Brussels, Belgium

This would be a bit difficult to blog about, as the trip happened towards the end of 2007 which makes it almost 18 months ago. Coupled with the memory of a goldfish, I'm resorting to making it a picture dominant post. Or posts for that matter.

Arrived in Brussels early in the morning, to be met up at the train station with my bestie! :D She was travelling in Paris, Italy and I forgot where, and we were to do Belgium & Germany with some other friends too.

Town Hall @ the Grand Palace

@ The Square

We stayed fairly close to the Grand Palace. I remember being in awe of the beautiful architecture of the old buildings there, the gothic features of the buildings and yet, to not appear intimidating or eerie.

Our hotel. I remember having trouble looking for it. We walked around the place for a few times before actually finding it. The funny thing was, we walked past it twice and thought to ourselves, "Now, this would be a nice place to stay in." . Imagine our joy when we finally realized that this is where we're staying! :)

Pot of mussels for lunch

There was 3 of us, and we had trouble finishing this pot of mussels. It's not as if we ordered plenty, we only had a paella in addition to this pot. I was quite sick of mussels after this lunch I have to say. But the locals seems to order it as a main for 1 person. But I suspect it might be the norm.

Chocolates & Belgium comes together :D

Manneken Pis

The famous bronze statue of a boy peeing is a landmark of Brussels. Was a little hard to find initially, as it is located at a corner in some alley. I would have thought it would be out in an open space, like where the Grand Palace is.

*somewhere*

Soon, it was night and it was time for the Christmas Market! I love being there this time of the year, Christmas Markets are so fun to be at :). Needless to say, we went to the one in Brussels, and also in Berlin.

Ferris Wheel *grin*

There wasn't a long queue for the ride which was great. The little cars are well covered with clear windows for scenery-viewing. I remember being on a ferris wheel where there was no windows - It gave us all a brain freeze after. Hhmm.. I think it must have been in the Royal Melbourne Show a few years ago.

View of Christmas Market from the top

The Christmas Market is near St Catherine Place. About 10 minutes walk from the Grand Palace,if you were navigating in the dark without a map, like us.

Bourse
*Brussels Stock Exchange*

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Our accommodation came with breakfast which was splendid, as the breakfast area is on the top floor of the hotel *I think*. Well, whether or not if was, it still offered a pretty good breakfast view. Btw, we stayed in Floris Hotel Arlequin Grand-Place :).

That's the Town Hall I think

We had the day to kill before catching on the night train to Berlin to meet up with another friend. Night train so that we could save the money on another night in a hotel :P. There was several places that I had in mind, namely The Royal Palace, St Michael's Cathedral, Atomium and Cirquantenaire Arch.

St Michael's Cathedral

Located on Treurenberg Hill in Brussels, this was a bit of a walk from our hotel, which we obviously got lost on our way here too. *Oh, and we stopped at a chocolate shop for a while too :P*. I remember it as St Michael's Cathedral, but apparently it is better known as St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral.

There was displays for Christmas while we were there, which was a nice touch from the usual churches that we visit. We spent a fair bit of time here if I remember correctly.

Some of the displays :

Headed towards the Royal Palace by foot, which is opposite Palace of the Nation, where a garden lies in between the two - which I think was Brussels Park.

Palais de la Nation

The Royal Palace is where the King of Belgium lives, and if he is in the country, the Belgian flag is raised. I forgot if it was raised when we were there. It is also said to be open to public in summer, but unfortunately, we were there in winter so we didn't even bother finding out.

Royal Palace

We then took the train out to visit the Atomium. Built in 1958 in conjuction with the year's World Fair, the atomium has become one of the landmarks of Belgium. A magnified version of a 9-molecule atom by about 160 billion times, it did give a pretty good impression. Sadly, the place was packed and the queues were too darn long that we only took a few pictures, wandered on the grounds for a bit before leaving.

Atomium

Took the train back to the town, before making our way towards the Cirquantenaire Arch. The metro station wasn't that close, and we had to walk pass the Jubilee Park before arriving at the arch. The park wasn't that great, but then again, there was construction work ongoing while we were there.

The Cirquantenaire Arch

There was two museums in the area, one to each side of the arch. If I remember correctly, the one that we went to was the Royal Museum of Army and Military History, and the other one was the Museum of Arts and History. The army & military museum was definitely worth a visit :).

One of the museum's display

As we were pushed for time, we didn't spend that much time in the area and quickly made our way back, but not before stopping at EU. Brussels is actually the home to EU, which was formed... in the late 1990s if I am not mistaken. There is 3 main instituition to EU. *God, my former econs teacher would so have my head for being so unsure about EU*

One of the EU buildings

Some park

Soon it was dinner time before heading off to catch our night train to Berlin. One thing that always remind me of Brussels is the way food is displayed outside the restaurants. The immaculate, colourful displays food with attentive details.

See what I mean?!?!
*grin*

Chow time! :D