Brussels Bongo

Between Amsterdam and Paris, we had a day of travel, with a few hours stop in Brussels, Belgium. I don't think I knew a single thing about Brussels before we went. I'm not even sure I knew it was in Belgium. Now I know everything I need to know...that I want to go back.

We spent the morning on the bus, driving to Brussels. The bus was pretty much silent the entire ride. People still drunk, high, or just so partied out that they passed out completely. And for us kids that didn't try to kill ourselves with such intense partying, it was still early. I think I was one of the only ones, counting the driver, that stayed awake the whole ride.

On the outskirts of Brussels, the bus made a quick photostop at the Atomium. I had never even heard of the Atomium, and I was not in store for the War of the Worlds crazy alien structure that we encountered.

It's so much bigger than you can even imagine. Each one of the little globulals has something in it, like a theater, a restaurant, a shop, its crazy. Just bam! Right in the middle of the street. Very cool. Very odd.

Once in Brussels, we walked through the streets of downtown, and there was a stretch of several blocks that was solid restaurants. Not just any restaurants, but seafood restaurants. And it was about 10am at the time, and they were all setting up these giant stands right outside the front doors, FILLED with fresh seafood of all sorts on top of a mountain of ice. It was all beautifully arranged. I wanted to just stop and eat at all of them right there.

We continued walking through the city square, a big open square surrounded by old school beautiful government buildings, and it seemed that all streets led to this City Square.

We walked through this square and headed straight to Mannequin Pis, the statue of the peeing baby. Its at the end of a random normal street, and the statue is probably only 18 inches tall. It seems so unimportant to be the entire symbol of Brussels.

Apparently, its normally dressed up in strange costumes, but we happened to see it on a day where it wasn't, so that was sad. But right next door, was heaven. No really, it was this little stand, only an open window that you order from, but you order waffles. Not just regular waffles, but waffles that seem to be coated with crystalized sugar, and then topped with anything you want. Fruit, chocolate, whipped cream. ANYTHING.
If I could that waffle every day. I would. And then I would need liposuction every Christmas. But I am ok with that! The amount of walking might burn off a bite or two. Cause we did a lot of walking through Brussels, cruising through the tourist shops, looking at all the crazy tourist stuff. It was more than Amsterdam had, but it was fun. There was a LOT of Mannequin Pis stuff, including corkscrews, and even this candy shop had this setup:

I like to call it "Taste the Rainbow." There were a lot of cute candy, chocolate, and cookie shops.

It was like straight out of Hogsmeade, super cute, cookies and candy and chocolate lining the walls with bright colors and yummy carbs. Sadly, not all of the occupants of Brussels get to enjoy such shops. I have a strange affection for homeless people that have animals.

It kills me to see how much they love their pet, and that they would rather feed their best friend of a dog than themselves. I want to take them home with me.

Brussels was also the city that we experienced the black bathrooms. No, not racial, but IN THE DARK bathrooms. Before getting on the bus, we decided to try to find a bathroom, and found a little place that had some. Only, when Ryan and I went to go first, we discovered that there were no lights for the bathrooms! WHO PEES IN THE DARK?!? Not just no lights in the stalls, but the stall was a room to itself, and therefore was pitch black. It was a very scary experience to say the least.

Back on the bus, it was on our way to Paris! We had quite an adventure that first night, but that is a post all on its own!

The bus ride to Paris.


This might be sunrise, but hey, its still really pretty.