• You have wind from the sea blowing heavily, but you have no sea.
• You have some of the ugliest buildings in the whole Europe, but you also have some 1200 beautiful Art Nouveau buildings.
• You have one season instead of four, with small variations in temperature. Sometimes you have all four seasons in one day. If you see the sun, go out quickly.
• You have the capital of Europe, acting as the model of European integration. But you also have people who argue which language should be used in national media and politics. Some Belgians get angry or disrespectful if you don’t speak their language. A country where people from different language areas speak English to each other, and behave like they were living in two separate countries, can hardly be a good example of European integration.
• You have millions of private cars every day in a very small geographic area, polluting the air and blocking the roads, making life very hard not only for the drivers themselves, but also for people who want to use public transportation instead (or walk or cycle). Many people with cars seem to like spending hours looking for parking places in a city which clearly can’t cope with the high number of cars. In Brussels many people do what they want and don’t care too much about environmental issues.
• You have many people freely smoking in bars and cafes (still in 2009!), while in many other countries full smoking bans have been successfully introduced already years ago.

Finally, let me say that in Belgium there is no point in asking “why”. It is just the way it is — and probably will be for some time. We all love Brussels (and Belgium) for its good things. And there are plenty of them; it can’t be a coincidence that Belgian artists have contributed so much to Surrealism.

Now, it’s not easy to arrange a car-free day in a city where driving is vigorously encouraged and where people still take their car to get bread around the corner, even if the car is parked further away (USE-IT).

A car-free day is a good idea, so why not expand it? After seeing how much people enjoy this event every year, it’s hard to comprehend why many people are so addicted to cars. It’s a learned behaviour, of course. Organising a day like this is a good step, but it’s not enough.

Belgium is also a country where in 2008 people are still allowed to poison the air in bars with tobacco smoke. Sad but true. Maybe we should start having smokefree Sundays too, to see how wonderful it can be?

But it’s never easy – not even with Ubuntu. I tried to configure ING Home’Bank application to access my bank account, and after a couple of hours I was ready to give up, until I found out other people had problems with it too. The good thing is that the community is always there to share the problems and to help.

I also bought a new camera, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18, and an mp3 player, Cowon iAudio7. I’m very happy with both of them: if you need an easy to carry SLR-like bridge camera (with 18 times optical zoom!) that takes good photos, this is what you need. As for the mp3 player, an 8 Gb iAudio7 is cheaper than iPod Nano, and it supports the file formats I need (namely OGG, FLAC, and mp3, of course).

In fact, it’s much more relaxing to take photos and listen to music than writing to blog (this is my third post this year) ;-)

Simon Collison wrote an excellent piece, Two years on, here’s another rant about the state of blogging. A very refreshing read indeed. I might give Twitter or Tumblr a try, even if I can’t see myself using them extensively. But they might just be a solution to the time problem, while enhancing communication among colleagues and friends. I follow dozens of blogs every day (web design/development, news, upcoming concerts, tech stuff etc.) via RSS feeds on Google Reader. This keeps me updated, makes me think and gives me new ideas. But if I want to react, contribute, and develop those ideas further, I often just don’t have time or energy to do that (not on this website, that is). Nothing new here. Talking about information overload and time management. Backpack is a good tool, but I also need to go out more often.

To conclude this post, let me say that I’ve just started my new job as a Web Designer/Developer at a Belgian company. I’m happy to join them — a good start for 2008!

Brussels restaurants by cuisine

Belgian/French

• Le Khnopff, 1, Rue Saint Bernard, 1060 Brussels
• Restaurant de la Bonne Humeur, 244, Chaussée de Louvain, 1000 Brussels. The best mussels I’ve ever tasted.
• Met Jeaninne, 152/154, Avenue d’Auderghem, 1040 Brussels. Good fondue.
• Belgo Belge, 20, Rue de la Paix, 1050 Brussels
• Le Bretagne, 13, Rue du Champ de Mars, 1050 Ixelles
• Restaurant Saint Boniface, 9, Rue Saint-Boniface, 1050 Brussels
• Les Salons de L’Atalaïde, 89, Chaussée de Charleroi, 1060 Brussels
• La Maison des Crepes, 13, Rue du Midi, 1000 Brussels

