Cité Jouët-Rey (Garden City... again!)

Despite the weather, which is not spoiling us lately considering time of the year, it turned out easier to go out and see places, than to find time to sit and write about them. Most difficult part being small yet loud 1-yeard-old critter set on taking over every piece of electronic you might have in your hands at a moment. Neither of us have an idea where she got this love for gadgets ;)

Anyway. Inspired by the last discovery of the local garden city, and the general idea behind them, I have found that there are several more of them in our city. Therefore next time I wanted to meet with our friends for a little walk, I checked what's around the place they live, and found one in Etterbeek, Cité Jouët-Rey, and we headed just there.

We wanted to pass by Albert Hall as well, which is mentioned in Secret Brussels to be an interesting object and is nearby, but it turned to be closed. Chris says there are ULB parties happening there, so I guess we'll have to invite ourselves one day :)

The Garden City itself, when approaching, looks less splendid than La Roue. Just a small amount of houses in the line. Nice, but not THAT nice.

But then you see the actual entrance in the middle of the line, which leads straight down the rabbit hole.

The broom on that picture represents magic.

OK, you don't end up in Wonderland, but it's still pretty neat. Two lines of houses enclose between pretty nice park. It feels a bit like walking around someones private garden, but don't be afraid, the area is considered semi-public, listed as a park to visit on official Etterbeek site, so you're not invading anyone's privacy.

Still, the place is tiny, but great to visit if you live nearby - grab a book, picnic blanket, and enjoy the sun.

This Garden City was created between 1909 and 1910 by Hospices de Bruxelles for elder people. Renovated in 1998 it is now maintained by a organisation helping all the less-fortunate people (I have a horrible problem finding an English term here, anybody?).

It is definitely well maintained, with green grass, beautiful trees, and tiny gardens in front and back of each house. It does look like a tiny oasis in the middle of the city.

If you want to find it on the map, for some unknown reason Google knows it by the name Cité Jourdan. Mix up with the famous Place Jourdan?

After visit to this pretty, but small place, we decided to just walk around, passing by the Place du Roi Vainqueur, which looks splendind when the trees are blooming (but is currently under some serious renovation).

As a bonus, picture of a double-coloured tree from a courtyard of some school we passed by (I need to yet find which one was it!)

We walked further until Park Cinquantenaire, where we had a small break on a blanket next to the beautiful flowers, which was brutally interrupted by upcoming rain. Spring this year is very moody.

Seems like all I can write this time, hearing my daughter woken up and is demanding my attention :)

Peek into "next episode" - we have finally seen insides of the La Roue school!