Back in Brussels

I still woke up this morning thinking I might step out into the wonder of North Greenview ...

We arrived yesterday at 8 a.m. to Brussels' airport. We had a good trip. The three of us were able to catch some sleep on the plane, but Georgie and I had a long nap in the afternoon (I had a very long one!).

I will be leaving to the office in some 45 minutes (It's now 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, 1 September).

Jarl and Georgie will have another week of holidays to get used to life in Brussels. Georgie will start the new school on 7 September; European School of Woluwe St. Lambert, Portuguese Section. She is very happy to be back in Brussels. You should have seen her happy face the moment we landed, reached our street, stepped inside the apartment, the moment she saw her room and her toys. Georgie was beaming and kept saying how happy she was feeling. But she misses Crown Fountain in Chicago; Georgie wondered if we could go there today.

I feel like I left some part of my heart in Chicago. I suppose we all have bits and pieces of our hearts wandering around. No need for mending, that's just the way things are.

As my mother-in-law, Ulla, would say, take a deep breath and put the boots on. And then face the morning one step at a time.


(L)

Dreamliner Van

During the GMGs' visit to Chicago (they left today to New York; we miss them) we drove around the city in a 7-seater van (a Dodge). We called it the "Dreamliner", as in the new Boeing 787 (currently being tested).

The van is indeed like a plane, huge, smooth, with inside lighting that soothes and calms, "tanned" windows, and automatic side-doors that open with a swoosh. Welcome to flying without leaving the ground!

I added a photo of the Dreamliner (sorry Airbus, I still like you!) with Gonçalo in mind, he who loves airplanes and bought a model of this one for himself while visiting the Boeing store (Boeing has its headquarters in Chicago).

(L)

Lincoln Town Car

After the Hiundai Sonata, we rented a Lincoln Town Car (LTC), to drive in the "Land of Lincoln" (that's the motto for the State of Illinois, in reference to the famous former US President).

The LTC is indeed a stately car, a sort of mini-limo, or as our friend Debbie puts it "an old man's car", followed by laughs and "my father drives one". In Portugal we would call it a "banheira", a bathtub.

But don't let yourself be misguided by all the negative publicity, the LCT is a spacious, very comfortable car, and it gives you the outside and inside temperature in Celsius (I liked that!). Its biggest problem? It guzzles a lot of petrol and the planet won't be any better for that. It's an experience, an American experience.

(L)

The Garden Buddha

There's a Buddha in our garden. We will miss it. Today, Georgie took a couple of photos of "The Awakened One". We are not Buddhists, but we like the concept of the "Middle Path", neither self-indulgence, nor self-mortification in life. I also like the concept that Truth can be revealed to oneself without the help of intermediaries, that all that we need is guidance, the conclusion being ultimately our own.

I still think the Buddha was too negative about the body in his teachings, concentrating too much on the mind and the state of bodiless Nirvana as the final destination. But what's a mind without a body? The work of neurobiologist Antonio Damasio, and his book "Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain" in particular, shows that the dichotomy between the body and the mind is artificial, and that our minds - apart from being the product of the brain's physical processes - would be unable of rational thinking were it not for our somatic experiences, which is often how our emotions are translated into being. Yes, I loved the book and I recommend its reading.

Back to the Garden Buddha... it's a beautiful statue, serene and peaceful, like all Buddhas are supposed to be. The squirrels like to sniff him and sit on top of his head. The Buddha looks pleased. If we get a house with a garden, I may even get one.

Around the corner from our house there's another Buddha. This one is a big statue of a standing Buddha, in the garden of a Buddhist Temple. We used to pass by the temple on our way to Chase Park. Georgie was always fascinated with the offerings of water and oranges, as well as flowers. Who was going to eat and drink them? Would the statue do that? But statues aren't alive, are they? I explained that the monks probably sneak in at night and eat the oranges and drink the water. They don't want any of their innocent followers to think that the Buddha isn't taking the gifts. As if the Buddha would need any food or drink after attaining Nirvana, the bodiless state of no wanting and of no needing. Religion... (sigh)

(L)

dinner with Becky and Ed and the GMGs

We invited Aunt Becky and Uncle Ed to join us this evening for an American dinner: broiled chicken, sausages, cole slaw salad, potato salad, watermelon and chocolate chip cookies. We ate outside in the porch.

(L)

saying goodbye to Susan and Beth

Susan and Beth are the gentle owners of the house where we stayed for three months in Chicago. We said goodbye to them this afternoon in their garden (it's a little our garden too). Their home made our stay in Chicago more real, more pleasant, more memorable (toilet quirks and all... sorry, internal joke).

We had a present for them. A magic rabbit made of metal, red and black, that we had bought in Douglas, Michigan in July. It will keep company to the hare that comes in the morning to munch on the leaves in the garden.

We will miss their invisible presence around the house, their impromptu appearances in the stairs in the back, the enjoyable chats in the middle of the day. But we just say "hasta la vista"!

(L)

Lunch at the Hilton

Today we couldn't find anywhere to have lunch, so we decided to go to the Hilton... not the cheapest option (even the small cafe where we sat), but it was cool inside. Georgie was quite happy with our choice, as you can see from the photos. The lobby is quite impressive, don't you think?

The Hilton is hosted in what used to be "Palmer House". There have been three Palmer House Hotels in Chicago. The first (known as "The Palmer") was built as a wedding present from Potter Palmer to his bride Bertha Honoré. It opened on September 26, 1871, but burned down just thirteen days later during the 1871 Great Chicago Fire. Palmer immediately set to work on a second 7-floors hotel designed by architect John M. Van Osdel. It was completed in 1875. By the 1920s, the business in downtown Chicago could support a much larger facility and the Palmer Estate decided to erect a new 25-story hotel. They hired Holabird & Roche to design the building. Between 1923 and 1925, the hotel was rebuilt on the same site (in stages, so not a single day of business was lost). At the time it was touted as the largest hotel in the world. Still today, it looks massive.

(L)