Travel the world

The Dark And The Light

I had time this morning before my 122pm train to check out the Antoine Wiertz Museum in the Leopold district. Having been intrigued by his symbolist painting, Deux Jeunes Filles (La Belle Rosine) at the Musee Royaux des Beaux Art‘s exhibit, I wanted to go to this museum dedicated just to his works.

Deux Jeunes Filles (La Belle Rosine) by Antoine Wiertz

Antoine Wiertz‘s paintings were interesting, yet strange and unnerving. The main exhibition room is floor to high ceiling chock-a-block hung with Wiertz’s huge canvases. Not one inch of wall space is wasted.

The other rooms were smaller and more claustrophobic, which may have been an intentional move as some of the paintings were rather macabre. A rather unusual museum, that’s for sure, but worth a visit.View more photos of the museum on my Flickr album.

As much fun as I had in Brussels, I felt like I couldn’t breathe the past couple of days. The stifling heatwave was exacerbated by the fact that Brussels does not have any body of water running through it. And save for the touristy and “Fifth Avenue/Champs d’Elysee-type” streets, many were littered with piles of garbage.

Even the breezes in Brussels were not refreshing. Perhaps that why I felt so happy in Bruges with its canal and bridges. I thought I was the only one who felt like this, but Michele told me her friend said the same exact thing of Brussels when they first visited in the summertime.

Which is why when I walked out of Amsterdam’s Centraal station, I felt at once I could breathe again. I was happy to be back.