Brussels

Mannekin Pis
see all photos »

Brussels was a bit of a spin out at first, compared to Antwerp. Here a lot more people speak French rather than Flemish-although it is difficult to presume anything in such a mixed society. The Gare du Midi is another big station and we had a little bit of a rough time finding the hotel, even though it was only about 500m or so away from the station. It didn´t help that we weren´t really lucky with the weather / pissing down rain! Also it appears that Brussels drivers are absolutely nuts-it´s a gamble to step out onto a pedestrian crossing even when the light is green as most people don´t stop for you! Nevermind, we put it all down to experience and besides it wasn´t terrible to have a little bit of reality after so much fun. Makes us appreciate the good times even more! Anna got to practise her French a little bit - dropped right into the deep end. People do speak English here, if you´re nice and acknowlegde them in French first.

see all photos »

We had a nice chill out in the hotel as it was quite shitty weather. Instead of getting dinner in the city as we´d originally planned we just headed back to the station and got some supplies there. We caught some Wimbeldon (In French-the commentators get so excited!!), some Flemish TV and also a B grade horror movie called `valentine´. We forgot to mention that Mik also got to play a Yamaha synth piano for a little bit as we walked past a music shop in the Midi.

There´s lots of Arabic writing everywhere, plus tons of Morrocan restaurants. The atmosphere is quite lively in Brussels - quite unlike anything we´d encountered so far. A huge mix of people and languages.

The Atomium 1
see all photos »

The next day we had arranged to meet up with Kristen Cornwell and her Husband Christophe. We had a really great day with them, was nice to catch up with a fellow Australian and also get some local perspective too! Christophe has a lot of local knowledge and he told us lots about the city of Brussels. We saw many beautiful old buildings and monuments. One of Brussels´main tourist attractions is a statue of a pissing boy and a lesser known female version (its kind of hidden away). The Mannekin Pis has been there since 1619 and quotes an old war story about a soldier´s young son saving his fathers life. The son saves his life by pissing on the head of the father´s opponent from a tree, thus buying his father valuable time to slay the opponent. After seeing lots of cool stuff including Art Deco Buildings, Royal offices, Brussels conservatoriums and fantastic views of the city we stopped for lunch in a street nicknamed Pita street. Here we sat eating nice Greek food, drinking cherry beer (Kriek) and being serenaded by a street Busker. Kristen and Christophe then took us to the expo ground just outside Brussels where we saw some beautiful Royal parks and towers en route. Please forgive us if we haven´t got the names right - we saw so much it was a lot to remember! There is a huge metal sculpture called the Atomium which also functions as a lookout, restaurant and tourist attraction. The four of us went right to the top to see an amazing view of the city. Belgium, like the Netherlands is also quite flat and we could almost see Antwerp from the tower!

The Atomium 2 - With Kristen and Christophe
see all photos »

We were both very appreciative when Kristen and Christophe invited us to their house for some drinks. They live only a small distance outside Brussels although it can sometimes take a while to drive in because of traffic etc. Lucky for us this wasnt the case, we got a nice scenic ride. It was great to catch up and see some of their neighbourhood. We were very impressed with the countryside and all the beautiful farm animals just a short walk from their house. We saw minature horses with their foals, chickens, ducks, wild rabbits and this funny pig that kept rubbing himself on the surrounding trees. We also saw plenty of friendly bigger horses, even some rare Prezwaltzki´s horses being bred in the area.

That Beautiful Horse
see all photos »

Overall it was a lovely day, Thankyou so much to Kristen and Christophe for making our time in Brussels very special!

The next morning we had an interesting experience at the hotel, quite unfortunate really. The lady who ran the breakfast rang us up quite early and virtually demanded that we came down to breakfast right away although we weren´t late in the first place. They then made us feel very unwelcome by packing up all the breakfast things around us before we´d finished eating even though we were well within the time limits. Very rude indeed, as the hotel wasn´t that cheap in the first place/why run a hotel if you aren´t good to your guests? It was a bit sad to leave Brussels on that note but we won´t judge the city by it as we´d had such a great day just beforehand. Looking forward to meeting up with our friends Emilie and Robin again. We are also excited about meeting Robin´s family who we will be staying with just outside Rotterdam. Until next time! Love to all of you, hope you are safe and well, Best wishes xoxoxoxoxox

Prezwalzkis Horses
see all photos »

Anna and Michael