A change of air

Do you know Victor Horta? Well I didn't until we spent last weekend in Brussels, looking at  various really amazing houses designed by this Belgian architect and designer,  who is described by John Julius Norwich as the key European Art Nouveau architect.

Surprisingly, until Horta began to make his mark at the end of the 19th Century, architects were designers of buildings and knew little about engineering, plumbing, electricity etc. Horta had not only studied engineering but made a feature of exposed metal girders and supports. He must have been 50 or 60 years ahead of his time and it is particularly amazing when you look at his houses, department stores and hotels which are the most fanciful, light as a wisp creations, with virtually no straight lines and wonderful embellishments and curlicues everywhere. 

Horta was something of an obsessive, often designing built-in furniture, door handles, light switches et al and he was such a workaholic, that he would put the light on at 4am to spread his plans across the marital bed.  His wife left him and who can blame her!

Brussels is a wonderfully empty town, Under 2 million inhabitants but they still manage to have huge traffic jams. And a lot of beggars. And no tap water to be had in restaurants. You have to pay at least  2 Eu for a small bottle to slake your thirst.  Still a small price to pay for all the wonderful things this town has to offer. And I always remembered it as boring!