Bruges

In the market place of Bruges stands the Belfry old and brown;

Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, still it watches o'er the town.

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The Belfry of Bruges)

As he walked, the sad faded leaves were driven pitilessly around him by the wind, and under the mingling influences of autumn and evening, a craving for the quietude of the grave...overtook him with unwanted intensity.

(Georges Rodenbach. Bruges-La-Morte)

Brussels

I arrived in Brussels, about a hundred years ago, or the day before yesterday perhaps.....from the start, there was one place that tempted me, just behind the Theatre de la Monnaie, an old cafe full of old mouldings and faded mirrors whose name explodes in pseudo-erotic-gothic red neon: La Morte Subite.

(Maurice Bejart. La Morte Subite Journal in Time)

"Oysters are the most tender and delicate of all seafoods. They stay in bed all day and all night. They never work or take exercise, they are stupendous drinkers, and wait for their meals to come to them".

(Hector Bolithio. The Glorious Oyster)

Brussels

Life obliges me to do something, so I paint.

(Rene Magritte)

The goal of the EU is to form a region of freedom, security and justice. Freedom in this connection cannot be just freedom of the strong, but it must be  combined with fraternity and equality.

(Tarja Halowen)