I’ve arrived! No flight issues, and I only did carry-on luggage, so it was a relatively easy morning. I had pre-bought a train pass, so was able to walk past that queue, judging the peasants that had to wait in line to purchase theirs.
The apartment was willing to let me drop my luggage off before check-in later today, so that was my first stop. Second stop was coffee. Third stop was more coffee. Today it is “only” a 6 hour time difference, and I think I slept about two hours on the plane.
Once I dropped my bags and got caffeinated, I explored some of the main sites.
Grand Place
This is also known as the Grote Markt. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Brussels, and is the city’s central square. It is consistently ranked the most most beautiful town square in Europe.
The uses of the square varies. For instance, in 1523, they used it to burn some Protestants during the Inquisition. In 1568, they beheaded some Counts. And now they host a flower carpet every two years, with over 500,000 begonias. Something for everyone!
The buildings around the square are pretty gorgeous (17th Century Architecture, obviously).
No one entirely knows why, but the City Hall (which is gorgeous) isn’t balanced. The openings are narrower on the left than the right, so there are more of them, and the windows are different. Legend is that when the architect realized how unbalanced it was, he jumped off the roof.
They also believe they have a spot that is the center of Europe. Based on 5th grade geography, I had my doubts. However, they have a star in the courtyard of City Hall that is the center of the original Brussels, and since Brussels is now home to the EU and NATO, they’ve decided this spot is the center of Europe. (I still have my doubts).
Les Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert
Les Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert is a gorgeous shopping arcade. Established in 1847, it is one of the world’s oldest shopping malls. It is full of boutiques, chocolatiers, theaters, and bookstores.
Movies are complicated here. You need to verify what language the movie is in, and what language the subtitles are. Sometimes there are multiple languages for the subtitles, so hopefully nothing important is happening on the bottom 1/3 of the screen.
Chocolate is big business here. They say pralines were invented here. They basically define a praline as a chocolate with something else inside of it. A local pharmacist named Jean Neuhaus started putting medicine inside of chocolate, to make the medicine easier to take. One day his grandson convinced him to make some without medicine so he could have some. The pharmacist decided to try and sell some in the store as well, and they were a huge hit – and both more profitable and easier than the pharmacy trade.
Meanwhile, a lady named Mary started a chocolate shop herself. However, Mary had no start-up cash, and wound up using actual shells as the molds – which is how that shape became so common. Mary’s is said to be the King and Queen’s preferred chocolate.
La Bourse de Bruxelles
This is the Brussels Stock Exchange, known as Bourse de Bruxelles. Established in the mid-19th century, the Stock Exchange continued to be a center of financial activity until about 15 years ago. Most of the work went online, and they didn’t need this crazy beautiful building anymore. They did the only logical thing they could, and converted it into a beer museum.
Royal Palace (Palais Royal)
The Royal Palace of Brussels is the official residence of the Belgian monarch. (I did not meet the King. Apparently his oldest child is a daughter and she’ll inherit the throne, and she’s currently going to school at Harvard.) Both the palace and the gardens are beautiful.
So the King is basically just a figurehead. Parliamentary are elected by the people, and they’re the ones that do all the actual negotiations, etc. They figure out a bill, and send it to the King to sign off on. This has worked 99.9% of the time. The one exception was when Parliamentary gave him a bill to sign that legalized gay marriage. The King is Roman Catholic, and said he couldn’t sign the bill. The King wound up stepping aside for the day – so they had a day with no King – and Parliamentary was able to sign it into law themselves.
I couldn’t figure out what exactly was happening across from the back entrance of the Palace. Turns out, these trees are trimmed to grow horizontally on a flat plane – so when they’re in bloom, they form a green fence.
Monument a Everard t’Serclaes
The Éverard t’Serclaes Monument in Brussels commemorates the bravery of Éverard t’Serclaes, who defended Brussels in the 14th century. Legend has it that touching the monument brings good fortune, so I obviously touched it.
There are actually four places to touch it (a mouse along the bottom, the arm, the dog, and the angel) and each means something different. I don’t remember what, but I touched them all.
Manneken Pis
This tiny bronze sculpture is of a little boy peeing, and it is somehow THE image of Brussels?!? He’s on everything.
There are many theories behind the identity of the boy, the most famous being that it depicts someone named Julianske, who saved the city from burning down by urinating on a bomb’s fuse. The original sculpture has been repeatedly stolen so this is a replica.
He apparently has over 800 outfits – there is even a museum dedicated to the clothes.
And he’s regularly voted the most disappointing tourist attraction in Europe.
But wait, there’s more! To be equal opportunity urinators, the city added a girl peeing.
And then a dog.
I’m beat.
My watch says I walked about 10 miles. The parts of the city I saw were beautiful, and I’m excited to see more of the city and country this week.
Quintessential Belgium dinner, and then bed.