Cuban

• La Cantina Cubana, 6, Rue des Grands Carmes, 1000 Brussels

Ethiopian

• Kokob, 10, Rue des Grands Carmes, 1000 Brussels

Greek

• L’Atlantide, 73, Rue Franklin, 1000 Brussels
• Plateia Aristotelous, 2, Place des Gueux, 1000 Brussels

Indo-Pakistanese

• Passage to India, 223, Chaussée de Louvain, 1210 Brussels
• Star of India, 175, Chaussée de Louvain, 1210 Brussels
• Indus Valley, 37, Place Saint-Géry, 1000 Brussels

Italian

• La Brace, 1, Rue Franklin, 1040 Brussels

Japanese

• Miyuki, 68, Boulevard Général Jacques, 1050 Brussels
• Izaka-Ya, 123, Chaussée de Vleurgat, 1000 Brussels
• Take Sushi, 21, Boulevard Charlemagne, 1000 Brussels
• Mitsui, 86, Rue du Prévot, 1050 Brussels
• Sakura, 1, Rue du Pont de la Carpe, 1000 Brussels
• Momotaro, 106, Avenue d’Auderghem, 1040 Brussels
• Hama-Shin, 272, Chaussée d’Ixelles, 1050 Brussels
• Yamayu Santatsu, 141, Chaussée d’Ixelles, 1050 Brussels

Kebab/Grill

• Chez Emir (Turkish Kebab House), 228, Chaussée de Louvain, 1000 Brussels
• Brussels Grill
• Nemrud, 216, Chaussée de Louvain, 1030 Brussels

Korean

• Seoul, 14, Rue Capitaine Crespel, 1050 Brussels

Lebanese

• Al Barmaki 67, Rue des Eperonniers, 1000 Brussels
• Reve d’Orient (Service Traiteur), 142, Rue des Deux Eglises, 1210 Brussels

Moroccan — Maghrib

• Le p’tit Chouia en+, 38, Rue de la Pacification, 1000 Brussels
• La Kasbah, 20, Rue Avenue Dansaert, 1000 Brussels
• Le Palais des Délices, 13, Place Saint-Josse, 1210 Brussels (Saint-Josse-ten-Noode)

Spanish/Tapas

• Tapas Locas, 74, Rue Marché aux Charbons, 1000 Brussels

Thai/Vietnamese

• Les Larmes du Tigre, 21, Rue de Wynants, 1000 Brussels
• Le 2me Élément, 7, Rue Saint-Boniface, 1050 Brussels
• Saigon-Bangkok, 36, Rue de la Pacification, 1210 Brussels (Saint-Josse-ten-Noode)
• Vietnam Express, 24, Rue de la Paix, 1050 Brussels

Belgian essentials

Fritkots

• Chez Martin, Place Madou (Saint-Josse-ten-Noode). The best friterie in Brussels and in the world! Period. Ask for sauce mafia, and you’ll be in heaven.

Beer shops

• Le Bier Circus, 57, Rue de l’Enseignement, 1000 Brussels
• Beer Mania, 174-176, Chaussée de Wavre, 1050 Brussels

It goes without saying that there are countless other good — and better — restaurants in Brussels that are not mentioned here. Go find out yourself! Bon appétit! Smakelijk!

Most of these concerts took place outside Brussels. Now, is that just a coincidence? Or is it a consequence of a lack of money, concert venues, or interest on the part of arts management people in Brussels? I don’t know, but I do think Belgium is a good country to live in, when it comes to cultural activities :-)

This weekend I went through most of my old photos (mostly from holidays) taken during the last 2–3 years (all taken with a Sony DSC-W1 digital camera). I selected some 100 shots that I liked the most, and started uploading them. Feel free to go and see for yourself!

Photo sets (Riviera, Gothenburg, Helsingborg)

By tags (Belgium, Berlin, Paris)

More photos to come

Over the next coming days, I’ll upload some more photos. Take a look at the thumbnails below; these photos are taken in Barcelona, Chamonix and Finland.

Brussels is far from being a shopper’s paradise. If you’re after cool clothes, you might want to go to Antwerp or Berlin instead. However, with patience you can find several specialist shops with cool, not too expensive, and good quality brands (Skunkfunk and El Naturalista (a bit expensive though) to name a few).

