We arrived in Brussels late on Friday, and after a unsuccessful attempt at catching a train, took a rather expensive taxi ride to our hotel. We are staying right next to the EU Parliament, which my guess is that during the week will be super busy, but on the weekend is a bit of a ghost town. Since I really hadn't had much to eat for dinner, and the guy at reception hadn't been the nicest or most helpful, I decided to really stick it to the hotel, and take it out on their free chocolates. Not so sure who the winner of that little battle was.
Saturday morning we stopped downstairs for breakfast before we started exploring, and again I made it a personal mission to get my money's worth from the hotel. I was probably the only person during the day where they lost $ on the 20 euro breakfast.
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| This was plate 1 of 4 |
Kristen and Nicole had a plan for the day, which I was completely unaware of and we started walking. Brussels is a pretty nice city, and was a welcome change from the hustle and bustle of London. We stumbled across the Royal Palace, on our way to the Grande Place, and were pleasantly surprised with our visit.
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| Grand Ballroom - possibly the coolest room I have ever seen. |
Back to walking again, and I just couldn't pass up making jokes every time this bus passed us.
Our first planned stop of the day was the Cathedrale Sts Michel et Gudule, which dates from 1225. Impressively it still contained the stained glass panels from 1527 and 1538. Before going inside I had made a comment that I had seen enough churches and didn't need to go into another, but can say that I was very pleasantly surprised.
We had been walking now for awhile and I was beginning to burn off breakfast, and the sights and smells coming from the little waffle shops got me in f tizzy. I was really feeling the urge!!
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| Standing in the rain in the Grande Place |
It had started to rain a bit, so we stopped for a drink. Not sure what has come over Kristen, but she is a bit of a beer drinker now. Hate to say it but i think London may be rubbing off on her.
Not sure why Belgium has fallen in love with this, but we saw the original Mannenken Pis statue just off of the Grande Place. I was surprised how small the statue was, maybe only 18 inches or so. Apparently they dress him up in costumes all during the year, for different occasions. Not real sad I missed out on that.
We then proceeded to get lost. Well I guess it really wasn't lost, we ended up seeing all of the old buildings and sights that we planned on seeing, but it turned out in the end, that they were really all within about 4 blocks of each other, and since we couldn't really read the map well, we walked in big circles for about 4 hours trying to find them all. Good news is that I can give anyone good directions around the touristy part of Brussels now. On the advise of one of Nicole's friends we found a nice restaurant to have dinner at, and on the advise of one of my friends we found cherry beer.
I got the three course dinner which I specifically picked because I thought the portions might be a bit smaller and I wouldn't get so full. Still wheezing a bit at this point from breakfast. I was completely wrong about the portions!!
Now good and full, pickles had thrown off my center of gravity and I almost fell over on at least 3 different occasions walking home. Stumbled on this garden and a statue to the age of bad fashion. Like a said before Brussels is a nice place, super clean and lots of parks and greenery.
A bunch of pieces of the Berlin Wall were scattered around the city. Seems a bit of a strange thing to have in Belgium, but the idea of the Wall really makes you thankful for living in the U.S. I am sure that wasn't a fun time to be living in Europe.
That was pretty much our day, a whole lot of walking and a whole lot of old buildings. And I had bought a whole lot of chocolate waffles during the day. Had a few more as a night cap, and Pickles and I went to bed. Still wheezing from breakfast.
We got an email from Hampton saying she was having fun making new friends and playing ball. She seems to be making quite a impression on the internet .....
http://instagr.am/p/KJtjb/
Saturday morning we stopped downstairs for breakfast before we started exploring, and again I made it a personal mission to get my money's worth from the hotel. I was probably the only person during the day where they lost $ on the 20 euro breakfast. 
Our first planned stop of the day was the Cathedrale Sts Michel et Gudule, which dates from 1225. Impressively it still contained the stained glass panels from 1527 and 1538. Before going inside I had made a comment that I had seen enough churches and didn't need to go into another, but can say that I was very pleasantly surprised. 
We had been walking now for awhile and I was beginning to burn off breakfast, and the sights and smells coming from the little waffle shops got me in f tizzy. I was really feeling the urge!! 
Not sure why Belgium has fallen in love with this, but we saw the original Mannenken Pis statue just off of the Grande Place. I was surprised how small the statue was, maybe only 18 inches or so. Apparently they dress him up in costumes all during the year, for different occasions. Not real sad I missed out on that. 
We then proceeded to get lost. Well I guess it really wasn't lost, we ended up seeing all of the old buildings and sights that we planned on seeing, but it turned out in the end, that they were really all within about 4 blocks of each other, and since we couldn't really read the map well, we walked in big circles for about 4 hours trying to find them all. Good news is that I can give anyone good directions around the touristy part of Brussels now. On the advise of one of Nicole's friends we found a nice restaurant to have dinner at, and on the advise of one of my friends we found cherry beer. 
I got the three course dinner which I specifically picked because I thought the portions might be a bit smaller and I wouldn't get so full. Still wheezing a bit at this point from breakfast. I was completely wrong about the portions!! 
Now good and full, pickles had thrown off my center of gravity and I almost fell over on at least 3 different occasions walking home. Stumbled on this garden and a statue to the age of bad fashion. Like a said before Brussels is a nice place, super clean and lots of parks and greenery. 
A bunch of pieces of the Berlin Wall were scattered around the city. Seems a bit of a strange thing to have in Belgium, but the idea of the Wall really makes you thankful for living in the U.S. I am sure that wasn't a fun time to be living in Europe. 
That was pretty much our day, a whole lot of walking and a whole lot of old buildings. And I had bought a whole lot of chocolate waffles during the day. Had a few more as a night cap, and Pickles and I went to bed. Still wheezing from breakfast. 
We got an email from Hampton saying she was having fun making new friends and playing ball. She seems to be making quite a impression on the internet ..... http://instagr.am/p/KJtjb/
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