DAY 5
BRUXELLES
DAY 5
BRUXELLES
| Once again I used my Rick Steves guide book for a plan. This was his Upper Town walk, starting at the Parc de Bruxelles early in the morning. |
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| At one end of the park is the Belgian Parliament building. |
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| At the other end is the Royal Palace. |
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| Place Royale. That guy on the horse in the middle of the square is Godfrey de Boullion who led the first Crusade in 1096. (Don't tell a Muslim. They're still ticked off about that.) |
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| Just off the square is the Musical Instruments Museum. I couldn't take photos inside, but the exterior of the building is interesting enough. There are all sorts of old and interesting instruments inside the building, some dating back five or six centuries. |
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| Rue de la Regence toward the Palais de Justice. Or the Regent-Schapsstraat toward the Justitepaleis. It all depends on which language you want to use, French or Flemish. They're both official. |
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| The Museum of Ancient and Modern Art. Yeah, that about covers everything. |
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| Place du Petit Sablon. A nice little park across from... |
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| ...Notre Dame du Sablon. |
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| The Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel. (I decided to use Flemish this time.) It's the Royal Conservatory. |
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| Don't ask me. I don't understand it. It's modern art in a storefront window. Except there is no store. For the record, it's called "Sitting Woman" and was created by John DeAndrea in 1973. |
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| A monument to World Wars I and II. They take that stuff seriously over there. After all, it's where it all happened. |
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| Off in the distance is a thing called the Atomium. It is a giant recreation of an atom. Visitors can usually go inside it but not at this time. As you can see by the cranes, they are working on it. I didn't want to use up valuable walking ability by going out there. |
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| In the Place du Grand Sablon. |
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| The sign on the l'Estrille Restaurant on the right says "Anno 1587". I don't know if the restaurant has been around since over 400 years or just the building. |
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| It was Sunday. I guess that's flea market day in Brussels. |
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| After my walk and before dinner, I returned to my room. I was ecstatic to find an FA Cup match on the BBC. Chasetown of the Midland Football Alliance managed a 1-1 home draw against League One side Oldham Athletic. Ah, the beauty of the FA Cup. Little fish going up against bigger fish. |
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| This is one of the places I got a waffle. An incredibly good Belgian waffle with chocolate, bananas, strawberries and powdered sugar on top. Mmm! |
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| Le Grand Cafe was my dinner destination mostly because it was fairly close to my hotel. I had a delicious zucchini and eggplant lasagna. |
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