This is one strange combination of things to be famous for.
The journey to Brussels was rather simple; it took less time to get here (1
hour and 20 minutes) than my journey from home to school, to the train station,
to Paris. I spend the day walking around as Philip, the owner of the bed and
breakfast has given me an entire itinerary of how I should conquer Brussels.
The first thing I notice is that I see comics decorating random building walls
everywhere. Little did I realize that this city is the Comics capital of
Europe, home to many famous comic strips such as Tintin and the Smurfs. It is interesting to see carts on the streets
selling moule frites – aka mussels and fries. Beligum is landlocked; I wonder
how they got famous for having mussels. I wander around and take an elevator to
the high section of the city, and see the Palais
de Justice. Near the Place Royal,
I end up checking out the Bellevue Museum, as I knew next to nothing about
Belgian history.
The vibe in this city is pretty cool. All I see is chocolatiers
and art galleries everywhere. I stroll through random stores, buying chocolates
for friends; even from the most famous, and apparently the best chocolate in
Belgium being Pierre Marcolini. I buy one piece of dark chocolate filled with
raspberry from Neuhaus. I don’t even like chocolate and this thing tastes
amazing. It has a dark chocolate outer coating, with a layer of caramelized
sugar as the next layer, filled with raspberry goo; delicious! I’m excited to finally have a chance to wander
around alone in a city. I see signs for Jacques Brel and follow them to see
that there is exposition for him. I had heard about him from a French friend a
while back, he is a famous Belgian singer, one of his best songs being “Ne me
quitte pas”. I stumble upon the Manneken Pis, which is a famous statue
of a young boy peeing. I knew I had found it as there were dozens of tourists
in front of it. There are many legends behind the statue, one being that he
peed on a fire in order to save the city.
Many folks have told me to watch the movie In Bruges before visiting the city, but
alas I haven’t had the time. Perhaps that is why I am stuck in the hotel while
it is snowing; I guess I’ll have to save Bruges for another time.
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