another diversion...Belgian life

Yesterday we got in touch with our Belgian selves a little more than usual. We went to the Palace and toured around (after all, my tax euros are paying for it, I should at least have a look inside!) and was amazed at the splendour of it all. One notable thing for me other than the gold leaf walls and the inlayed wood floor were the lights. These were the most exotic chandeliers I've ever seen (all Val St. Lambert--a Belgian crystal company) and I almost forgot, the newest addition-- a ceiling coated with over a million irredescent scarab beetle wings from Thailand. Have a look at the official p.r. about it below:

"The ceiling and the central chandelier in the Mirror Room, whose construction was interrupted by the death of Leopold II, have been covered with the wing cases of 1.4 million Thai jewel beetles, which reflect the light with a curiously vibrant energy.

Jan Fabre and his team of 29 artists spent 3 months all told completing this painstaking task, finished in 2002.


(copyright photo Dirk Pauwels)

Here's a close-up of some of these wings (in this case used as jewelry). I found this picture on e-bay if you're interested in purchasing them, the going price right now is only 12.99 USD. According to the science of these wings, there are several translucent layers each with subtly different wavelengths of colour...as the object moves, the vivid depth of the green is evident. Peacock feathers use the same technique of showy-ness.

If you have broadband and would like to see what we saw, then click here to be taken to the Virtual Tour website that allows you to scan each of the public rooms we walked through...stunning and mind blowing--I wonder if the money for this came out of the Congo?

Belgian life, part 2:
Our visit to the palace was not the first thing we did yesterday to honour our host country. The first was a luxurious breakfast of Liege Waffles made on our new (fabricated in Belgium) waffle maker that I bought with some gift certificate credits I received as a very generous gift from my students this past year. M made up the dough the night before and the boys awoke to the smells of Orval butter, Madagascar vanilla beans, fresh cake yeast and warmed Quebec maple syrup (0kay, not all are Belgian components, but hey--you wouldn't expect me to do without the best for such a treat, would you?)

I hope our boys realize the significance of this treat since raised waffles have been a tradition in the Rose household probably since the first "Fanny Farmer's Cookbook" came into my father's hands soon after their marriage close to 50 years ago...thanks Dad for this little cholesterol addiction--it was worth it!