BRUSSELS

In the native language it’s Bruxelles. I really liked Brussels!! The old center anyway and a lot more than Antwerp. It is a very modern city, being the headquarters for the European Union and the NATO. In fact, there is a section called “Little Manhattan” with all the skyscrapers and office buildings. So Brussels has two main symbols. The first one is the Atomium, which was built for the 1958 World Fair. It is an atom of iron magnified 165 billion times. It is to Brussels what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris.

The second symbol, and most popular, is Manneken Pis, a little boy relieving himself. Yes, it’s a fountain! There are many stories about about the statue, but one says that in the 12th century the son of a duke was caught relieving himself against a tree in the midst of a battle, and was thus commemorated in bronze as a symbol of the country’s military courage. Manneken Pis has 650 outfits and are on display in one of the many museums. For example, he has an Elvis outfit, as well as Mickey Mouse and Santa Clause. Most of the time he is naked, but was dressed in this outfit the day we were in Brussels. This is what he looks like normally without the outfit…

Grand Place
The magnificent square in Brussels is surrounded by many guildhalls. The Hôtel de Ville, the city’s town hall, was the only building spared by the 2-day bombings by the French in 1695. Everything else was rebuilt.

La Maison du Roi, which I’m guessing means “mansion of the king.” No King ever lived here, but instead was used as a jail and tax office. Nice jail!! Today it houses the museum with the outfits for Manneken Pis.

Different façades of the Grand Place.

Christmas
Brussels was the coolest place to visit for Christmas! The Grand Place was decorated with tons of Christmas lights and an enormous Christmas tree…real mind you! There were light shows at night, the cutest little Christmas market, an outdoor ice-skating rink, delicious Christmas goodies, etc. I wish I could have spent more time there.

I made it just before mass at the Cathédrale Sts-Michel et Gudule, the national church of Belgium. Inside there were displays of miniature Nativity scenes representing countries all over the world. Have you ever seen a Pacific Island representation of the birth of Christ? You have now!

We also took a tour on the bus through Parliament Quarter and saw the many connected office buildings of the European Union, the working Royal Palace of the king (lives in a different one…must be nice!).

There were soooo many people in Brussels. There was actually a terrorist threat about 2 weeks ago, so our tour guide told us anyway. I looked on the Internet and sure enough there has been a continuing terrorist threat in Brussels. Apparently, last week police detained 14 people suspected of plotting to help an accused Al-Qaida militant break out of jail. Scary! They actually even canceled the fireworks for New Year´s and closed the Christmas market early...the same one that I was at!

Belgium is well-known for its chocolate and lace. On part of the tour we got to taste some authentic Belgium chocolate at a famous chocolate shop called Leonidas. Delicious! Many of the other chocolate brands have moved to Switzerland, which is another country famous for chocolate. Belgium chocolate has a secret…there is less sugar and more cocoa. That’s why it tastes so dang good. Therefore, there is a rule for chocolate…it can only be called Belgium chocolate, which is the best, if there is 35% cocoa. Normally, there is only around 20%.

Belgium is also the #1 beer country. Bet you thought it was Germany, didn’t you? Well, maybe they drink the most. Belgium, however, produces the finest beers. I learned about a few interesting brands. “Duvel,” for example means “devil” and there is another brand which means “sudden death” and contains 9% alcohol! Yikes! Normally, there is only about 5%, for example in Budweiser. Don’t worry; I didn’t start drinking, just thought it interesting. Haha! Also, beer started in the beginning by being brewed in monasteries by monks. Ha! How funny is that…kind of ironic, eh? Well, there are only 7 brands of beer in the whole world that are still made by monks in monasteries, which is supposed to be the best, and 6 of those 7 are in Belgium. So there’s some useless info. for most of you!