Day 68 - Happy Anniversary!

Today Cz and I have been married three years, and together for eight. That's nearly an effin' decade, people! It doesn't seem so long though, which I guess is a good sign. In our time together, we have lived together, lived apart; lost jobs, found new ones; adopted cats; finished grad school; lived on both coasts; traveled Europe; worked both on and off Broadway, and oh yeah, got married. Now we are just over two months into a 'round the world adventure together. I don't know what the future holds, but it had better be good if it wants keep up with the past!

Since our anniversary night will be spent in a second class train coach from Brussels to Berlin, we are spending today as well and fully as possible. All the museums were closed yesterday because it was Monday. Today we made up for lost time, visiting both a special exhibit of paintings by Columbano Pinheiro, and The Museum of the City of Brussels. Pinheiro is one of the first realist painters of Portugal, and his work is heavily influenced by that of Manet, who he met while studying in Paris. The exhibit was well laid-out with placards of information on both the artist and his work presented near each painting. The Museum of the City was equally good. The first two floors were dedicated to tapestries, china, paintings, and sculptures of or made in Brussels. One of our favourite exhibits was a model of the city as it looked in the the 13th century. Each point of interest was labeled with a number that coincided with a number on our information sheet. It gave a description of the site's function in the 13th century, a brief history, and then what stands on the site today. I especially like the ones where the description of the 13th century site, and the description of the modern site are the same. The upper floor of the museum is dedicated to the wardrobe of Manneken Pis. Since the 17th Century, Manneken Pis has been costumed for festival days. He has over 780 costumes in total, though only 100 to 200 are on display at any given time. It is a great honour to costume the peeing boy, and the competition is fierce. His wardrobe spans both the globe and fashion history, from a full Samurai costume from Japan, to a Rwandan Elder from 1949, to Elvis, to a modern footballer. In fact, I knew of the peeing boy before I knew anything else of Brussels. I had used him in costume research for a production in Grad School.

All museumed out, we set off to find the Royal Park. The gardens at the foot of the king's palace are open to the public. They are formal in design only. In function, they serve as any goof city park should - as a place for children to play, couples to meet, and public art to flourish. An opera singer paced circles around one square of green and practiced his arias. In another corner, a pavilion was being set up for a concert. Behind the children's playground, a puppet theatre advertised that the next show would begin at 4:30. I dragged Cz from his nap (he was too tired to explore the park opting instead to make use of another prime feature - benches for resting), and found a spot near the stage. We had planned to stay only for fifteen minutes and then to use the internet and find some dinner. The show, however was so captivating that we wound up stying for the full 45 minutes. A brilliant marionette artist charmed us with both her own antics and the antics of her puppets. She had a wheel which she or a lucky audience member would spin to choose a musical genre. Everything from Classical to The Charleston to Hip-Hop was fair game. The Jazz Puppet had jointed fingers. The Disco dancers involved having their strings crossed cat's cradle style over and through her fingers. Best though was the classical. A little girl was invited up on the stage, and told to select the marionette that looked right for classical. She pulled out a wooden violin and bow on a marionette sticks and string. The puppeteer took the violin and bow off and bid the girl to mime playing. She then moved the frame over the girl's head as if she were another marionette. Very clever. After a few minutes, the puppeteer pulled out Marionette maestro, and he and the girl "played" a duet. Of course she got a standing ovation. The performance was totally free, though afterwards a hat was passed and those who wished to toss in a few euro could do do. We did. Art should be supported. I find it hard to imagine such a show happening in an American park, but then Central Park has Shakespeare in the Park, an Maclearan Pool has free concerts, so perhaps I am taking a dim view of American Culture.

After our day in the park we had a deliciously un-Belgian dinner of sushi. It was a terrific date, and we sat outside and people-watched as we ate. As soon as this post is up, we're off to the train station and Berlin!

We'll write soon...