What is there to do in Brussels? We weren't really sure either. We knew we wanted to find some yummy Belgian chocolate, go to the Comic Strip Museum and gawk at the very famous little boy statue, but, as for the rest of the day, we didn't know how to fill it. Luckily our hotel had a nifty map of downtown Brussels, so we just started walking towards places of interest designated on the map and went from there. Many of the places were churches, cathedrals, or memorial/cemeteries and after 3 of those we decided that we would wait until we got to Paris to do anymore church tours because frankly we were both beginning to get tired of being in cold, quiet, stone buildings where we weren't members of the practicing religion. But they were pretty amazing, so here are the 3 we visited: Church #1 (I couldn't figure out it's name...maybe Brad will remember)
Place Des Martyrs-built in 1775, a cemetery for the victims of the 1830 insurrection
Cathedral of Saint Michael-built from 1226 until the 17th century
The Comic Strip Museum was something I found online one day while looking for things to do in Brussels before we left on our trip. I learned that one of my favorite cartoons was made in Belgium...The Smurfs!
A couple other famous comics/cartoons that were created in Belgium are Astrix and Tin Tin
The had some framed comic strips from various artists/authors, we took pictures of a few that we found funny
And finally what's a trip to a comic strip museum without posing with some cartoons?!?
We went on a tour of the Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate. I was hoping more for a museum on Belgian chocolate and their tricks and techniques and why it's so famous. This museum was more about the origins of chocolate, how it came to European countries and the process that cocoa beans go through before they become chocolate.
At the end of the tour we got to watch a chocolatier make chocolate. He told us all about tempering chocolate and how it's different for milk, dark, and white chocolate. He also showed us how to pour it in molds and what kinds of tools he uses. It was pretty neat, we even got to sample some after the demonstrations. Before the demonstration we were all waiting in a room that had different memorabilia and a chocolate fountain of sorts where one of the workers handed us cookie/biscuits dipped in the chocolate to taste. We were waiting with a bunch of older people, probably retired, and they weren't Americans, but they were by far the most disruptive and disrespectful people we encountered. There was a sign not to touch the cookies or chocolate fountain and they read it (we heard them) then decided to take the cookies anyway and start eating the them and dipping them in the chocolate. And to add to that they would just stand right in front of you with total disregard to whether you were trying to read a sign or look at a display. Tourists! ;)
The Manneken-Pis is described, in our tour book by Rick Steves, as "the most overrated and tacky sight of a little boy who thinks he's a fountain" so of course I had to pose in a tacky and distasteful way. But don't worry, Brad had his own distasteful picture, but that isn't until Paris...
I did think the statue was a bit overrated though. I was expecting a larger statue in a more extravagant place, but this is just tucked into the corner of a block of buildings on a small street and the statue itself is quite small (as you can see in the picture).
The Grand Place is a very well known city square. While we were there a band was set up on a stage and playing music. It was fun and festive. We enjoyed people watching a bit and I went into a lace shop and browsed at the handmade Belgian lace, it was beautiful. I bought a lace bookmark as my souvenir from Brussels.
That's it for Brussels. Tomorrow will probably be a small post of Paris, because we have to get ready for the Vegas Ragnar (no, I'm not running, just Brad, I'm going for moral support). Next week I will post more on Paris and then Switzerland. Have a fabulous weekend!
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