I have a feeling that the city of Brussels is still trying to reach its full potential (despite the linguistic divide). One sign of this is the increasing number of small specialist shops. Below you can see a list of the best boutiques in Brussels:

• Mr. Ego, 29, Rue des Pierres, 1000 Brussels
• Six Shop, 44, Rue Marche aux Poulets, 1000 Brussels
• Pax Clothes and Furnitures, 8, Rue de la Paix, 1050 Brussels
• Look 50, 10, Rue de la Paix, 1050 Brussels
• Kusje, 12, Rue de la Paix, 1050 Brussels
• Pygmées, 4, Rue des Grands Carmes, 1000 Brussels
• Inno department store (lots of styles and different brands)

I’m hoping to find more nice shops, so let me know if you know any…

Cool Bars

A drink after shopping? Of course. Here you have, in no particular order, the bars in Brussels that have a cozy atmosphere. More to be added later (obviously).

• Gecko Bar, 16, Place Saint-Géry, 1000 Brussels
• Zebra Bar, 33-34-35, Place Saint-Géry, 1000 Brussels
• Beursschouwburg, 20–28, Rue Auguste Orts, 1000 Brussels
• Nova, 3, Rue d’Arenberg, 1000 Brussels
• L’Archiduc, 6, Rue Antoine Dansaert, 1000 Brussels
• Kafka, 6, Rue de la Vierge Noire, 1000 Brussels
• Goupil le Fol, 22, Rue de la Violette, 1000 Brussels
• A La Mort Subite, 7, Rue Montagne-aux-Herbes Potagères, 1000 Brussels
• La Bécasse, 11, Rue Tabora, 1000 Brussels
• La Fleur en Papier Doré, 53, Rue des Alexiens, 1000 Brussels
• Le Cercueil, 10, Rue des Harengs, 1000 Brussels
• El Metteko, 86, Boulevard Anspach, 1000 Brussels
• L’Amour Fou, 185, Chaussée d’Ixelles, 1050 Brussels
• L’Ultime Atome, 14, Rue Saint Boniface, 1050 Brussels
• L’Union, 52, Parvis de St-Gilles, 1060 Brussels
• Le Fin de Siécle, 10, Rue des Chartreux, 1000 Brussels
• Le Fontainas, 91, Rue Marché au Charbon, 1000 Brussels
• Greenwich, 7, Rue des Chartreux, 1000 Brussels
• De Ultieme Hallucinatie, 316, Rue Royale, 1210 Brussels
• Chez Moeder Lambic, 68, Rue de la Savoie, Brussels
• Le Tavernier, 445, Chaussée de Boondael, 1080 Brussels

By the way, I don’t understand why smoking is not yet banned in small bars and cafes (only in restaurants) — I hope the legislation needed for the full smoking ban will be introduced in Belgium as soon as possible.

Some time ago, I wrote about the good and the bad in Brussels. Since then, I have spoken with both my Flemish and French speaking friends, and it is fascinating to hear what they say about their country, from their (often conflicting) point of view. But they all agree that politicians are riculous about this. I don’t want to get too much into politics here, but let me make one thing perfectly clear: I don’t take sides. I try to read both French and Flemish newspapers (as much as I can understand!), and I like Flemish and French culture. I go to work and associate with people from all around Europe, every day. Simple as that, for me.

There has been some interesting articles and comments lately on Mark Mardell’s Euroblog: Divided Belgium and Flemish Flamenco. Obviously, coming from bilingual country like Finland, it’s easy for me to say that languages make life richer. So what is the problem then? Money and power, obviously — like always, everywhere. What a waste of time and energy.

I simply can’t be bothered anymore to hack for browsers that haven’t been in development for years. I’m just waiting for these browsers to disappear from circulation, hopefully as soon as possible.

On this site, CSS is hidden from Internet Explorer lower or equal to version 6 with valid conditional comments. A very useful technique indeed.

For browsing, I use Firefox. It’s the only one I need, and it has some very good extensions too (Firebug, Web Developer, ColorZilla to name a few). For testing, here’s a list of browsers I’ve been using — although in most cases, I only test in Firefox, Safari, Opera, and IE7, and then only occasionally with others, if necessary.

• Windows: Firefox, Opera, Flock, Safari , Internet Explorer seven
• Mac OSX: Firefox, Safari, Opera, Flock, Camino, iCab, Shiira
• Linux: Firefox

The only acceptable reason for not using browsers on the above list would be if IE6 is your company browser (in that case it’s time to revise that policy, is it not?).