| Charleroi is a
complex, winding city. It took us some time to
find the central parking lot. Oh the blessings of
the Euro! We could put a coin in the parking
meter without changing. Place du Manege |
I was in urgent
need of two things. 1: a map, 2: a toilet. In
that order. Exploration is impossible without a
good map of the territory. So we entered the city
hall. There must be a map somewhere (and possibly
a toilet). |
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| A beautiful
building with a tall spire. Only much later did
we realize that this was the back entrance. It
looked posh enough to be the front entrance! |
Just inside was
the tourist office. But a big dissappointment -
only a lousy tourist map of the highlights of the
city. It showed the metro alright, but not the
disused parts. |
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We found a door
leading down these stairs. That looked promising. And once down the stairs these underground passages spread to both sides. Notice the beautiful antique tilework and the antiquated folding chairs. A semi used, semi-forgotten place that no one cared about. We went left first ... |
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And on that end
we found the long awaited toilet. But wait - what
a disappointment - all the doors were locked! We were not the first ones who tried to misuse the municipal facilities. So straining our bladders and walking cross-legged we explored the right turn. This disappeared in the distance and behind the curve we saw ... |
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... the most
beautiful "access forbidden" sign that
I met in my whole urban exploration career.
Hand-painted and ancient. We were also warned of "mortal danger" behind the door of a utility closet, and mysterious Magritte-like artworks in crates (this is Belgium, the land of Magritte). |
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Finally on our
way out we discovered this sign on the glass door
that led to the cellar. Ah, now it was clear that
we shouldn't have been there at all. But the situation was not so strict - we even met a city hall employee on the stairs down to the cellar. I was filming, so I already made up a frantic excuse of "We're architecture students and we're admiring the building." - But he simply ignored us. |
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But even the
public spaces of the city hall were wonderful to
look at. Look at that nice marble, and the
art-deco design of glass and steel. Then we split. I walked around the whole quarter looking for maps. These were very hard to find, not a single bookshop in the whole area. It was not the richest quarter - with a lot of immigrant shops. The others went to look for food and drink. |
