Day 20 - Bruxelles

I get up, check out, and head over to the Grand Place to meet my tour group. I signed up for a bus city tour :) i know. super touristy. its REALLY cold today. i have a tank top, a tshirt, a jacket, then my winter coat over all that, scarf, and gloves, my squin jeans and my high boots on and i'm still pretty darn cold. brrrrrr.

I ate a muffin i bought yesterday at the market. its pumpkin spice or something and it is REALLY good. i hope they have them again next week. i walk over to the Grand Place from the hostel and only get lost a few times. Even walking, with a map, is so confusing. there is not one square inch of space not used in this city. the roads are just big enough for cars. theres narrow sidewalks. all the buildings a connected and are typically 3 to 5 stories high (residential). commercial and other significant buildings are all high rises. its like every street is Wall Street. the buildings are made of brick, stone, and some newer ones of concrete. lots of windows. the older buildings have beautiful distinguishing architecture. arches, quoins, columns, chiseled statues, beautiful detailing. the new buildings tend to be curved, with lots of glass/windows. brussels seems to be a perfect balance of historical influence with modern technology.

about 1 million people live in brussels. the native languages are French (about 80% speak) and Dutch/Flemish. aside from all the cars, there are three train stations, and an established bus and tram system. seems most people either get around by car or public transpo. hardly any bikes. too hilly for that i guess. there are two rings around the city for cars. the inner ring used to be the original city limits. there used to be a stone wall around the city, and when it was demolished, the roadway was constructed about where it was. the outer ring is about the new city limits. the inner and outer rings have occasional tunnels where through traffic can bypass the local traffic on the surface.

a river used to run openly through the city, but it was covered by order of Leopold the 2nd. the river now runs underneath the city, or it was diverted i'm not sure. either way, there is a major shipping port in brussels (2nd largest in europe), mostly exporting coal and diamonds.

so back to the tour. we started at the Grand Place which is right in the center of Brussels. the city museum, city hall, and other shops and restaurants are there. its magnificent. this square was destroyed by the French about 300 years ago, and was re-built after that. they are putting up a huge christmas tree while i'm there and some sort of nativity scene i'm guessing. If i come back before christmas i hope to see the tree all lit up.

We get on the bus and hit all the major attractions. the churches, the gardens, financial buildings, World's Fair site, botanical gardens museum, auto museum, military museum, the royal palace, etc. see some pics below. the tour was a great way to see the city, and i met another traveller named Chantal from south africa. yay an english speaker! Chantal is really cool and she's a good bus companion :)

Brussels is centrally located in europe, and is actually the capital of europe, which i did not know that europe had a capital. Brussels was the site of the 1958 world's fair, which if i were alive, i wish i could have been there. i bet it was a phenomenal event. For the fair, they constructed many things, including the Atomium, which is an elargement of a coal atom (see pics below).

the tour was finished at about 1PM, so i grabbed some lunch (the best soup and lasagna i've ever had) and head over to the city museum in the Grand Place. i learned quite a bit about the history of brussels. more than anything, the impression i get from the city is that there is so much history here, nothing like the US. i try to imagine what it was like to live here during WW1 and WW2. Brussels suffered extensive damage in WW1, and relatively mild damage in the second world war (they surrendered after only 18 days). i get a sense of seriousness from this city. this city has an honorable past.

in the city museum, a whole wing was dedicated to Mannequin-Pis. the story is that during the war, this kid extinguished a cannon or a fire by peeing on it. the details are bit fuzzy, but i guess they erected this little statue of him (about 2 feet tall) which is near the grand place. once per year, they put a funny costume him. there was a whole collection of his outfits in the city museum, and a funny documentary about him. he's something of a national hero here.

after the city museum, i head over the fashion museum (of course), which is showing an extensive collection of 1940's and 1950's era clothing from all the major design houses of that time. the fashion is exquisite. the detailing and the fabrics. loved it!! after that, i went and grabbed a beer at the Delerium Cafe. Delirium boasts over 2,000 beers and is in the guinness book of records. i ordered a Saint Monon au Miel (like a honey brown) and had my obligatory beer there. it was cool, would have been a lot more fun if i was with a bunch of friends. it had a cool pub-like vibe. chill. i would definitely go back there. with loree!!!

before i headed back to the car, i bought some delicious belgian chocolate, and grabbed a belgian waffle. that waffle was the best thing i've eaten in weeks. i'm really loving the belgian food. i bought a hat too. its so freaking cold out. and its snowing also! actually i dont mind the snow :)

the drive home was awful!! i got lost leaving the city (of course), and the snow was much worse than i thought. it was a whiteout. a blizzard!! i almost got off the highway and took the train home. about 2 inches of snow accumulated in about 30 mins. it took my about 4h15 to get home (compared to 1h45 to get there). european cars suck in the snow. all those little cars that weight about 500 lbs, no 4-wheel drive don't handle the snow well. i plugged long at about 30km/hr. so four hours driving and i didnt see one goddam snowplow!!!

Finally made it home and good news! the elevator man responded. he posted a note on top of my note that said "The community welcomes you! - 26C". haha!! tomorrow when i get home from work i'll go knock on his door. maybe bring him some taai-taai cookies :)