Antwerp's Zoo

A week ago I went to visit the zoo in Antwerp. I hadn't been to the zoo since I was little and it was great to have this experience again. The zoo is located right next to the main entrance of the central station and is now having a "winter offer" that makes tickets cheaper than usual. Even though they are not that cheap (we paid 15€ per person), I thought it was totally worthy it! They have lots of animals, open air or in some galleries (for example, the fish, the monkeys, the reptiles) and during the day you can see several shows (for example, playing with the seals and feeding the elephants). We saw all the animals and it took us 3h! It was a sunny day, so perfect for strolling around. And, even though on a weekend, there were not many people around.

The sea lions being fed

The decoration of the space is really nice too!

Funny!

They have a Nemo :)

The lions resting in the back.

Some humans got into the animal spirit too!

This is how my eyes look when I wake up every morning to do the Antwerp-Brussels ride...

Camouflage!

I saw many exotic animals I had never seen in my life (I specially recommend the nocturne section, where you can see some strange mixes, like pig-rabbit, squirrel-kanguru and mouse-deer). It was such a great visit that made me eager to visit other zoos when travelling. The Lisbon one will be next :)

Royal Palace

Every year, the Royal Palace in Brussels opens its doors to visitors, during summer. During that time you can visit the rooms of the palace, free of charge and admire the artwork exposed in them. Last year this started in August and since I was still in Brussels for the first couple of days of that month, I took the chance to go there. Pay attention to the dates this year and go there if you like, as it's definitely worth seeing!

Parlamentarium

If you're in Brussels and into the European Union issues, you should pay a visit to the Parlamentarium. It is a visitor's center located in the European Parliament, to which you can access for free and have a tour with one of the audio-guides provided (available in all 23 EU languages). The visit is very interactive, as you can pass your guide in some points of the exhibition and hear detailed explanations on some specific aspects, see pictures, etc. In the end you can watch a short movie about how the European Parliament works in a room with a 360 degree screen. The whole visit should take you about 1h and I really enjoyed going there, so I reccommend it!

Art Fair

Two weeks ago I have been to the Art Fair, thanks to an invitation kindly offered by Alliance Française. It was a huge pavilion filled with spaces for each gallery, where the art pieces were then displayed. It was nice to take a look around and see how this event was made (doors opened at 12h and there were already many art lovers queuing outside!). Although I am not exactly what you could call a fan of contemporary art... but I saw some interesting stuff. It was a good event, very well organized and with a general clean and sober, but cool, look. Go next year if you have the chance! 

Museum of Costumes and Lace

The Museum of Costumes and Lace is located in the centre of Brussels and currently is holding an exhibition about the 70's. You can see the different types of clothes, shoes and accessories worn at that time, as well as the fashion trends that were in back then. At the end, there's an area for kids to dress up and take photos in a vintage scenario.

This is a cute video played at the entrance that mixes 70's references with icons from Belgium

This exhibition will be on until March 2014, so there's plenty of time to see it. In the first Sunday of each month, however, the entrance is free, so take advantage of that! I thought that the rest of the museum's collection (the lace part) was not that special, but the visit is worthy for the 70's one.

Musée du Costume et de la Dentelle
Rue de la Violette 12
1000 Bruxelles
T +32 (0)2 213 44 50

Museum Magritte

Yesterday I took advantage of the free entrance that many museums in Brussels allow to their visitors in the afternoon of the first Wednesday of each month and went to visit the Magritte Museum (located in Place Royal, right in front of the Yves Saint Laurent exhibition).

The Happy Donor, 1966

It is a nice museum and you can see plenty of artwork from this famous Belgian surrealist artist. However, there were two turndowns for me there: the museum is very dark (the rooms where the artwork is almost only have the light that illuminates it) and several of René Magritte's most famous paintings are not there (if you go to the museum's shop, for instance, you will see lots of posters and postcards with artwork that is not displayed in the exhibition). These were my two favorite paintings that I saw there.

The Empire of Light, 1950-1954

Overall, I would suggest a visit in one of these free days, or, if you're under 25, you can get in for just 2€ and take a person with you for free.

Yves Saint Laurent

Last weekend I have visited the exhibition Yves Saint Laurent - a visionary, at Espace Culturel ING. It is a very nice exhibition on the life and work of this great French fashion designer. The exhibition shows a large number of creations from his collections, jewellery and accessories, as well as drawings, sketches and other documents.

The normal entry price for adults is 6€, but if you have a students' card (thanks, Alliance Française!), you only pay 3€. In the end, for an extra 5€, you can participate in either of these workshops:

• “Textiles-Tactiles” workshop: dressing of paper doll cut-outs, decoration of fashion posters and creation of “Love Cards” with various fabrics and objects.
• “Textiles-Couture” workshop: create and clothe dolls and cuddly toys, accessories, bags and jewellery from recycled materials.

Then the dolls and the toys will be sold in favour of the ING Chances for Children project (to which the money collected from the tickets that give access to the workshops will revert as well). But you can also take your doll or toy home as a souvenir!

I participated in the paper doll one, where you can style up a known Yves Saint Laurent creation yourself, using all kinds of fabrics and beads for such purpose, and it was great. This is the final result, now hanging in one of my studio's walls:

And this is the original Yves Saint Laurent dress (a tribute to Tom Wesselmann) whose sketch I have used: