Sightseeing for the First Time in Brussels

My first sight of the Grand Place. That's the back of Maureen and Natalie's heads.
Brussels, I've arrived!

Well, I arrived on the 14th, but that's quibbling over insignificant details...

As planned, I visited the Brussels Church of Christ/Eglise du Christ de Bruxelles. They were renting a meeting hall that was quite nice. It's not obvious at all on the outside that a church was meeting inside, but they have a mobile sign just inside the door identifying themselves. As I expected, they gave a warm welcome. Interestingly, unlike in the States, the welcoming greeting consists of the double cheek kiss instead of the side hug. Its membership is around 35, largely married couples. In fact, there are only 2 single people: Maureen and Natalie. Maureen is originally from Peru, so his native language is Spanish. Natalie speaks mainly French. Communicating was very simple because of the language barrier.

The service was conducted in French. I was very encouraged because I understood most of what they were saying :) Pretty good for someone who hasn't spoken French in almost 10 years and hasn't studied since high school.

After church, Natalie took Maureen and me to the Grand Place, one of the touristy destinations in Brussels. It's easy to understand why. It's really a sight to see; its buildings are a mesh of Gothic, Baroque and Louis XIV styles, with gold inlay on many of the buildings. The Town Hall of Brussels is here. I don't think my words will do the place justice, so here's some images:

   
   

We ate at a cafe off of the Place, Café de Bruxelles. The food was excellent! I had la carbonnade à la flamande/Carbonnade Flamande. Natalie had the meatballs and I can't remember what Maureen ate.


This still makes my mouth water!

       Left: The view of the City Hall from the Cafe. Middle: Maureen with several different beers (they weren't all for him). Right: I ordered water and they brought it out with its own special glass.

After lunch, we left Grand Place to go see one of Brussels other famous landmark: Manneken Pis. For those of you unfamiliar with what this is, it's a bronze fountain sculpture of a little boy urinating. Guess where the water comes out...

      
Manneken Pis has been around since the early 17th century and at last count had over 800 costumes. I don't understand *why* it's such a tourist attraction, but according to the Wall Street Journal, it's "A Naughty Little Statue in Brussels Turns Into a Big Marketing Hit." Beyond just the statue, they've translated it into souvenirs:

   
Other things that I saw around Grand Place:

Statue of Everard 't Serclaes

    The bronze statue, depicting Brussels hero, Everard 't Serclaes, who rescued the city from a Flemish invasion in the 14th century. The memorial was commissioned in 1898 and carved by artist Julien Dillens. Tourists (like those in my picture) will rub the parts of the statue that are shiny for luck.

Street Performers

   
Chocolate and Waffles


   


Les Schtroumpfs/The Smurfs

   
The Smurfs were created by Belgian Comic artist, Peyo. The little blue creatures live in the forest, are named according to some personality trait (Handy Smurf, Brainy Smurf, Lazy Smurf, Clumsy Smurf), and replace different words with 'smurf.' Peyo came up with the term and idea for replacing words with Smurf during a dinner with fellow comic artist, Andre Franquin, where he forgot the word for salt. I loved the cartoon when I was a kid; I even still have my Smurf shoelaces.

Additional Links:
Brussels Town Hall as described on the Belgium Travel Network website.
The Many Constumes of Manneken Pis, an article on Amusing Planet.
Images of Manneken Pis in costume on the Telegraph website.
Brussels' Manneken Pis receives costume of Reporters Without Borders
City of Brussels article on Manneken Pis.
Manneken Pis costumes for 2012.