So I made it to Brussels with no problems. It was kind of rough waiting for the bus in the rain at 5:30 this morning but it worked out. I got to my hostel at about noon, got settled in, then went out to explore the city.
It's pretty difficult finding my way around a city where people don't really speak English and signs aren't in English, but I managed. I had to metro to the city center and basically I just got on the first train I saw and it happened to be the right one, then I managed to get on the right transfer... That was lucky. Anyway, after a bit of wandering after getting off the metro, I eventually got going in the right direction. The first thing I saw was La Bourse, Brussel's Stock Exchange. This would seem cooler if I could post pictures.
La Bourse:
Next I found the Grand Place, a really, really impressive square. The buildings are incredible, it's really beautiful. I wandered around there, checked out the flower market that was going on, and tried to get a tour at the Town Hall but the English one didn't start until 3:15.
Grand Place, Town Hall:
Grand Place, Maison des Ducs de Brabant and flower market:
Grand Place, where Victor Hugo lived:
I got a bit lost after that, and ended up wandering around a street with a lot of shops. I figured then was as good a time as any to get a famous Belgian waffle, so I did. It was delicious. As I was eating it a lady came up to me and started speaking in French, but I figured out that she was asking where I got the waffle and I was able to point her in the right direction. That was the first of many encounters that happened today when people thought I spoke French. I learned pretty quickly that I shouldn't say "bonjour" when I walk into a store because people really think I know what I'm saying... I also used this period of being lost to buy my souvenir magnet. Anyway, eventually I found what I was looking for, Galeries St-Hubert. It's basically just an upscale mall, but the bulding is incredible.
Galeries St-Hubert:
My Belgian waffle:
there I wandered til I found Mannekin-Pis, the symbol of Brussels.
Mannekin-Pis, symbol of Brussels:
Next I went to Notre-Dame de la Chapelle, a nice looking church.
Notre-Dame de la Chapelle:
Then I walked south for awhile to find Quertier Marolles, where there's a famous flea-market. I guess I got there too late because most people were already packed up. Oh well.
Finished flea market:
That area is right next to Palais de Justice, a huge, really imposing building. I would not want to go to court there. There were lots of policemen wearing ski masks walking around carrying machine guns, so that was exciting. There was also a nice view of the city from there, since it's on a hill.
Policemen:
Palace of Justice:
Next were the Sablons. First the Place du Petit Sablon, a little garden with lots of statues. There are a lot of statues in Brussels, they're everywhere. And some of them are really weird.
Petit Sablon:
Next to that is Place du Grand Sablon, a big, cool looking square. Notre-Dame du Sablon is next to that. It's a really impressive church. All the churches I saw today were impressive. Brussels is really famous for its chocolate, and one of the most famous places to get it is at Wittamer. That store is in Place du Grand Sablon so I went in to try to buy some chocolate. I was overwhelmed by the variety of choices (and I couldn't read the descriptions as they were in French) so I just asked the lady to pick some out for me. She asked me how much I wanted to spend and what kinds of chocolate I liked and ended up picking out 6 chocolates for me. They were all fantastic.
Notre-Dame du Sablon:
Chocolate from Wittamer:
From there I went to the Palais Royal. Awesome building. The more European palaces I see the more Buckingham Palace looks like a dump. Unfortunately it's closed to the public but the outside was spectacular. There are gardens in front of that which I walked through. They probably look more impressive when everything is in bloom.
Palace:
Then I went to Cathedrale Sts-Michel-et-Gudule, I think the most famous church in Brussels, and for good reason. It was beautiful. I have pictures of all these churches, I was glad that photography was allowed. Speaking of photography, I think a lady took a picture of me in there. I was just sitting in a chair looking around and she definitely took a picture of me... Cathedrale Sts-Michel-et-Gudule:
From there I walked for a while over to the Quartier Europeen, which is where the main buildings of the European Union administration are found. They were pretty cool, but I don't know enough about the European Union to know exactly what goes on in each building. There's a park behind those (Parc du Cinquantenaire), with a very impressive gate. That was fun to walk through, the architecture here is incredible.
The Triumphal Arch:
It had been grey and threatening to rain all day but it cleared up at this point. It was about 5:00 so I got a vegetable pie thing at a store then picked up an orange from a grocery store for dinner. I ate at Parc Leopold, a lovely park. The weather was nice and it was very enjoyable.Where I ate lunch, with a view of a European Union building:
I took the metro back to my hostel after that, and decided that I should do laundry (the wet weather in Ireland made me go through my clothes pretty fast). That was an adventure. Luckily there's a laundermat just around the corner from my hostel, but unluckily all the directions are in Dutch. Yikes. Eventually I figured it out though, it was a bit confusing. I sat in there reading while my laundry was going, and at one point a lady came in and said something to me in French. I had no idea what she said but it seemed like she was explaining why she was doing something and she was smiling so I just smiled and nodded which seemed appropriate. As she was leaving she just started talking to me in French and I just pretended like I knew what she was saying, hoping the whole time that she wouldn't ask me anything. I guess I was pretty convincing because she had no idea that I didn't understand her. It was pretty awesome.
It's 8:30 now and I'm on the computer in my hostel. I think the rest of tonight will be spent reading and planning tomorrow. Depending on the weather I'm either going to the coast, or going to Bruges and Ghent. Both will be done eventually, I just don't which trip I will do on each day. Hopefully I'll get to bed early becuase I'm pretty tired.
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