Thursday was our final day with Megan and Clay and since we hadn't seen the Fort du Huy we went up first thing in the morning to check out the view. Here are some shots. This one has the Ville du Huy including the Grand Place and Hotel du Ville (City Hall), and their apartment.
This one is just a cool pic.
So is this one...
The we hopped on the train to Brussels. The hour and a half ride is just super cool...similar to the trip down to Luxembourg - very pastoral, tons of rolling hill as far as you can see with small towns sprinkled in with their little homes and church with a steeple...very cool.
Brussels is a cool city. Home to the EU and capital of Belgium, it is much more metropolitan than anywhere we've been on this trip AND our hotel is a 2 minute walk to the train station - PERFECT (which we really loved on Day 6 at 6:45 AM).
The Grand Place is just around the corner from our hotel...centered around the Hotel du Ville (again) but gigantic...
The Place is a beautiful square (much bigger than I imagine) that is surounded by a mish-mash of beautiful edifices. In the late 1600s, Brussles was flattened by one of the Louis' of France and so all of the trades in Brussels (think blacksmiths, tanners, etc. each got their own space on the square and were turned loose. What result is a beautiful collection of buildings sandwiched together and it seems that each one tried to outdo each other...this photo can't do it justice.
Next we walked down to the Manneken Pis...
And yes, if that small picture left any doubt ,he is indeed doing what you think he is doing...
Why the costume? Apparently Mr. Pis likes to dress up on different days of the year to celebrate a different event or culture. Not sure what culture he is today, but no matter what he's wearing, somethings about him never change.
While walking back to the Place we came across this weird brass plaque with a man on it, and people were walking by and ceremoniously rubbing their hands across his body in a way that everyone else seemed to know the proper pattern other than - touch his face, hands and feet and then the touched the face above him. I stuck with just touching his feet - then, when this picture was taken, people were in the middle of "the rub" and getting too close to my hand - so I made a face.
We went over to this cool pub called "Delirium" - if you like beer, this is THE place to go. They have 2004 beers available and it's in the Guiness Book of World Records. High point - I drank something called a Kwak - high point because the bottom of the glass is round so they have to serve it on it's own stand:
Which by the way you have to leave 10 Euro at the bar as a deposit, apparently people walk off with them alot...
Here's a picture of me and Meg in front of the lace shop (that our Grandma Pasche remembers from her trip to Brussels).
Pic of Clay eating the famous Belgian chocolate - folks this stuff is incredible!
We said our sad goodbye to Clay and Megan who had to head back to Huy to pack for their trip (Friday, today) to Spain...we had a wonderful time visiting them. It was great to catch up with this awesome couple and get a taste of their life. We know God has a plan for them and it is neat to see it working out!
After parting, Melissa and I grabbed some dinner and then stopped for Melissa's favorite part!
Au revoir! Tomorrow (Friday) - Paris!
Happy Birthday, Baby!!!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see the Fat Tire Bike pictures :)
happy birthday man! i had a kwak when i was there. did you ever try to set it down on the table without the stand? i almost did
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