Day 16 September 8

 Day 16 September 8, 2012 "Rest day in Brussels" 7 mile by foot around town

The first job of our rest day was a trip to the Wassalon.  It wasn't far from the hotel and we were able to stop for coffee on our way back.

After leaving the clean clothes back the Park Inn, we headed out to visit Brussels.  On our way towards the Grote Markt, we passed though a street flea market.  There was all sorts of stuff if you cared to look through the furniture, shoes, knickknack, clothes and art work.  I've never seen a glass dachshund dish, of course I've never looked for one either!

 As we came down the narrow cobbled stoned roads, we came upon this crowd.  Everyone was looking at one of Brussel's most beloved attractions.

 The Manneken Pis or the Little Man Pee.  This fellow dates back to the early 1600's.  Currently he has about 600 costume changes.  We are not sure what this outfit is!  He is a working fountain and we heard that he pees beer when ever his costume is changed.

 On to Grote Markt and City Hall, another Gothic building with the same look as the City Hall in Leuven.  This one took a long time to build.  The center was completed first followed by the left side.  By the time they got around to the right side of the building, the Craft Guilds had built their offices and the right side of town hall is shorter than the left.  It was very busy in town and we saw a number of brides and a small parade.

 First these large puppets with a band came marching out from an archway in the center of City Hall.

The  group below followed the puppets out.  They had their own band and as they marched the pounded the Belgium blocks with their wooden shoes.  It was loud and a lot of fun.

 This is the crowd watching all of the festivies in Grote Markt.  This is the largest but not the only market square in town.

 These lions were perched on a fence as we worked towards the Royal Palace.  Since you have already seen one anatomically correct statue, I didn't think you needed another.  (The only dress statues seem to be the royals.)  There is a great deal of sulpture and artwork to be seen on the streets.

There was a comic strip festival in town right near the Royal Palace.  We decided to walk through.  We recognized the Smurfs, but the balloon of Betty Boop was foreign to us.

This is the front of the Royal Palace and one of the gardens.  It was very impressive.  The design was Gothic and the front gate was gilded.

Next to the royal Palace is the Brussels Park.  You can tell that it once must have been part of the Royal holdings.  Once of the recent additions is park sculpture.  It included variations of French fries, beer, mussels and Brussels sprouts.  This is a Brussel sprout with trains painted in it. (I still don't think the trains would improve the taste!

This is the cathedral of St. Michael.  It is enormous and impressive.  There was a wedding going on when we went in.  The stained glass is beautiful and this church is the site of royal weddings.

We decided on a quick sandwich neaar the cathedral.  We may be an ocean away but Coca Cola is still with us.