Click here to view some pictures in Brussels
April 18th, Monday. Last day in Belgium before I head out to Greece. Solo tour for me again. A few people mentioned before that Brussels is sort of boring compared to many other European cities. That was quite contradictory with my original imagination of a garden city covered by flower carpet. It turned out that the splendid flower carpet show is only up once every two years in an even numbered year, and only during the third week of August. So I was totally going to miss it.
Belgium is the capital of Flanders, Belgium, and Europe. It houses the headquarter of EU and NATO. I did not bother to identify which building is which in the neighborhood of the royal palace and congress, except for the fore-mentioned two. However, the grandeur and formalness and conservativeness of those buildings kind of suggested that Brussels is a political center in Europe.
Before heading out to the #1 tourist attraction Grand Place (or Grote Markt as in Dutch), I rested a bit in the big park right in front of the royal palace. It's obviously a beloved leisure place by locals where I could see people jogging, kids playing, and many baby trolleys.
Grand Place had a less than glamourous beginning. It was just a swampy sand-bank between two brooks, known as "broek sella" which gave Brussels its name. The sand bank was turned into a market and sold French and English textiles, French wines, and German beer. In the Middle Ages wooden houses were built around the market and by 14th century wealthy families took to building stone mansions which led to the market developing into the main commercial administrative centre. The Gothic Town Hall (Hotel de Ville) came in 1402 and by now it was also a political center.
Many have admired the beauty of the Grand Place, wide open cobbled square, surrounded by elegant guildhouses. I was also impressed by the grandeur of it and the decorativeness. However, I was not charmed by the style of the decor.
The side streets were full of souvenir stores, cafes, and restaurants. Belgium is known for chocolates, waffles, beers, and Manneken Pis, the "Pissing Boy", or "Little Julian". All were in the vicinity.
The chubby-cheeked bronze statute of Manneken Pis, created in the 17th century by Jerome Duquesnoy, embodies the irreverent spirit of Brussels. Although only 60cm in height, he is probably Brussels' most photographed statue. That day he was stark-naked as usual. But sometimes he gets dressed. In fact he has an impressive wardrobe of 600 outfits displayed in the Maison du Roi (or Broodhuis as in Dutch, Royal Art Museum).
I bought a big waffle with dart chocolate, and sat among hundreds on the shoulder of the square in Grand Place. Pretty nice!
Hoping to do some shopping in the local antique market as well as to buy some chocolates in some well praised shops, I headed to Place du Grand Sablon. To my disappointment, the antique market is only open on Sundays. However, it's a nice casual place with lots of cafes where locals like to hang out. Right away I saw Wittamer, a recommended chocolate place that offers a tearoom experience. I ordered a dessert and a hot chocolate, savoring while sun-bathing. A little blond girl, probably 4 years old, came over to play with me, showing off her little duck and easter eggs, posing for my pictures, and trying to take pictures for me. Although we did not share a common language, I had a good company. When I stood up to leave, she dived into my arms, hugged me tightly and insisted to give me a kiss. Such a sweet heart. :-)
Regretfully, I did not find the famous chocolate store Pierre Marcolini (39 Place Du Grand Sablon) for their exceptional displays. Athena later confirmed that it was really beautiful. I did not care enough to look for it with efforts. Oh well, next time.
Another regret is that the comic strip museum was closed on Monday. It's said that Belgium has more comic strip artists per square kilometer than any other country. Maybe I'll be better off to first read some comic books about Tin Tin, Belgium's famous cartoon character hero, before my visit next time. I remember B was reading them. Bummer that I did not pay much attention.
Brussels seems to be the transportation hub in Western Europe. It seems to have more railway stations than any other cities, and it's well connected by rail to the rest of Western Europe. I also find its airport probably one of the largest that I have seen. With my heavy backpack, I was tired out when I eventually reached my gate for the flight to Athens. And I am sure that I walked the longest distance on the moving walk-way.
No comments:
Post a Comment