The plan was simple: take a bus to Brussels-Nord station, walk to the Grand Place, stop for coffee along the way — all while shooting with the Fujifilm 56mm. Surprisingly, I’d never done a proper photo walk in Brussels before. The weather cooperated with thin, overcast skies, though the air quality warning was less welcome. We survived.
I have a habit of photographing the upper floors of buildings — something my Rotterdam trip probably already revealed, and to some extent, Lille. It may come as a surprise, but parts of Brussels have a distinctly Rotterdam-esque skyline. From what I’ve seen, it’s concentrated mostly around the Nord station area — not as varied or as tall, but striking enough to catch my eye the first time I visited. A natural starting point, then.
I’ll say upfront: this will be a multi-part series. Brussels has far more to offer than online forums and expat groups might suggest. Each neighbourhood tells a different story — from Woluwe-Saint-Pierre to the historic centre to Saint-Gilles, the contrasts are striking. It’s not uncommon to step off a bus a few stops further than usual and feel like you’ve entered an entirely different city. There will be more photo reports from Brussels.
No photo walk is complete without a proper speciality coffee stop. We found one near the Brussels canal — offering, among other things, an excellent cheese cake and carrot cake. I’ve developed a soft spot for cheesecakes lately. Some would argue the quality of a coffee shop can be judged by its cheesecake. I’m beginning to agree.
Fourteen thousand steps don’t accumulate by walking from Nord station to the Grand Place alone. We kept going. After a few shots of the Grand Place spires, we made our way to the European Quarter — passing St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral and a brief, unpublished selfie at the Parc de Bruxelles.
Near the European Parliament, hunger struck. We headed to Maison Antoine at Place Jourdan — the legendary frites stand that once had Angela Merkel queuing like everyone else.
A side note on the drinks menu: two options caught my eye — Panaché and Mazout. The former I knew: beer mixed with lemonade, light and refreshing. The latter was new to me. It turns out you can mix beer with Coca-Cola. It looks undrinkable. I tried it anyway. I didn’t finish it, and I won’t be revisiting that decision.
Why look down when you can look up? Keep looking up.
As for the Fujifilm 56mm — I was pleasantly surprised. The Rotterdam and Lille shots were taken with the 80mm macro, so this was a different experience. I already knew the 56mm excels at portraits, but I didn’t expect it to perform quite so well on architecture — particularly the kind of upper-floor details I tend to gravitate towards. It’s made me want to do more street photography.
Oh, and I nearly forgot — I managed to get two decent shots of my watch as well.
Kindly,
Olaaf
