prose-New Atlantis

Here's an excerpt from Steven's text (posted July, 2004):

"Report from Waterland.....on the first leg of Tuxedomoon's Cabin in the Sky European tour...

We are flying from Belgrade to Bruxelles.

Belgium is famous for beer, chocolate and grey rainy skies. Peter and I smile as the cloud cover appears on our approach to Zaventem airport. Another green green country...No deserts here! On one of our days off a trip to the Ardennes...Foy Notre Dame (foy old spelling of foi or faith) church built in 1623 to commemorate the discovery of a small stone statue of the virgin with child inside a tree that a local boat builder had cut down. Beautiful wooden ceiling with hundreds of painted panels from the school of Rubens.

Go to Rochfort where I buy 10 different cheeses to sample and we all sit down to trappiste beers; The ex-brother-in -law of Isabelle, Alan, tells us water stories...

Bruxelles gets its water from the same water that flows in the river Meuse. Its filtered and has a most unusual quality control system...A trout is contained in a tank through which the filtered water passes on its way to the citizens of Bruxelles. As long as the fish is alive and well, Bruxelles gets her water. Should the trout die, it will float into an electrode on the end of the tank and set off an alarm shutting off the flow of H20. Alan explains: A trout needs very clean water to survive...

No Trout Fishing in Belgium...

I'm drinking an Orval trappiste beer. As we sit at the table Alan points out the logo of this beer on its label: a fish with a ring in its mouth. Well, there's a legend behind the logo. The princess of Orval was at the spring one day drinking from what would one day be the source of Orval beer, when she lost her wedding ring in the depths. Her husband was away and she is wrought with anxiety that he will return and see her ring-less thus anulling their matrimony. Then miraculously a trout appears in the spring with the ring in its mouth.

We drive through beautiful Dinant build along the river Meuse in the shadow of towering cliffs. A fortress lords over the city above the cathedral and there is even a cable car to take you up the cliff. Reminds me a bit of Lyon. Here Adolph Sax was born.

Next day we head for Spa where all things healthy connected to this word were born in roman times. Land of the blue gold... L'or bleu...waterland.

I drank spa water for years when I lived in Bruxelles..."L'eau qui pétille" We have lunch in this bustling tourist town then go to the musee de les eaux and then head for the source of the source...4000 hectares of bog (Les Hautes Fagnes). Before the bog a dense forest of intensly tonifying pines..moist and cold and invigorating...we are at highest geografic area in Belgium...Carlos happily running around like a young deer, we all feel great. The bog is surreal; flat rolling meadows dotted with dwarf trees. A wooden plank walk way extends for kilometers over gentle swells in this landscape that could unexpectedly take hold of your leg and not let go.... dark masse of woods on distant ridge, a mist rolls in and temperature drops steadily...this is werewolf country to be sure... We seek refreshment in a resto adorned with stuffed heads of giant wild boars and deers. People are speaking a strange german dialect.. its a perfect setting for a scene from the werewolf movie.

Watching the water fall from the sky into the bog I realize Im witnessing a colossal water filtration plant in action. Spa water is born here: rain water filtering through meters of peat bog and ending up in bottles and glasses around the globe.

Spa Rouge or Rood with the red label was a favorite in the early days in Bruxelles. Delighted we were to eventually discover Spa Orange and Spa Citron...

I had to pull myself away from Bruxelles and Belgium. This my second visit in two years, I find myself liking the place more and more...But I force myself to leave the familiar and head for the less so...Paris"

T O P