Toured Brussels, Belgium yesterday.  We were met at the Atomium by by Blue-bar Pigeon. The  Atomium  was the centerpiece of the 1958 Brussels Word's Fair, also called Expo9 58.  Stands 335 feet tall and clas with stainless steel., with the representation of an iron crystal cell magnified 165 billion times.  It was scheduled to be torn down after the Expo, but kept being rescued year after year until 2004 when it was closed for two years to replace the aluminum sheets on the spheres with stainless steel.  It is today a museum, art center and cultural destination. Home of the European Union. There are beggars and homeless in Brussels. Even a Hawaii poke bowl restaurant. Apparently, as you rent these, you can leave them anywhere. Returned in time for lunch.  Notice the color of the river?  It is never blue.  Sort of a murky greenish hue. Returned for a truly great lunch of salad and corn soup with red wine, followed by fish and chips with beer and white wine. Fortified, we went out o

Antwerp Has a population of 536,079, with the largest metropolitan area of 1.2 million people, next to Brussels in size. The port is second to Rotterdam in Europe. Hosted the Summer Olympics in 1920. First settlement soon after the Year zero, Was once the sugar capital of Europe, importing the raw commodity from Portuguese and Spanish plantations on  both sides of the Atlantic when slavery was in fashion. Soon thereafter in the 1500's became the richest city in Europe. The Reformation religious revolution erupted in Antwerp with violent riots in 1566. Suffered during World War II. Starting in the 1990s rebranded itself as a world-class fashion center emphasizing  avant-garde clothes. So I joined the beer tour. Belgian pale ale is the pride of Antwerp.  Gained fame in the Liege exposition of 1905. Best known is De Koninck. As expected, was led by my Blue-bar Pigeon. Another kind of bird. The Cathedral of Our Lady (Antwerp) began construction on 1521, and at a certain stage, was the