Belgium : Land of Endless Waffles and Chocolates - Part 2 Brussels

We arrived in the land where Tin Tin came from around midday and left our suitcases at the railway station as it was only a day trip.  

We walked to the city centre where the Grand Place (square) is. But first of all, we came across a Christmas market happening next to a museum...

Walking towards the Grand Place...

Both sides of the narrow street were lined with shops selling products Belgium is known for...

... beer....

.... lace.... and i forgot to take a photo of a chocolate shop to complete this train of thought...

We then arrived at the square and I was literally speechless with the beauty of it. This was a panorama view of the square.

Maison du Roi means Kings House and was once the residence of the Spanish monarchs. Built in Neo Gothic style, it is now the Musee de la Ville de Bruxelles.

Right opposite Maison du Roi is the amazing Hotel de Ville. The original building was destroyed during the French bombardment of 1695 but the spire survived. It was then rebuilt along Neo-Classical lines. It is now the city's Town Hall. 

 The spire soared to a gilded statue of St Michael at a height of 96 m.

View from far away....

Another example in the difference between photos taken by me and Damon...

 Apparently there is no need to have a bigger shot of me because and I quote 'you know what you look like anyway'.

There was meant to be a 2 hour free walking tour but apparently they don't hold it in winter. So we ended up with oodles of time to kill. This was the 19th-century Galeries-St-Hubert with its soaring domed glass roof.

 We then went to lunch along Rue des Bouchers which was lined with restaurants all selling similar food - mostly seafood. As you walk past, the waiters of each restaurant would try to entice you into their restaurant with promises of free drinks and desserts. We basically closed our eyes and chose one.

I had to get a cherry beer in Belgium!! Cheers.

Lunch was seafood paella with half a lobster each. SO GOOD.

After that, we went to see the famous fountain in Brussels. On the way, we walked past the window of a lace shop which amused me greatly. It has the misfortune of being neighbours with a cheap waffles takeaway shop haha.

Tin Tin street art!

Street performer as Van Gogh but all I see is Dennis Hopper.

Space Invaders strike again!

Manneken-Pis is a tiny fountain of a small boy relieving himself into a small pool. I was expecting something a lot more impressive as it was surrounded by people and Brussels is known for this fountain.

It is so famous that visiting world leaders would bring miniature versions of their country's national costumes for the statue to wear. These outfits are housed in the Musee de la Ville de Bruxelles. Weird.

All the shops next to the fountain capitalised on its fame... obviously.

 Annoying tourists would crowd this statue to take stupid photos...... i blame the rain.

We had nothing better to do so we walked 15 minutes in the rain to the national church of Belgium - Cathedrale Sts-Michel-et-Gudule. 

There were nativity scenes from all around the world being displayed in the church. This was from Korea...

Africans.....

 Brazilians....

 Romanians....

We ended up at the railway station 2 hours before we needed to be so I amused myself with a Haagen Dazs waffle...

Belgium : Land of Endless Waffles and Chocolates - Part 1 Bruge

I decided for some stupid reason that I can squeeze another cheeky trip in just before Christmas so I booked a 3 day trip to Belgium just before Christmas Eve. It turned out to be a bad idea because it rained heavily the entire time.

Lunch on the first day was at a tourist trap... sigh. Frites because Belgium is famous for it... just tasted like normal fries if you ask me.

 Damon's mussels.

I went for salmon with lobster sauce... those little pathetic prawns you see floating in the sauce? Lobster to belgians apparently.

We spent the first day just meandering around city centre and went back to the hotel at 5 pm because it was dark and miserable! It was still dark and miserable the next day so we had to think of indoor pursuits in order to avoid the rain.

First stop - the Frites Museum! 

Various farming equipment used for growing potatoes....

A cool art installation using different kinds of potatoes... ok not very cool and I was scrapping the barrel a bit by then.

The last paragraph amused me....

 Sad wall art that reminded me of Mackers fries....

I liked this print....

This was hilarious because the boy was wearing the type of pants that I was trying hard to photograph while I was in China. It's rude but practical. Boys being toilet trained just had to squat to pee.....

Different types of equipment used for potato-peeling.

 On the top floor of the museum, there was also a replica Frites shop.

Comics that have even the most remote connection to potatoes were displayed here.

Obligatory tourist shot:

 Just need to be photo-shopped together now.

After that, we walked around the city centre a bit and checked out some art installation in the rain. This was Damon's attempt at taking a photo of me... note the excess waste of space in the foreground and background.

This was mine.... enough said.

It was pelting down so we went to the next museum - Chocolates Museum. I kid you not.

The museum basically went through the history of chocolates from when it was discovered by the Mayans.....

... when it was used as currency....

Piggy bank for storing coffee beans....

... when sugar was added to chocolate to make it more palatable....

 .... when it was favoured by the French Courts... that Marie A was a fox!

 ... how coffee is grown in South America.. this room kinda mimicked the forest with the floor resembling forest beds and the walls trees.

Even the rubbish bins were shaped like coffee pods... haha.

This device slices up the beans so that the quality of the beans can be ascertained.

Again, there was a replica chocolate shop at the top floor of the museum. Damon was pretending to buy chocolates....

 Chocolate moulds...

Halfway through the tour, I realised there were all these quirky Lego scenes for children to look at so I went back and took photos of them.

The Aztecs were ferocious warriors. There were 2 clans: the jaguar warriors and the eagle warriors.

Aztecs hard at work making chocolate....

 Chocolate reaching the Mexican shores.

 Coffee beans started being collected in large quantities in Spain.

 Chocolate being drunk by the royals.

Coffee plantation...

Harvest time...

Daniel Peter, a Swiss, invented milk chocolate.

 Can't remember what this was now... probably just depicting chocolate becoming mainstream...

 The result of too much chocolates...

Again, we had to do it....

 The things we do to amuse ourselves on rainy days.....

There were some chocolate art in the basement as well as a chocolate making demonstration so we went and had a look.....

 This was meant to be the chocolate eating family and since they were made of chocolates, they ate themselves.... dude was meant to be chewing on his own hand....

 Not sure why the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf had anything to do with chocolates...

 Madonna and child.... white chocolate style.

 Lunch was at a restaurant near our hotel.... we went in wanting to only get a waffle but it said on the menu that waffles were only available between 3 and 6 pm so we decided to get lunch instead. We then saw waffles being served to other diners after we ordered. Doh!

Mulled wine.....

I got a local specialty... Flemish beef stew. When I first saw the size of this serving, I nearly went.... errr 2 pieces of beef for EUR15!!!!!!!!!!

Luckily the waiter put down the rest of it straightaway..... Disaster averted!

Walking along a typical Bruge street....

Bruge is a city with canals running through it....

Took a break and I decided that waffles were too cliched so I went with crepes... big mistake. Sauce was gluggy.

 Right in the heart of Bruge is a very picturesque 13th century Market square.

The Belfort was built in the 13th century and holds the city's medieval charter of rights. There was a christmas market happening right in front of it.

 We left Bruge first thing in the morning on Day 3 - bound for Brussels by train.