SEEING IS BELIEVING
Who has the biggest wardrobe in Belgium? The Manneken Pis, a famous statue of a little boy peeing, in Brussels. Following a tradition that began in 1698, the city’s residents have dressed it in more than 850 costumes. He has disguised himself as Elvis, Mozart, Santa Claus and even Nelson Mandela!
*&%$#
The country has three official languages (French, Dutch and German), but the term “nondedju” is used by all when expressing irritation. It is a contraction of “nom de dieu” (“Name of the Lord” in French), but “dieu” is pronounced “tjû”, perhaps to avoid blasphemy
IT’S IN THE LAW
In the city of Lokeren, it is forbidden to make people afraid. In Leuven, street musician who plays wrong can be stopped by the police. And at Dendermonde ten cyclists together cannot do the same circuit several times. Can 11?
HIT PARADE
Idol Stromae’s hip-hop and electronica songs are serious, but the videos are pretty crazy. In “Carmen”, the Twitter bird upsets a boy. His name is an anagram: he scrambled the letters of the word “maestro”
ON THE SCREEN
Remember the presenter who had an uncontrollable laugh, live, in front of an interviewee with a thin voice? The video was one of the biggest viral videos of 2008. Few know that it was all staged, part of the humorous program In De Gloria
WHAT A HUNGRY
Among the more than a thousand (!) national beers, there’s even one made from mustard grain and another with an ultra-high alcohol content. Fittingly, it’s called Delirium Tremens, the medical term for hallucinations caused by too much booze. Her symbol is a pink elephant. What a freak!
COUNTRY SHEET
Population 10.8 million
Coin Euro
Area 30.5 thousand km2
capital Brussels
GDP$527 billion
READ MORE
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SOURCES BBC, International Monetary Fund, Grenzecho, Spiegel, vlaamsetaal.be and manneken-pis.be websites