Road Construction

One of those perplexing parts of living in Belgium is all of the construction - and questioning its efficiency. My friends and I think there must a city election or something coming up because the amount of construction going on here has multiplied exponentially in the past month. Or maybe they are just preparing for summer and the high tourist season.

A lot of the work revolves around replacing cobblestones in the sidewalks. It is strange how much work it takes to maintain cobblestone walks. They are already difficult to walk along in anything but sneakers (which is what I walk in!) --- but just imagine trying to be sure you don't trip in the missing stone holes. The cobblestone paths are put together manually and they seem to be installed only with sand underneath and in between so when the rains come - and there is no doubt they will come in Brussels! - the stones loosen and disappear.

It is all very perplexing. I am interested to see how quickly some of these construction projects will take. I walk routinely up the hill from the Grand Place to Sablon via the Mont des Arts. It is a huge square by the Art Museum and the National Library. It appears to have gorgeous gardens and public space. But it has been under major construction since we got here and doesn't appear to have an end point. We'll see...