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My friend Ilona lives in the flemish part of Brussels near Halle which is a Flemish city and municipality in the district (arrondissement) of the Flemish Brabant.
It is one of the three regions of Belgium . ... The Halle-Vilvoorde Arrondissement has Brussels in its middle, which is often part of the language quarrels between flemish and french speaking extremists.
The little city if full of charm. We went there on saturday afternoon
around the city hall are a lot of Restaurants, cafés and brasseries
as the weather was warm and sunny, people sat mostly outside
little narrow streets
and in front of the cathedral a shop where you can only buy Madonnas in all sizes and outfits, with or without little Jesus !
The cathedral inside is very beautiful. It is famous for its black Madonna
This is quite unique to have a black Madonna, she is carved out of ebony wood and the cothes are painted in blue with golden ornaments and of course a golden crown with precious stones.
In one of the side aisles was this beautiful golden shrine
the windows too were real artwork
the cathedral had been under canon fire during different wars and in one corner the canon balls were exposed.
