Brussels, Belgium

Welcome to Brussels, Belgium!
Bienvenu à Bruxelles, la Belgique

The building in the background is National Basilica van Koekelberg
It is the fifth largest church in the world.

Just down the street from our hotel

Palais du Roi

 Beautiful statues located in the park across from the Peoples
 Palace

Royal Palace
Palais Royal

The official palace of the King of the Belgium wherever they do not use this as their home... His still works out of there though.

Palace of Justice

Looking towards City centre

Old England
Musical Instruments Museum

Love the characteristics of the buildings

Looking up towards Palace of Justice

I see a Belgium waffle truck, to the left!!!
city view in the background....

OMG this looks yummy!

And no, they are not both mine!

Looking towards the heart of the City

A little hidden treasure

Equestrian statue of King Albert

Open air market




Built in 1847, this gorgeous, glass roofed
arcade in the centre of town, lined with cafes,
 theatres and luxury stores has the distinction
 of being the first shopping arcade in Europe.

Gallerie Saint Hubert

Another view of Gallerie Saint Hubert

Mime

For a Sunday late afternoon, it sure was busy!

The Grand Place or Grote Markt in Dutch is one of the most beautiful squares in Europe with architecture from 3 different eras (Baroque, Gothic and Louis XIV) making their marks on the square giving it an eclectic flavour. This eclectic quality earned the Grand Place a listing as one of the Sites of World Heritage by UNESCO in 1998.

Grand Place

Grand Place

The Bruxelles Grand Place was a market place where traders and citizens sold and bought food. All the streets surrounding the square are named after foods like chicken (poulet), herbs (herbes), cheese (fromage), etc. Most of the buildings were rebuilt or restored after the bombardment of Brussels by France in 1695

Grand Place

Grand Place

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I made a new friend!

Vincent Van Gogh hitting on me! :)

Manneken Pis (the Peeing Boy)
The peeing boy is a tiny bronze fountain statue. One would not normally call this art piece ‘majestic’, but the locals have so many stories and ways of celebrating festivals with the little peeing boy that even the toughest critic would leave with fondness for the bronze doll.

There are over 700 costumes for this fellow for all events of the year and from countries around the world.

Funny experience in Brussels! After Philippe and l had walked around sightseeing we decided to stop at a local pub for a drink.... Entered the bar, sat at a table and in doing so, l noticed l was the only female in the bar.......When the bartender came to the table l asked if it was ok that l was in there as it appears to be only "Men" in this bar and he assured me that l was........... it was a "Gay" bar!!! Can't say Philippe was so safe though!!!!!!!! As we enjoyed our drinks l got a few chuckles at the men checking him out Especially the older gentleman that took a shining to Philippe's head, gave him a few taps on top,........... for good luck maybe??? HAHAAHAHAHA,!!!!!!

 Gallerie Saint Hubert la nuit

Just off the beaten path from the Square you will come across of section that is all restaurants... Be prepared to be solicited or even enticed  by staff of each restaurant to eat at their establishment... Offers of wonderful food, free drinks etc will be offered to you... We finally caved in one at 5th restaurant, l was starving by this time!! :) The food was wonderful and cheap... Kir Aperitif (champagne with liqueur), l'entre (appetizer) l'principal (main dish), demi-litre bouteille (1/2 bottle of wine, which turned out to be more like 3/4 of a bottle), dessert and a dessert drink...... all for less then 70.00, including tip....

The Cathedral of Saints Michel and Gudule


I enjoyed our stay in Brussels even though it was a short. If l had a choice between Brugges or Brussels to return to, Brugges would win hands down!

So after dropping Phiippe off at the airport l had to drive for the first time since my arrival. I won't suggest doing a 5.5 hr drive as your first outing cause you might want to do some local driving first! :) Took me a half an hour just to get in the right direction  to get out of Brussels but once l did, it wasn't too bad. In saying that though l was honked at twice by truck drivers, not really sure why but l will guess at that maybe l wasn't going fast enough for them and l wasn't even in the fast lane, go figure. I knew better then to get into that lane because you can have someone up your ass in seconds in the speed they drive in that particular lane, anywhere from 130-160 kms and l am not kidding!!!!
The car and l made it in one piece and no speeding tickets that l am aware of either! :) One thing l have to say about the cars here, they sure in heck get great gas mileage, over 1000 kms on  tank and a half of gas (small tank as well). Mind you, they need to now that the price of gas is over 2.00 litre Canadian! Belgium was more expensive, it was 1.76 euro for premium gas compared to Beaumont Le Roger at 1.66 euro... We need cars like these back home!
This concludes the trip to Belgium, now to get ready for ROME!!!