Caught a Friday night plane to Brussels (a mercifully short flight), only to find that our hostel accommodation had been cancelled! Fortunately, we were given accommodation in a nearby hotel at the same price. Score.
Went for dinner at Bier Circus, a bright little restaurant with a great beer selection. If you didn't know, Belgium is to beer what France is to wine. Lucky me! Anna stuck with a beer she discovered in Amsterdam (Bourgogne des Flandres) while I sampled a range of lambics, including a couple of honey beers. Mmm. I also ate brussel sprouts!
The next morning, we woke to extremely foul weather. In fact, it was probably the worst we've seen since leaving New Zealand. The rain was coming down at bizarre angles, and the wind was fierce and seemingly multi-directional. Still, we soldiered on.
After a brief look at the Place du Congres, we took shelter at the comic museum (Musée de la Bande Dessinée) housed in Europe's earliest shopping mall, with an art nouveau design by Victor Horta. Comics are a big deal in Europe, and especially so in Belgium - home to Tintin, the Smurfs and Lucky Luke (among others). The museum has a so-so exposition featuring the history and development of comics, but I particularly enjoyed the Herge section, with its replicas of famous Tintin objects (such as King Ottokar's sceptre, a can of crab meat etc etc).
The Schtroumpfs...
The weather had calmed down a bit, so we made our way to the Galeries Saint Hubert (Sint Hubertusgalerijen). Another shopping mall, from 1847, it is a light and airy triple-gallery enclosing boutiques, cafés, a theater and cinema. We admired the Easter window displays in the chocolate shops.
About a century or so ago, the Belgians built over the river that runs through Brussels (now underground) to make room for more buildings (and to hide the pollution). One such area is the Ilôt Sacré (Sacred Island), which is full of restaurants and fish-stalls.
We exited through here into the Grand´Place (Grote Markt), Belgium's most beautiful market square. Although wonderfully aged, this historic centre is limited to the square and three short adjacent streets. Took lots of photos of the Gothic Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall) and the Baroque seventeenth-century guildhouses surrounding the square. I obviously took the time to identify the brewer's guild, with its hop plant motifs.
Popped into the Brussels museum and saw the collection of Manneken Pis costumes (of which, more later!), before having lunch in the Ilôt Sacré, then doing a big walk via the Jeanneke Pis (a female Manneken Pis from 1987)...
St Catherine's (home to a black Madonnna)...
And the stock exchange (La Bourse/De Beurs) before doubling back to the Grand' Place...
The statue of Everard 't Serclaes (and touching it for luck)...
The official Tintin shop, chocolate shops (with liquid chocolate fountains!) and through to Brussel's most famous landmark...
Manneken Pis ("little man piss" in English) is a small bronze sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into a basin. There are several legends behind this statue, which you can read about on Wikipedia. Of more interest is that the statue is often dressed in a costume by the non-profit association Les Amis de Manneken-Pis. We saw former costumes in the museum (donated from a wide range of countries), and happened to arrive just in time for a dress-up!The statue's Bolivian garb.
From there we continued our walk to a section of Brussel's original medieval wall, and to Belgium's most celebrated chocolate makers at the Place du Grand Sablon (Grote Zavel) where we bought a selection from Pierre Marcolini and Wittamer. Yum.
Took a sight-seeing route home, past the Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts (Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten), Place Royale-Koningsplein, the Royal Palace and Parc de Bruxelles. Found an interesting art installation - a seemingly insurmountable wall, with slightly raised lettering encouraging one to give it a shot! Watched a lot of people try and fail, before attempting (and failing) myself. Yay for art.
Royal Palace.
