French, English, Spanish, Italian, Bulgarian…One of the things I have always loved about Brussels is its multilingualism. Wherever you are in the city, languages reach you with their melody and mix in a beautiful polyphony. The eternal music of Brussels, our contemporary Babylon. The main difference however is that, hey, we do speak foreign languages … Continue reading
Author Archives: ipapancheva
Luis Augusto Quimper: My private Brussels is a permanent internal conflict
“I come from Piura, a town that used to be small in the north coast of Peru. A very warm and sunny place in the middle of the desert, where seasons go almost unnoticed and the days have the same length all year around. I went to a Jesuits school and then studied applied economic … Continue reading
The eternal Café Belga
I meet a writer friend at Café Belga on Wednesday night. It is around 10 pm but the café is busy. Taking advantage of the “March summer”, as some of the quickest marketing professionals called their latest parties, many people are sitting outside. The air is a bit chilly for me and we find a table … Continue reading
L’Amour Fou
My love story with Brussels will complete its eleventh year in three days. I arrived here on 17 February 2003 late in the evening. Early next morning on my bus to the European Parliament I was already in love. I must admit that, as in any relationship, we have had difficult times. I had my … Continue reading
Martini Bar – sophisticated and smoky?
I had my first Martini Bar experience on Friday. It had been on my list for a while. The friend who suggested it said it was offering a different experience and crowd. So even though lately I am not so tempted by the pleasures of the night life, I was curious to see it. We … Continue reading
Getting some Ice Magic
I wanted to do something special on the first day of the year. Going through the, non-surprisingly, very limited list of options, I opted for Ice Magic. Some 20 artist-sculptors from across the globe have depicted famous comic strips’ characters. To be honest, I have never been into comic strips so for me it was … Continue reading
My private Christmas street
I found it by pure chance. As I walked out of the crowded streets around Grand Place and made my way towards Sainte-Catherine square, I suddenly was at a different place. Deserted. Quite. Private. A short street with silver balls hanging over it and spreading around their metallic shine. There was both intimacy and wonder … Continue reading
Glitter and lights
Halloween night coincide with the first Festival des Lumieres Bruxelles (Lights Festival Brussels) this year. The latter was about to last for four nights, so I decided to focus on the Halloween parties first. The one which attracted my attention was “Années Folles” on the theme The Haunted Great Gatsby. It was taking place at … Continue reading
In the world of fashion
This year I decided to have the ultimate fashion experience for a day. I bought the full day ticket for Brussels Fashion Days and last Saturday reached The Egg just in time for Elle fashion show. The big hall was full with mostly young girls and boys, fashion professional and people like me who were … Continue reading
Not My Life
I was at the screening of Not My Life on Friday night at the occasion of the EU Anti-trafficking Day. Robert Bilheimer’s documentary provides staggering examples of human trafficking and modern slavery. It follows the stories of the victims in different parts of the world. Africa, Asia, Europe…Around 880,000 children and young women in the … Continue reading