So, where do I live?

Welcome to my little corner of Brussels!  My postal code is 1050, which means I live in the Commune (or section) of Brussels called Ixelles.  It's a lovely area of the city with parks, trees and wide boulevards.  I live just off Louise Avenue, a large tree-lined boulevard with high-end stores, shops, banks, bakeries, restaurants and apartment buildings - a safe place to walk around in in the evening.  My street is de la Concorde and I live at #54, on the top floor.  I like this because when I look out my windows, I'm looking at roof tops, not into someone else's windows.  Side streets are narrower here than in Montreal.

This is the view from my window onto my street.  You can see how narrow the houses are .  This is typically Belgian.  Each one is different.  Sometimes an old one is torn down and a new modern one is built in its place so many streets are a mixture of old and new buildings, but all narrow. 

And this is my apartment building - the yellow brick one.  My apartment is on the top floor, the sets of windows with 5 panes and 2 panes.  The 5 panes are in my living room and the 2-paned window is my bedroom.  Now, step inside the door, go up to the 4th floor on a tiny little old elevator that's open to the walls on 2 sides and knock on my door!

Welcome!  This is my entrance hall (also my clothes cupboards).  It leads the way into

...... my living room.  My couch makes into a bed so I can have visitors; the table at the left near the window is where I'm sitting right now at my computer; the door to the right is to my bedroom; there's a TV on the left and a table and chairs....

... and behind the dining area is my kitchen with a stove with gas elements and an electric oven.  To the left is the door to the bathroom.

It's a nice compact little kitchen that is very convenient.  The window opens onto a shaft that goes from the bottom floor to the top, to let in air.  The top is covered with wire netting to keep the pigeons from coming in.

And this is my bathroom.  The washing machine is a washer-dryer but the dryer is not very efficient according to Canadian standards.  It would take 2 hours to dry sheets so you can see why I don't use it, with the price of electricity here being so high.    You can see the drying rack that I bought :).  The blue 'seat' is a hamper.

And this is the gas heater.  The water in the building is heated by gas - a new wrinkle for me.  I'm getting used to the "whoosh" as the gas lights up each time I turn on the hot water!

And finally, this is my bedroom.  Fortunately the bed is very comfortable and very warm.  When I'm shivering from the cold because the windows are poorly insulated and the cold air pours in around them, I can jump into bed and get warm!

So this is my new home for this year.  I am truly blessed.  It's tastefully decorated, adequate for my needs, near stores, on tram and subway lines so I can go anywhere in the city, a 15-minute walk to the church (or 5 minutes on the tram) and a safe, interesting, busy area to live in.  It is a gift from God.  Thank-you to so many of you that made this possible.