Another Day Living in Brussels

I am not complaining about the weather. I am merely stating facts. Today it was 65 degrees F. as a high, and that was during the 20 minutes of sunshine. We walked to a different yet close by park, Square Ambiorix, to create some watercolor paintings. Each of us mixed in some other media like pastels or colored pencils as well. We had on our sweatshirts and as time passed added our rain jackets and were basically wrapped in a blanket we had brought for seating in the park. We left because we were done with painting and we were cold. We did not go to a museum today because it was raining or looked like rain (and I was not feeling 100 percent). Yesterday, remember how it was threatening rain when we were sketching the cathedral? Well, when we were at done the banking museum, it was raining. When we returned to our closest Metro stop, we still walked to two markets to get dinner supplies. Meaning, we still carry on with our day despite rain and cool weather. Today we ventured out briefly to explore the church next door, and 3 minutes later it rained. I acknowledge that in the DC area and in my home state of Wisconsin it is about 100 degrees. I am not complaining, just explaining what the weather is like here during our stay.

Which reminds me of one way things are different living here in a European city. First of all, at home we live in a suburb; here it is urban. I have gone to one market or another almost if not every day I've been in Brussels. On Monday I went to three markets: one for some groceries, one for the pulp-free orange juice the girls like (not to be found at the GB), and one for dried French lentils. I have my favorite cheese shop, two doors down from the bread place with the best baguette a l'acienne, and the two organic ("bio") markets have their unique items (like expensive rhubarb which I have yet to buy). Oh and there is the produce-only market where I got good rosemary (cut, not a living plant) and some fresh sugar snap peas for Julia. I don't have a pantry full of food here, partly because I only have 5 weeks total (3.5 weeks left), so I keep having to run to a store of some sort to get something I need to make a meal. One of the reasons we wanted an apartment while here was so we could really live here and not have to eat out all the time and I am so pleased that we are achieving that goal. I'll take more photos in the coming week or so of our surroundings to share.