Park life

Today I went to see a free DJ set in the Royal Park under a gazebo, with a little bar at the side to boot. Despite the drizzle, people of all ages were lured through the trees by the techno, and within a couple of hours the little clearing was full of pretty twenty-somethings, old couples and young families bopping away merrily with beers in hand.

My company for the afternoon - a local Couchsurfer who is evangelical about Brussels being the best city in the world - yelled, "Where else in the world would you find this!?" Brussels is indeed an incredibly eventful town, with free alfresco concerts and pop-up parties advertised on every wall and lamp-post and train carriage. Current highlights include Les Apéros Urbains, an impromptu open-air bar which occupies a different city park every Sunday throughout summer, and Bruxelles les Bains, an artificial beach lining the right bank of the canal.

Although the sand and deckchairs next to rusting industrial equipment is clearly a tongue-in-cheek affair, the myriad of musicians, barbecues and sunbathers makes for a great deal of fun. When the sun sets the music gets turned up, and strolling along the canal with the smell of woodsmoke in the air and lantern-light reflecting in the water is a heady experience all of its own. Where else in the world indeed?

As I've alluded to before, Brussels is a city that seems to relish in its quirks and imperfections - beaches next to old warehouses, kitschy space-age monuments, a fondness for pissing statues, a river so stagnant it was buried, restaurants hanging from cranes... the list goes on. The madness continues. This is a weird, wonderful place.