Fête Nationale

L.S.,

Things that, thanks to my morning paper, I now know about the Belgian national holiday, and would like to share:

- Today is the 175th anniversary of the swearing in of the Belgian import-king Leopold de Saxe Coburg Gotha. Why they preferred him over the perfectly good king they had before will continue to be a mystery to all of mankind.
- On the national holiday, most people, including the stagiaires, have the day off.

- On the national holiday, parking is free. Please ignore Beglian parking meters to your heart's content today! That is one thing that is really ok about this holiday. I think I'm going to have to import this rule into my country...
- Apart from the two previous points, no one in Belgium cares about the national holiday, except slightly grey haired francophones in Brussels. (And yes, that includes the King. He gave a speach on TV yesterday, like every year. And, like every year, it was really boring.)
- The Flemish and the Walloons each have their own national holidays. The Flemish had theirs last week, on the 11th. Theirs celebrates the serious ass kicking they handed to the French in the Guldensporenslag in 1302. According to wikipedia, in English it is called the Battle of the Golden Spurs, and in French simply the Battaille de Courtrai. Anyway, it's called that because of all the gold spurs from the French knights that were spread all over the ground when they were finished dying. Now that is a reason to celebrate! (Just kidding, of course. I do not condone the use of violence, not even when a French royal army is trying to invade and conquer your country. Obviously, such an event would be a joyous occasion, making an end to barbary and creating a fresh start with a glourious injection of civilization. That is why the Dutch did absolutely nothing when the French, albeit not royal, came walking in in 1795.)
- The Walloons are clearly just being annoying for the hell of it. Instead of celebrating the swearing in of the first King, they celebrate the establishment of the provisionary government on the 27th of September, 1830. I think, if you're going to have a national holiday celebrating the independence, why not stick with the national one?
- The German speaking community have their day on the 15th of November, but no one really cares why.

In any event, today is the big one! There will be a "massive" fire works in the park. My Dutch newspaper of course did not say which park, but I assume it is the park that they named the metro station after.
More importantly, there will be a big music festival ("volksbal") in de Marollen. (Oh, sorry, for the francophones, in Les Marolles.)

Apart from that, I wish those stagiaires who are still in BXL a happy holiday. Take advantage of the chance to sleep in and forget about the heat for a while. After today, there are two days weekend, so you can get as drunk as you like.

Чао,

Martin