It’s been a while since we had a ticket giveaway on Best of Brussels so who’s up for a little contest? I’ve got two VIP tickets to the RTBF DJ Experience taking place tomorrow night at Tour & Taxis up for grabs!
The 7thedition of this huge event is a great way to celebrate the end of summer in Brussels. TV and radio presenters from RTBF will take a spin at the decks, joined by local and well-known DJs like Compuphonic, Surfing Leons and Quentin Mosimann, from 10pm until 6am. The 10,000m2 set up will include three stages (vintage, club and open-air), all with different music styles. See the website for the full line-up. Last year’s DJ Experience drew a crowd of 12,000 so hopefully that’s a sign for another good party this year.
And even better, all of the proceeds go to Cap 48, the RTBF charity that aims to raise awareness about disability and support projects working on the integration of persons with disabilities in society.
For your chance to win, just leave a comment for this post and I will select a winner from the list at random. The contest closes at midnight today so don’t delay! The winner will receive the tickets by email tomorrow morning.
If you like beer, even a little bit, this is the weekend to be in Brussels. The 14th edition of the Belgian Beer Weekend starts on Friday and continues through Sunday, with more than 50 Belgian breweries offering up their best. I must admit (as shameful as it is living in Belgium) that I’m not really a beer drinker. As you may have noticed, I’ve had to call in reinforcements (aka my friend Eoin) to write about beer on this blog (Beer Notes post). But even I’m impressed with a festival dedicated to a country that produces so many types of beer.
The Beer Weekend is organized by the Belgian Brewers’ Guild to pay tribute to the patron saint of brewers, Saint Arnould. The Guild of Brewers is one of the oldest professional associations in the world and all Belgian breweries belong to it. Read more on the history here.
Typically the festival is hosted on the Grand Place, but this year it has spread to the Bourse as well. A “Beer & Food” exhibition will be held inside the old stock exchange building, where the Belgian Beer Café will present different beer and food pairings every hour. A 50m bar will also be set up in the street behind to help keep your glass full on the walk between the Grand Place and the Bourse. See the map for details.
There is a huge list of beers on offer (more than 350!) from both small and large Belgian breweries. I’m not going to attempt to recommend any so I guess you’ll just have to go and sample several yourselves. Entrance to the Grand Place and Bourse is free. Tickets are €1 a piece and beers range from 2 tickets for a simple Pils, up to 5 tickets for a Trappist beer and other unique brews.
The festivities kick off on Friday, 31 August, with a celebration for Saint Arnould and some sort of blessing of the beer at St Michel Cathedral around 1:45pm. The real party starts at 6pm with the opening of the Grand Place stalls and continues until 10pm. Visitors can start drinking again at 11am on Saturday and keep going until 9pm (Wow, 10 hours of beer consumption. Things should get interesting). The stalls are open again on Sunday from 11am to 8pm.
If you need a distraction from all the beer (hello, me), watch the parade of historic beer carts and vehicles on Saturday, which leaves the Quai du Bois-à-Brûler (fish market) at 1pm, or the parade of brewers on the Grand Place at 2pm. There’s also a parade of musical groups on Sunday at noon.
Happy (and safe!) drinking
Images via Belgian Brewers and Global Grasshopper.
This is a bit of a re-post from earlier in the year but I wanted to share the topic of giving back again, just in time for a couple of events this weekend! If you missed this one the first time, please keep reading otherwise just scroll down to find out more about a special UNICEF brunch on Saturday and the Serve the City Big Volunteer Week!
Growing up I was always taught the importance of giving back to the community. The women, in particular, in my family are very generous with their time and have served as great role models for how to give a helping hand. My grandmother for example volunteered at her local hospital for over 50 years – an incredible deed and one to which to aspire. Over the years, I’ve tried to find ways to help in my community, but this can be challenging when living abroad, especially if you don’t know where to look.
There are a number of ways to get involved in Brussels to help those in need both in Belgium and abroad. Here are two of the best.
Serve the City, launched by American Carlton Deal in 2005, organizes events where volunteers can help people in need in practical ways through their interests and abilities. The charity aims to connect expats living in Brussels with existing Belgian organizations already engaged in the community. Projects focus on serving the homeless, asylum seekers, disabled, elderly, children and victims of abuse. Serve the City has now grown into a global movement, with activities in 70 cities across The Netherlands, Spain, France, Brazil, US, South Africa and many more countries.
Volunteers can participate as individuals or as a group, on a one-time basis or as a regular commitment. You can even encourage your employer or company to support this organization. To find out how you can get involved, check out their Weekly Give a Hand update.
Their next event is the Big Volunteer Week starting this Saturday 30 June and running until 7 July – an entire week devoted to serving those in need, whether by serving food to the homeless, cleaning and/or beautifying the city. There are several different projects running over the week and lots of ways to get involved. Find out more here and register here.
Another great way to give back is through the Expats for UNICEF group in Brussels. Founded in 2004, this is a volunteer committee of UNICEF Belgium that aims to raise awareness about UNICEF and support UNICEF Belgium’s campaigns among the expat community.
This group organizes all sorts of activities, including a monthly pub quiz, concerts, wine tastings and art exhibitions. You can check out upcoming events on their Facebook page.
The next event is a brunch at the new Britxos cafe in Saint-Gilles where Chef Alex will offer up all sorts of tasty Anglo-American treats during a multiple course meal. The cost is €30 per person, including drinks and there are two sittings at 11:30 and 13:30, Just send an email to britxos@labritannique.com to book your spot. More details here.
Want to help out immediately? A really simple thing you can do is sign the UNICEF online petition to support the Emergency Schools project, which helps provide children affected by conflict or natural disaster with security, psychological support and an education.
The Tebiki blog has some other good ideas for how to get involved. Have you found other ways to give back in Brussels?
I’m back in Brussels and ready to get blogging again! Apologies for the two-week hiatus but sometimes a girl just needs a little break. Now let’s get back to all the best of Brussels as there is so much happening this summer.
We had great weather this past Sunday for the annual 20k in Brussels. Although the sun might not be shining quite as brightly this coming weekend, there is another chance to lace up your running shoes and get moving, this time for Relay for Life, a 24-hour relay to support cancer survivors and research.
What started back in 1985 with one man running alone for 24 hours to collect money for the American Cancer Society has grown into an international movement. Relay for Life events are now held in over 20 countries to celebrate the lives of cancer survivors, remembers loved ones lost and unites communities in the fight against cancer by raising awareness and funds.
The international community of Brussels, with the support of the Belgian Foundation against Cancer and in partnership with St. John’s International School, will host its second annual Relay For Life on June 2-3 in Waterloo. The event starts at noon on Saturday and will run for 24 hours, until noon on Sunday. Teams of all ages will take turns walking or running around a track for 24 hours, which is symbolic of the constant battle patients and their families endure in their fight with the disease.
There are several different ways to get involved.
Join a team to run or walk – One member from each team is required to be on the track at all times, usually for about to 2-3 hours per member, and aim to collect approximately 1 euro/minute for the duration of the rely. Sign up here.
Support the participants – Volunteer at the event, buy a raffle ticket or cheer on the teams. See more info here about side activities and fun for kids. Free entrance.
Make a donation – Help raise money to support research, provide care to people affected by cancer, along with their families, and promote prevention. Give here.
From the event, 97% of funds raised will go directly to support local cancer patients and their families, and cancer research. So many of us have been touched by cancer in different ways and this is a great chance to help raise funds and fight back against the disease. I hope, with your help, that this event will be a huge success!
