Sore Muscles in Brussels

Hi all!
First I just wanted to say thanks for all your comments. It’s really great that you are following along and seem to be enjoying our travels.

We woke up a little stiff and sore, I think due to all the walking we’ve been putting in as well as the pretty crappy mattress we have. It’s kind of funny because the hotel chain (Isbis) actually makes a point of saying the room comes equipped with the “new Sweet Bed” by Isbis bedding for the ultimate in comfort. Not!
Here’s the steps we’ve been doing according to Beth’s iWatch

Breakfast first of course.

Today was a day for just sightseeing around Brussels. So why Brussels? Well, after months of planning…..reading….watching YouTube videos…… I really can’t remember why! It somehow ended up on the list. Brussels is of course, the location of the NATO headquarters, and is also home of the EU (European) Parliament. So even though it is a big government town, with apparently more lobbyists that Washington, it still has pretty reasonable sites to see. Not that interested to see the buildings associated with the above entities, we stuck to a couple of walks outlined in our guidebook. One is the Lower Town, with the older buildings. Other is the Upper Town, more from the 1800’s (when Belgium gained independence from the Netherlands and became it’s own Nation).

The first walk started in the large Grand Place with - the Town Hall. Built in the 1400’s it was fancied up with the Gothic bling in the 1800’s. The tower however is from the 1400’s.

On the way to the start of the walk, we cruised through the beautiful covered mall area, the Galleries St. Hubert.

These purses caught Beth’s eye. The pic of the single one was maybe 4” tall, for only 2900 Euro.

Many of the buildings surrounding the square were associated with gilds. These were associations of craft gilds (butchers, goldsmiths, weavers, tailors, etc). They dominated the economic life in the late Medieval periods and onwards and so, they built these beautiful buildings.

The walk took us around many of the areas that we had already seen and posted about, so I won’t repost the photos.
Looking for a lighter lunch, stopped for soup and bread in a nice outdoor square.

Also rubbed this statue for good luck. I can’t recall what it was, but I can feel it working!

Here are a few pretty streets with hanging displays.

And finally, we got to see the very famous Manneken Pis statue. It’s the little boy, maybe 2’ tall, gleefully peeing into a fountain. It was made in 1619 to provide drinking water for the town. Just fill up your jug with the water coming out of his you-know-what. Apparently the French King Louis XV knighted it, so all French soldiers passing by had to salute it. Now it is tradition for visiting VIP’s to bring an outfit for the statue. On Elvis’ birthday he’s got a little Elvis outfit. On Prostate Awareness Day they slow the flow down to a trickle….I kid you not.

Back in our room for a bit fo a siesta, we talked ourselves into going back out for the other walk in the Upper Town. This is, as the name suggests, an area on a small hill that overlooks the older area. Our first encounter with a hill too, Holland was pretty flat.

First stop along with way was the Hall of Justice. It was under a lot of scaffolding so I didn’t take a photo (thought I could download a better one later). Turns out the scaffolding has been up for 40 years, so long now they are about to renovate the scaffolding.

Next stop was the 14th century Notre-Dame du Sablon Church.

Aaand, the Royal Palace:

Feeling done, we started back down the hill towards our pad.
First things first though, beer and some snacks.
The brick buildings in the next pic survived a bombardment by the French and they give you an idea about what the area previously looked like.

OK that’s a wrap. Thanks again for following along. More to come ……