Brussels, Belgium

The second adventure of this past week was our trip to Brussels, Belgium! Mom, Mikhaila, Kevin and I had a marvelous time exploring the city, but it was a little more difficult then previous cities because Belgians speak 3 main languages: French, Dutch  and German! So unlike Paris where there were some English on them, Belgium did not because they had to fit so many other languages to deal with. But despite the language barrier, it was still an interesting time!

Tuesday

We woke up early Tuesday morning (like around 5:30am!) and headed to St. Pancras International station. We then took a lovely train ride out of London all the way to Brussels. Now, you may be wondering how you take a train from England to the mainland. There is a tunnel that goes under the channel that trains travel through, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) the tunnel is completely enclosed and there is no windows that let you see as you are traveling through the tunnel. When we got to Brussels, we took the subway and got to our hotel room for the next few days. After checking in, we grab a little lunch and began to explore!
The first stop that day was Saint Micheal's Cathedral. It reminded me a lot of Notre Dame back in Paris!

Afterwards, we walked down into the Grand Market which is in the center in the city. It was gorgeous! the Market was surrounded by some of the most important buildings in the city: The King's House, Guildhalls, the Duke's house, Town Hall, and many others! At night, the Market place was a scene of flashing, colorful lights!

We walked around some more before we headed back to the hotel to take a short siesta (which Brussels still takes part of as everything in the town appears to be closed between 3 adn 6). After the nap we found a local restaurant and stuffed our face with some of the most delicious pasta ever. We walked around for a little while after and grabbed some famous Belgian chocolate and then called it a night!

Wednesday

We started the day with traveling outside the city to Heysel Park to see the world's biggest atom! This 335 foot atom was built back in 1958 and still stands today! We goofed around for a bit and had a picnic just under the atom before we packed up and headed back into the city area.

After the Atom, we walked around Brussels some more through Brussels Park that looks upon the Royal Palace. A lot of the trees and plants in the park were still dead from the cold months, but we could tell that it would be stunning in the warmer months! 

 We then we went on the hunt to find the famous Peeing Boy! I don't really know the reason behind the sculpture of the peeing boy, but there are figurines all over the city for sale! the statue is also remarkably small - its about the same size as 3/4 of my arm. It is also reported that there is a "squatting girl" somewhere around the city as well!

After finding the peeing boy we enjoyed one of Belgium's famous waffle (which is more of a desert then a breakfast item) and then headed back for another siesta! Afterwards, we went out for dinner (another Italian restaurant where the chief made the pasta fresh each morning!!) and did a little more exploring at night before calling it a night!

Thursday

For our last day in Brussels, we split up into 2 and went to the museum of our choice. Mom & Mikhaila went to one of the Art Museums that had an exhibition of Kandinsky while Kevin & I went to the Belvue Museum that was about the history of Belgium. Kevin & I learned a lot from the museum, especially concerning the development of the country in 1830. With the country only being a little more than 180 years old there wasn't much history to it just yet as compared to France and England. The Belgian Revolution mostly took place in Brussels against the Netherlands, just shortly after the French Revolution  ended. Since Belgium won its freedom in 1830, there have been only 5 monarch to help oversee the country. The museum also went into some details about Belgium's place during both World Wars and it development over the years. If you are curious about the history of Belgium here are some links: Belgian Revolution, Belgian Revolution 2, Belgium WW1

After the museums, we walked around one last time and picked up some last minute souvenirs before we grabbed our bags and hopped on the train back to London!