EUROPEAN UNION

Short trip to Belgium for a collaboration with the European Union. I arrive with a low-cost flight from Pisa to Charleroi Airport. From here by bus to Brussels. On foot we reach the hotel where we have booked. I am with a colleague. We arrived late and have dinner in an Arab fast food. The neighbourhood where we are staying is mainly inhabited by Muslims and many signs of the commercial activities are in Arabic. The following morning by Metro we go to Schuman Square where the main palaces of power of the European Union overlook. At the SEAE-EEAS we are welcomed and after the metal detector checks we do a survey of the rooms in which we will work tomorrow.

After breakfast in the nearby Italian Café we stop in the Grand Place and in front of the statue of the little boy peeing, dressed for the occasion in the shirt of Torino Calcio on the occasion of the anniversary of the Superga air disaster in which the Grande Toro lost their lives. The Torino Club of Brussels has gathered in front of the bronze statuette, with whom we go to toast in a craft brewery a short distance away. We have lunch in a restaurant in the historic centre and walk to the Etterbeek district passing through the main city parks. Here we go to visit an Italian friend who lives there and works for the European Union. We take a tour of the district and on foot return to the centre to the Grand Place to meet a fellow townsman who through facebook we discovered was a few metres from us. We drink a beer together with him and his girlfriend in a café.

After saying goodbye we have dinner in a fast food and then by Metro to the district where we are staying in a hotel. The following morning by Metro we reach the station closest to Etterbeek, then on foot we arrive at our friend's flat where we had already been yesterday. We go up just long enough to collect the parcel sent from Italy via DHL. On foot and with the parcel in hand we first go to the Etterbeek Town Hall where we are received by the Head of Cabinet and then to Schuman Square, near which we have lunch in a place. After passing the metal detector checks we enter the SEAE-EEAS where they are waiting for us for a day of work. In the evening we go to the Grand Place where we meet a colleague coming from Romania with whom we go near the statuette of the little boy peeing to eat a waffel, the Belgian sweet product most famous in the world.

I like it very much too because it is possible to enrich it with fruit, whipped cream and various creams. After saying goodbye to the Romanian colleague, by Metro we go to the other side of the City where meanwhile three of our colleagues have taken accommodation. Together with them by Metro we return to the Grand Place where we stop in a Greek restaurant. We part from them and return by Metro to our hotel. The following day after a quick breakfast we go by Metro to the SEAE-EEAS which on the occasion of Europe Day is open to the public. We stay inside all day, going out only alternately to have lunch in the Italian Café near the entrance. Our colleagues already met last night have joined us, to whom the colleague from Dubai and two friends from our town have been added.

In the afternoon the friend who lives in Etterbeek will also come with her mother, an acquaintance from Ecaussinnes and the cousins from Luxembourg. We make the acquaintance of some senior officials of the European Union, with one of whom in the evening we make an excursion into the City. Arranging to meet our colleagues for dinner, we go with her to the gastronomic market in front of the SEAE-EEAS, visit her flat and with her car return to the centre where in the Grand Place we rejoin our other colleagues. In the Square we casually meet a friend with his wife. At dinner we invite the European manager to a restaurant in the centre, then each returns to their accommodation. My travel companion and I do so by Metro.

The following morning by Metro we go to pick up a rental car and with it, having loaded our colleagues, we pass by Etterbeek to deliver a parcel to the friend who lives there and to meet the colleague from Dubai to say hello. We leave for Bruges. We visit the beautiful City intersected by canals that lap romantic houses in Flemish style. We have lunch in a place in the historic centre and have a snack with a waffel. Having picked up the car again we go to the Airport where we return it. In the terminal we meet again the couple of fellow townsmen and the friend with his wife met last night on the Grand Place. With a low-cost flight we leave for Pisa.