Monday, August 7, 2017

Euro Day 17 - Brussels

Another leisurely morning - where Karen and I walk down to the city center to grab coffee and pastries while the kids sleep in.  We finally made it down to the train by mid-day for the 30 minute ride into Brussels.

Brussels is one of the seats of the EU and they have a very impressive exhibit on the history of European unification.  It is not a huge exhibit but so dense with information that you could likely spend 2-3 full days there absorbing all of the audio, video and other information.


There is a big Brussels music festival that starts today but really starts to ramp up towards the weekend.  So there was a bunch of activity setting up stages and other infrastructure to support that event.  Many of the other big museums are closed on Mondays - so we had plenty of time to walk around and just take in the sights.



We then headed towards the Grand Plaza - a very impressive space that has some nice shops and restaurants surrounding the area. Including my favorite Tin Tin shop.



One of the main tourist attraction statues is a 17th century sculpture Manneken Pis located just off the main square.  It is a very small sculpture of a little boy pissing into a fountain.  Can't really catch the spraying action from this pic but gives you a sense of the size.



I had identified a restaurant that I wanted to go to in Brussels but it was about a 20 minute walk from the city center and was a bit surprised when the gang was amendable to that plan and not opting to just pick a closer spot.  I think they initially regretted the decision as our Google Maps route took us through some more 'colorful' sections of the city before winding through a pop-up carnival along the a side street.  We eventually made it to our destination and had a wonderful meal in front of a castle that was built in the 14th century.  Although I was disappointed that nobody went for the Rabbit Stew. 


We were back in our 'home town' of Ghent after 8pm and Jake, Kelsey and I walked down to the City Center and grabbed a gelato before retiring for the evening.

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