Today is again spent in Brussels.
When I said I was keeping this trip a little more low key, I meant it! More lazy mornings and wandering without purpose – I literally had nothing official planned for the day.
As a fun treat, today is Daylight Saving’s in Europe, so clocks moved an hour. I didn’t get up until 8:00, which would have been 7:00 without daylight savings, which either way was 1:00 am CST so it didn’t really matter.
Comic Books
Did you know that the Smurfs and Tintin are Belgian? No, you didn’t.
Brussels claims to have the most comic book authors per square mile of anywhere in the world. To celebrate that art form, they have a comic book trail. It was first started in 1981, and now includes over 80 different murals.
I happen to love the Smurfs (my daily water at home is consumed from a set of drinking glasses from 1982/83, given away at Hardees), so was very excited by this one. I had downloaded an audio tour and was disappointed that my first stop, the Smurfs, wasn’t actually visible because the are is undergoing renovation. I did find plenty of Smurf related merchandise and did discover that they were originally green, but they blended in too much in the forest, so the artist updated them to blue.
Even without the Smurf mural, the audio tour was still interesting. I only saw about 25 of the murals, based on the area I was walking in.
Side note: the narrator of the tour might be young? She says years like 2014 like you would normally hear, but for years that started with a 19, she’d say NINETEEN HUNDRED as if it was some magical century that children have only heard stories of.
The Metro
After the mural hunt, and a brief stop for coffee, I went back to “my” train station. It’s one of the largest stations in the city, because it also includes the Eurorail lines for international travel, as well as regional travel and then the local/city lines as well. After a brief hiccup (I went to train line 6, instead of metro line 6) I found my way.
Atomium
This thing is a remnant of the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. The structure consists of nine connected spheres. It rises 102 metres above the city and represents the atom of a pure iron crystal, but magnified 165 billion times. In addition to Europe’s longest escalators, the Atomium is also home to various art installations and a restaurant, and awesome views of the city.
There are two different tours. One takes you, by way of escalators and stairs, through the blue part. You go back down, and then if you want you can also do the red tour, by way of elevator.
Osseghem Park
Right next door, I took a walk through Osseghem Park. It’s a pretty gorgeous park that a landscape architect clearly spent a lot of time designing. It includes a theater space – a circle with gravel terraces and low stone walls and hedges. Apparently it has excellent acoustics and can accommodate up to 3000 people. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
I couldn’t get a good photo from the ground, but I had gotten one from the air.
Jubilee Park – Parc du Cinquantenaire
I headed back (on a different metro line, like a pro!) to another part of the city – generally, the “European Corner.” First step was Jubilee Park – home to the Triumphal Arch – (second tallest and widest in the world, fact fans, after the Arc de Triomphe) – and three museums: Royal Museum of Art & History, Royal Museum of Army & Military History, and the Autoworld Museum.
I had no plans to go into the museums, but still walked by them. I was somewhat confused by the Royal Museum of Art & History – I saw signs for a Napoleon exhibit, but there was very clearly Britney Spears music playing. It turns out, there was some sort of Zoomba class happening on the front steps.
The auto museum was far more dignified.
I went all the way through the park, heading to my next destination. There was this very long shrub wall. I walked up to it, but I was too short to see over it.
However, there was a break in the wall with some sort of concrete pad, so I made my way up to it. I couldn’t read the words on it, but it didn’t seem to be saying “don’t step on this under penalty of death” so I climbed up.
Imagine my disappointment when I found out it was actually just helping block a highway.
European Parliament
The European Parliament has between 705 – 720 elected members from across Europe. It’s called the first institution of the European Union.
I don’t know if it is true, but my audio tour told me that it is based in Brussels because it’s equal distance between Germany, France and the UK. Their relivalry in part started the first two world wars – I’m not sure if this means that they’re all central to the reconciliation efforts, or if it means they didn’t want to start another war between those three by putting the government too close to any of them.
I wandered through the area for a bit.
I am 99% sure that they have the Ukraine flag on the end, next to the EU flag, which I thought was interesting.
I also found this prominent display in a neighboring store very interesting.
I then headed over to the embassy area. I don’t know why or how long it has been this way, but the US embassy has two separate sets of gates – no one else does, and it clearly isn’t original. I waited a bit, taking photos, kind of hoping someone would show up and tell me I wasn’t supposed to be there, so I could ask about the second set of fencing, but no one ever came out to talk/yell.
Belgium Waffles
I walked a lot today, even with the metro lines in between. According to my watch, today was 11.76 miles – so I deserved some waffles.
You can take your pick between the Brussels waffle or the Leige waffle. For the uneducated among you, both are technically Belgium waffles. Brussels waffles are made with a lighter batter so they’re fluffier. Liege waffles have a heavier dough and are much denser. Thanks to some internet sleuthing on best locations for me, I ate some of both. #TeamBrussels
I made a friend accidentally. She was sitting near me, and caught me staring at her. I had no idea how to eat the waffles. They didn’t give any silverware with them, just a tiny wooden stick jammed into it. So I was watching her to see what she did with hers, and she saw me, and laughed at me, and then explained that you just pick it up and bite it. I do not like messy food so this was a bit stressful, but worth it.
Her name is Asefeh, and she moved here three years ago from Iran. We made small talk for a few minutes; I did mention that I had just come from seeing the European Quarter, so I’m not sure if that’s what triggered the rest of our conversation, but as we were getting ready to leave (and I had caramel on my face, fyi) she gave me her WhatsApp number, and told me if I needed any help this week to let her know, or to reach out next time I’m in Brussels. I told her thank you and was very gracious, but explained that it will be a while before I’m back in Brussels; I don’t feel like I can really “repeat” countries until I’ve seen them all. She laughed and said all the strong women needed to leave Iran, and maybe all the strong women from the US will have to do the same, and I should keep it in mind when I need to leave. I saved her contact in my phone, because I guess you never know 🙂
Leave a Reply