Every week, rain or shine, holidays or not, there is an open-air market in Uccle on Wednesdays. In theory, it only stretches along one city-block-long median parking, but in fact, cafés and a variety of stores along a three-block stretch of the street take part, along with a good number from the side streets. It's a great business opportunity, and everyone wants to get into the game. Quite aside from the offering of everything from snacks to meats to cheeses to clothes to vegetables, it is one very big happy-hour, as wine booths selling by the glass and bottle are set up to take advantage of the crowds.
Virtually every neighborhood in Brussels has such a market at least once a week. Many of the vendors move their trucks and goods between markets each day and have for generations. When we lived here, our market was on Sunday and, due to its weekend appearance, drew people from miles around. There was very little that you couldn't find at our market, and if it wasn't there it probably wasn't worth having.
Weather is always a factor when outdoors in northern Europe, of course, but Bruxellois are used to rain, so crowds still appear in the most miserable of seasons. But yesterday the weather was incredible: warm, with mostly sunshine, and the market was subsequently packed. If you don't like crowds the market is a place to avoid, but if you're a people-watcher, there is no better opportunity to enjoy the variety of dress and attitudes people put on for public places.
The market is a favorite meeting place for locals and business professionals working in the area. To walk through the wine stalls is to be inundated with a sea of passionate greetings and air-kissing. Every country has its traditional method of greeting friends and relatives; in Belgium, we use three kisses, aimed at the ears from alternating cheeks. (Please; no jokes.) Since you have to do this with everyone you haven't seen since lunch, there is a lot of kissing going on most of the time. Somehow, no one seems to mind.
I bought a glass of white wine from two men selling off a card table. I chose them because: a) they had the biggest crowd, always a good sign of quality product and value for money, and b) they had the cheapest price; an advantage of low overhead, I suppose. Now, here's where buying wine in Belgium makes a difference: the wine and glass was chilled just right, it was served in a clean, proper glass (plastic never touched my lips), and it cost about $3. I could have had the entire bottle for $12.
I had to give the glass back, of course. Each glass is painted on the bottom to identify the seller, necessary because people buy here and wander there; you have no idea where the glass winds up at the end of the day. No one seems to be bothered by this, as drinkers maneuvered for the sunlight or groups of common friends.
I sipped my wine while walking down the aisles formed by the booths and browsed the luscious vegetables laid out to view, the huge cheese selections, the olives, spices, sausages and hams, etc. One large booth specialized in leather watch bands. Puce seemed to be a popular color. The owner seemed happy, but I wondered how many people would search out a watch-band shop at an open-air market; I would think of it more as an impulse sale. Perhaps she was there for the ambiance, the sun and the wine. I know I was.
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