On Sept 14 2014, I took a train to Belgium, into a suburb of Brussels, to stay with some friends of a friend back in Prescott. They are such an amazing family! I absolutely adore them, and I've only been here a couple days.
Anyways, since they have lives of their own, they just let me do what I want. I already feel like part of the family, as I join them for dinner and morning coffee, but during the day I go wandering about.
So on the 15th, I took the train into Brussels, to the city center. It was beautiful. While it was slightly touristy, it wasn't overwhelmingly so.
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| Town Hall |
This city square is actually a UNESCO World Heritage site. Basically a historical landmark. All the buildings were build in the late 1600s, early 1700s, after the then-King of France decided to burn everything to the ground. What a nice guy.
Before the fire, it was still the town square. All the other buildings that wernt the town square were Guild Houses- so basically Union Offices. Like the brewers, the bakers, the actors, the masons, the whatevers. And after the fire, all the Guilds, being businesses, wanted to out- awesome each other. So they just built better and prettier buildings. Which is why everything is so gorgeous. That's the story I heard, at least.
This beauty right here, one of my favorite buildings, actually used to be the bakers house. Before it was build this nicely, it was just four wooden pillars with a thatched roof. And it was wear all the bakers would come and sell their bread. Then one day, the king decided he wanted a place to host foreign ambassadors and merchants and whatnot. So this was built. And I love it. Now its a museum, but it has the coolest feel to it, ya know?
This building once housed Karl Marx...if I remember correctly, this might have been where one of the first drafts of the Communist Manifesto was written. But who really knows.
<-- Murals are a thing in Brussels. Like, street art is recognized and respected here. And billboards are dissed. Murals are EVEryWHEre.
Plus, the street names --> come in two languages... Flemish and French. Brussels is a bilingual city. Theres a huge Flemish population, and a huge French population. So signs are in both. And they switch off the order, to show theres no preference or favor to the language. In addition to that, many streets are named after famous comic book characters, because comics are a huge thing as well. So you have an additional two names to the streets as well! And sometimes a picture! (Click to enlarge pictures)
Now, on of the most famous icons of Brussels is the stupendous Mannequin Piss. Yes, Piss. Its a statue of a little boy peeing. Plain and simple.
Urban legend has it, that this statue was built on square where people used to sell urine... who knows how true that actually is.
Now, its just a huge moral booster to the city.
The MP has over 900 different costumes, and is the center for day-time festivals. Many of the local guilds have a day devoted to the MP, where they come in, dress him up in something related to the Guild, then randomly during the day, they have a little party.
During city-wide parties and festivals, the fountain is filled with beer, and someone can come in and just fill their mug full of the good stuff.
On New Years Eve, its champagne!
Like I said, huge moral booster for the city of Brussels!
So this scaffolding on the building you see off int the distance...that scaffolding has been there TWENTY FIVE YEARS. Its semi-permanent. You'd think they'd get their crap together.
So Europe is famous for beer. Especially Belgium. And there are these beers called Trappist beers, where they have Monks making the beers...these monks need to be super important monks or whatever, in order to be allowed to brew these beers. There are only 7 Trappist breweries in the world, and 5 are in Belgium. So of course I had to try one. And it was really good! But goodness, it was strong. Normal beer is between 3 and 5%, according to google. This was nine. I was feeling it for sure.
More pretty pictures:
Belgian Waffles are the FLIPPIN BEST. So much better than what we think they are back in the states. These are like desserts. They have little bits of sugar throughout the dough, so when its cooked, it melts and caramelizes so you get little crunchy bits in each bite and ITS AMAZING. I had two in 2 hours. Its so rich and fantastic!
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| Former Guild houses- now restaurants and apartments |
This beauty right here, one of my favorite buildings, actually used to be the bakers house. Before it was build this nicely, it was just four wooden pillars with a thatched roof. And it was wear all the bakers would come and sell their bread. Then one day, the king decided he wanted a place to host foreign ambassadors and merchants and whatnot. So this was built. And I love it. Now its a museum, but it has the coolest feel to it, ya know?
This building once housed Karl Marx...if I remember correctly, this might have been where one of the first drafts of the Communist Manifesto was written. But who really knows. 
<-- Murals are a thing in Brussels. Like, street art is recognized and respected here. And billboards are dissed. Murals are EVEryWHEre. Plus, the street names --> come in two languages... Flemish and French. Brussels is a bilingual city. Theres a huge Flemish population, and a huge French population. So signs are in both. And they switch off the order, to show theres no preference or favor to the language. In addition to that, many streets are named after famous comic book characters, because comics are a huge thing as well. So you have an additional two names to the streets as well! And sometimes a picture! (Click to enlarge pictures)
Now, on of the most famous icons of Brussels is the stupendous Mannequin Piss. Yes, Piss. Its a statue of a little boy peeing. Plain and simple.Urban legend has it, that this statue was built on square where people used to sell urine... who knows how true that actually is.
Now, its just a huge moral booster to the city.
The MP has over 900 different costumes, and is the center for day-time festivals. Many of the local guilds have a day devoted to the MP, where they come in, dress him up in something related to the Guild, then randomly during the day, they have a little party.
During city-wide parties and festivals, the fountain is filled with beer, and someone can come in and just fill their mug full of the good stuff.
On New Years Eve, its champagne!
Like I said, huge moral booster for the city of Brussels!
Now for some pretty pictures of the city:
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| I don't know what this is. It freaks me out. |
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| "Umbrella of Brussels" = indoor boutique shopping mall |
So this scaffolding on the building you see off int the distance...that scaffolding has been there TWENTY FIVE YEARS. Its semi-permanent. You'd think they'd get their crap together.So Europe is famous for beer. Especially Belgium. And there are these beers called Trappist beers, where they have Monks making the beers...these monks need to be super important monks or whatever, in order to be allowed to brew these beers. There are only 7 Trappist breweries in the world, and 5 are in Belgium. So of course I had to try one. And it was really good! But goodness, it was strong. Normal beer is between 3 and 5%, according to google. This was nine. I was feeling it for sure.  |
| Gorgeous view of the city! |
More pretty pictures:
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| Apparently this building was made to counter the 'cookie-cutter' architecture culture. You know, requiring skill to build it rather than vomiting out pre-made things |
Belgian Waffles are the FLIPPIN BEST. So much better than what we think they are back in the states. These are like desserts. They have little bits of sugar throughout the dough, so when its cooked, it melts and caramelizes so you get little crunchy bits in each bite and ITS AMAZING. I had two in 2 hours. Its so rich and fantastic!
And that, my friends, is the last of my glorious trip in Europe. I was abroad for a solid month, backpacking my way through 7 countries (Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Belgium) with people I had never met.
Traveling forces you to learn. Learn about yourself, about others, about other cultures. To be safe, have an open mind, and humility.
It also teaches you independence, and loneliness. You learn friendship and trust. But most of all, you learn to have fun!
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