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Here they, come... as promised... a whole slew of them. Complete with explanatory captions.

Without further ado... a tour of our neighborhood:


Aerial View of our 'hood
To give you an overview, this photo was taken from the Bo-ny helicopter. Yep, I've got some pull at the company.

Our Favorite Bakery
If you turn left out of our front door and walk a few blocks, you will see this "patisserie" on the right hand side of the street. It is currently decorated with the Halloween motif. After buying our baked goods from another nearby bakery, Kristen decided to give this one a try. Their "pain au chocolat" is far superior to any other we've had.

Our Little Grocery Shop
Even though we usually go to one of the bigger grocery stores in the surrounding area, we do visit this one from time to time to pick up something simple. Like a bag of sugar, bananas, or even a vegetable. It is also the first store we shopped in when we got to Belgium.

Self-explanatory
Brusselites don't seem to have the same kind of etiquette as people in the US, when it comes to their four-legged friends. Not as bad as in Paris, but when you're walking here... it's a good idea to watch where you step. Some "fed-up" people display this sign outside their door.

The closest shopping area to us
This is Rue Tongres. It leads down to Avenue de Tervuren which is quite a busy street. On the right is Super GB, a larger supermarket. While this store is not as stocked as the DelHaize or the Colruyt we go to, it is good for the necessities. Also on this street is a butcher-shop, a Godiva outlet, a hair-salon, several clothing and shoe stores, two mall-like areas, and a few restaurants (one of which is the famous Le Pain Quotidien).

The butcher shop on aforementioned street
We haven't gone in here yet, but these freshly-made sausages sure are tempting. On weekends, there is always a line out the door. However, "going to the butcher" is still a bit intimidating for us because it involves interacting with a service person. Also, some amount of "local knowledge" is required as most of the goods are not labeled. Then there's the whole metric system. Sure, it makes much more sense than the silly feet, inches, ounces, and pounds, but we haven't "learned" it yet.

Our Metro station
If you walk down Rue Tongres toward the main road and turn right, you will come to this Metro stop. It is underground, of course, so there are some steps leading down. If you are blind, you can follow your nose because, wafting up from the depths, there is nearly always the maddeningly seductive scent of the best Belgian waffles in the city (we will devote a separate blog entry to these beauties).

A row-house on Ave. De l'Yser
This is Kristen's favorite house which she passes on the way back from our Metro stop. It's kind of hard to tell where it begins and where it ends, but it does have quite a bit of charm.

A square very close to our apartment
If you turn right out of our front door and walk a block, you will come to this square. This photo is taken from the opposite direction of which you would approach the square from our apartment. There is an obscenely ugly "fountain" in this square. It's the thing on the left that looks like an oil-rig. The tall building in the background is almost directly next to our building.

Need a band-aid?
This sign hangs above every pharmacy in the city. They are called "Apothek". They are funny little shops that specialize, rather than build out like a Rite-Aid or Eckerds. It is counter-service mostly.

Our well-stocked news-stand
On Thursdays we purchase the weekly issue of "The Bulletin" here and on Sundays, "The Sunday Times" (from London). They carry periodicals in many different languages. "Le Soir" is not the name of the shop, but the name of a French-language newspaper.

Another grocery store
The most enticing display of fruit in our neighborhood. Everything is always fresh. Note the "H" on the wall above the fruit. Must be a hydrant near here, eh?