Brussels
A Chocoholic’s Dream or Nightmare
Why?
Read on!
Like our trip to Lyon the train to Brussels went without a hitch we again arrived at our hotel well before we could book in again they were happy to store our bags until we were able to book in, we were even shown the Coffee machine and other “FREE” goodies that were available in the lobby, and were we could have some lunch (not free) which we enjoyed, before exploring our surroundings as we had no idea where we were in relation to the old town, we were roughly told by the taxi driver where the town square was so that is what we went looking for.
The first thing we found was the Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert, ( Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries - Wikipedia ) this is a very impressive shopping gallery and if that is all we saw that day the day was good. But we were soon blown away when we entered the Grand Place - Plaza (Grand-Place - Wikipedia) I will let the photos tell you why, enough to say we had never seen something as opulent as the gold decorations of the building in the square, some thing to behold they even out did the many gold decorations of the countless churches we saw on this trip, and they were outside to reflect the brightness of the sun.
We returned to the hotel and settled in before finding one of the many cafes for dinner, then retiring for the night. The following morning my mission was two-fold the reasons I wanted to visit Brussels,
One: To purchase some Brussels Lace to replace the item that mysteriously disappeared from my mothers hone before she died, and
Two: To photograph they Naked Naughty Little Boy, “Manneken Pis”
The first reason was fairly straight forward there were a number of places where I could buy what I wanted, however, the real lace was VERY EXPENSIVE I saw exactly what I wanted BUT it was over 3,000 Euro that is nearly $5,000 Australian OUCH, a rethink was required maybe not Brussels but just Belgium lace, not quite as fine but still as good for what we wanted, now to find what we liked in the many lace shops in the old town.
A little disappointed we started for the 2nd quest with the help of Google Earth, unfortunately my memory of the map was a little clouded and I was one street off, I relooked it up at lunch time and found that fountain, but he was dressed! It appears that on special days there is an organisation that has the right to dress the boy for the occasion and this was one of those days. He was dressed as LE GENDARME DE SAINT-TROPEZ a tribute to the French actor Louis de Funès who died 40 years ago, we need to return later to see him in his full glory. Another disappointment? Not really!
While we did not get to see the little boy in the morning, we did manage to find many interesting things including shops built right against an old church the “Saint Nicholas Church”
(From the net)
The Saint Nicholas Church, one of the oldest in Brussels, is named after Saint Nicolas, the patron saint of traders, as the market centre is just around the corner. The church is asymmetrical because an irregular small stream used to run through this street. Parts of the church date to the 12th century. However, it was plundered during the troubles between Catholics and Protestants in the 16th century and then completely burned in 1695 during bombing by the French. The high tower collapsed in 1714, killing a man and a pig. The church was closed in 1797 and reopened in 1804. The church was fully restored in 1954. Saint Nicolas belongs to the five churches that make up the Pastoral Unit of Brussels Centre.)
Looking at my Google Earth reference I knew there was a large park not too far away but it proved to be a little elusive, we found a number of smaller parks and even the Tribunal du travail francophone de Bruxelles – Court, finally on our final full day we found the “Parc De Bruxelles” and it did not disappoint with a series of comic cat sculptures, which I hope you enjoy.
Why did I add the subtitle of A Chocoholic’s Dream or Nightmare? Well, every where we looked, we saw chocolatiers a dream because there was so much choice in a way also a nightmare for very much the same reason where do you start!
Carol thinks I was the model
Carol’s Sweet Beer
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Welcome to Herman and Carolann’s Travels to Europe
Portugal Trip 2023