Belgium etc.

Got back from Belgium last night! It was an interesting weekend.

Friday morning, we caught the bus leaving from Paris. 3 hours and 40 min later, we arrived in Brussels, Belgium! The bus let us off pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We walked around for a while, then found a map, then realized how confused we were (the maps were never oriented in the direction that you are going) and decided to call the family that we were staying with. Luckily, my aunt's friend's family lives in Brussels and very kindly offered to take us in for the weekend. They told us how to reach the house from where we were, and soon we found ourselves rushing down the streets of Brussels on the line 81 tram.

That afternoon, we set out to explore the city. Due to lack of planning, we had absolutely no idea what there was to see in Brussels. I kind of thought that when we arrived, there would be huge signs saying "Go here!" "Go there!" Of course I was wrong.. but we took a bus to downtown, I guess it's called "Old downtown" or something. We walked around the Grand Place, which has a huge cathedral and many beautiful buildings. It's the most touristy part of the city (I evaluate touristy areas by the number of souvenir shops, and there were quite a few around Grand Place). But I found a pretty scarf. It kept me warm, which was helpful when the weather suddenly dropped the next day. We also had authentic waffles from a waffle vendor! They were really good..

On Saturday, we attacked the city with a map and plan (not to pun on the fact that Belgium is always invaded and attacked in wars..har har). We walked around the Palace Royal, which is where the King allegedly lives. I don't think he ever actually stays there though. It was, however, a very large and beautiful building. Right across from it was a big park, which I would imagine looks beautiful in the spring or summer. In winter, though, it's kind of dismal.

We also walked through the Sablon neighborhood, which is famous for its antiques and chocolate. That's really all I can say about the Sablon.. we didn't do much there. But it was fairly close to the Mannekin Pis. The Mannekin Pis is a famous statue, connected to a fountain, of a little boy peeing. It was pretty funny.. When we came back later, someone had put a cosume on him (supposedly there is a whole club that organizes costumes for him, and at certain times of the year, they connect the fountain to a keg of beer and drink the, er, juice of his loins). The Mannekin Pis has a femal counterpart, the Jannekin Pis, but we couldn't find her. We did, however, have some very good Godiva hot chocolate there.

We walked some more and found the Saint Catherine Cathedral area. This is a square/neighborhood with lots of shops and markets.. it was cute. My favorite part was finding a chocolatier that turned out to be a cafe as well. It was perfect timing because we were starting to crash and needed some caffeine/sugar to keep us going. I had a very good latte there, and it was served with chocolate truffles. Definitely my kind of place..

Probably the most interesting part of the trip was going to the Musée des Instruments de Musique (Museum of Music Instruments). This place was really cool. They give you a pair of headphones that you wear the whole time. Then you go into one of the display rooms, where there are tons of instruments on display. When you walk in front of, say, a display with several flutes from a certain period, your headphones play music made with that instrument. It stops when you walk away, and then the next display starts to play its music on your headphones. The museum was awesome because it had instruments from all around the world (no, really). There were accordians, bagpipes, clavestines, flutes, guitars, violincellos, drums etc etc etc! Even a display on Chinese opera. And at the top of the Museum, you can go on a terrace and see a decent view of the whole city (not that the skyscape is much to brag about.. although the cathedrals look cool from up high).

We also saw the Cinquantenaire, a big arch (similar to Paris' Arch de Triomphe, but not as big) built in 1950 (I think) to commemorate.. um, something. I think it was in honor of those killed in wars.. But they didn't actually have a plaque explaining anything. Next to the Cinquantenaire was the War Museum, which we went to because it was free. It had some interesting displays, like original war uniforms and weapons.

Brussels was interesting, but we certainly didn't need 3 days to experience it. One and a half would have been fine.. The city is pretty small and there is a limited number of sightseeing opportunities. We did go to a hoppin' bar and get Belgian peach beer. We also had several wonderful waffles, and some good chocolate. That's all I had really wanted, so I guess the trip was a success. It was a cool town though, and we both agreed that it would be pretty cool to live there.

You can see the rest of my pictures here: (My camera batteries died about halfway through the trip, so these pictures only show half the story)

Belgium!!

(And don't forget, you can comment on the pictures!)