water all around the banks.
I feel like providing a word of explanation here. The park is beautiful and very green. On the day I was visiting it though, it was grey and rainy. Neither my camera nor I can take beautiful photographs, therefore the photos don't really show how pretty the park can look. They do show though, how it looks when it's depressingly grey outside, which I think is still pretty good.
That it the greenest picture I managed to take that day.
And if walking, sitting and running is now for you, you can always try the game of Pétanque. In the warmer days this place is full of people playing, but even when I was already running away from rain that caught me walking, I had to stop to take a picture of a man playing. Alone. In rain and cold. I call it a spirit.
Greetings from the 22nd floor of the concrete block!
Update!
While walking to find La Roue which I have just posted about now, I couldn't help myself, but took some photos of the park with nicer weather. I just have to add them :)
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