We went to watch "The Reader" yesterday. I opted for the smaller "Vendome" cinema rather than in the multiplex. This Cinema has a 50's appearance and is quite a fitting one to watch a movie starting in the late 50's. As I entered the Cinema I noticed the brick walls painted in dark grey and worn out a bit, large pipes running along the walls and that there were only 6 other people sitting on the bright turquoise chairs all placed at the same height. I sat down, put my bag on the chair on the right and the jacket on the chair on the left to ensure that Parmanu would get to pick his seat when he came. It was not necessary, there were just about another 5 people in the theatre by the time the movie started.
The Vendome is situated in a very different part of Brussels than the one I am staying at. I always wanted to take a walk in these parts and for sure it is a very different life there. The place is teeming with different types of African shops - grocery, telephone cards to call Africa, beauty shops, African special clothes and so on. Most of the people walking there are Africans - there is a "zing" in the air as African music belts out from the different bars there. There is life in the streets even at 8:30 in the evening different from other places in Brussels where life starts moving indoors.
We walk past the shops to an area filled with restaurants. There are different types of restaurants here - we spotted an Ethiopian one and then another African one and even a cuban one. In between there are Vietnamese and Thai restaurants as well. There is one Indian restaurant - I remember going here when we first came - neither food nor the service compelled us back to this restaurant ever again. I must even qualify this restaurant as having the worst Indian food I had ever had in Europe apart from the fast food one in City II in Brussels. Don't get me wrong - Brussels does have good restaurants with Indian food too.
As Parmanu is vegetarian non-alcoholic and neither of us were hungry, we just did window shopping at the restaurants. I drooled at some meat curry smells and the menus while he took some pictures. I made a mental note that I should visit these places with some friends or with my sister when she comes. We found some pasta and Thai restaurants where we could find a compromise to eat another time when we were hungry. We watched the different light falling on the streets as the time passed by sitting on the tables put on the pavement by one of the bars. I nestled a Caipirinha and Parmanu sipped a Vanille Tea.
We later walked to Vendome.