Museum Night Fever!

On Saturday night Kirk and I went to "Museum Night Fever" in Brussels! It was a fun, giddy night out on the town. Our sweet friends, Julia and Matt Spencer, came over to stay with Connor allowing us the rare treat of a date night! Julia is pregnant with a baby girl due in July, so it was cute to see them excited about a cozy night in with pizza and a sleeping baby - it was as if they were "trying on" their future life for size. And it certainly fit! Connor goes to pieces every time she sees Julia calling out her name and bestowing hug upon hug.

Museum Night Fever is an event where you pay 7 euros for access to 14 Brussels museums to explore the exhibitions. At the same time local students and artists perform throughout the night and throughout all of the eclectic museums. Totally up our alley! We only made it to 5 museums before we pooped out though.

We saw:

1) Palais des Beaux-Arts - Bozar

2) Porte de Hal

3) Musee du Cinquantenaire

4) Musee Royal de l'Armee (Military Museum)

5) Autoworld Brussels

I was a little bummed that we didn't make it to the Musee de la Ville in the Grand Place or the BELvue Museum. The Musee of Musical Instruments would have been fun too. Well, we have our work cut out for us for next time!

It was a picture perfect night weatherwise. Clear and cool (not cold). Kirk and I felt so free without our stroller sidekick. We actually approached staircases with spring in our step knowing we wouldn't have to lug the stroller upstairs or search out the elevator. I just had to photograph Kirk on the stairs to prove my point.

There were shuttlebuses to transport us from museum to museum. Jumping from cool night air on and off the warm buses along with so many others reminded me of being young and even more spontaneous than we are now.

The best place we went were the museums near the Cinquantinaire Park. This arched gate is duplicated in many parks in many cities around Europe, but I had not been to this one in Brussels yet. We walked all over in the dark night air.

Autoworld was incredible. Cars representing so many different periods of time. I realized that in the past green cars were pretty popular. I even remember my Mom once had a green "Rabbit" car when I was little. But you really don't see many green cars these days, do you?

Kirk really wanted to see the Military History Museum so we went there too. It was enormous! And surprisingly enough it probably was the museum with the most ambiance. The hangar-type setting made for great lighting and there was a band playing below. You wouldn't think of that for a place filled with guns and antique war uniforms, huh? And strangely enough in one part of the museum they had a 'speed dating' room in conjunction with the Museum Night Fever program! You never know what you are going to get here in Brussels!

The hub of activity spoked from the BOZAR Museum of Fine Arts. In the atrium there were performers from modern dance to opera singing. There were so many art and art history museums in the selection. I don't know why there are literally 5-7 art museums in Brussels, but whatever. I guess this way you get the art in bite-size pieces!
We found this aerial photo of Brussels at the BOZAR. It was fun to try to pick out the Grand Place and other landmarks of our city!

At one point in the night I was parched. We found a vending machine so I could grab a Sprite. I looked over at the food vendor and had to laugh. They sell WAFFLES in their vending machines over here. That is a serious love affair with waffles!

Museum Night was a real treat. It inspired me to know more and learn more about this city we are calling home for 18 months. THANK YOU again to Matt and Julia for making it so.