I finally decided that after so many years in Europe, it was time to see where all the decisions in the European Union are made - it was time to see Brussels. That and I found a cheap flight. It’s funny because to visit most cities, the weekends normally go up in price but not Brussels, the price actually goes down. The picture above is Brussels’ equivalent of the Eiffel tower: the Atomium. It was made for Expo 1958, is 102 m tall and is supposed to resemble an iron crystal (albeit magnified 165 billion times).
Did you know that Belgium gave the world the Smurfs, Tintin, French fries and the Mercator projection? (Yes, the last one is geeky and aimed at the fellow geos who may be reading this, but this is how everyone now pictures the world map in 2D and why Greenland looks ginormous compared to its actual size). According to my tour guide, the “French” fries part likely stems from the first World War when overseas soldiers ate fries but were a little off with their geography and thought they were in France. Belgium also has hundreds of different beers and unlike the Germans, don’t have a beer purity law (only water, barley and hops for zee Germans) and so they can make lots of crazy tasty varieties with fruit or you name it (e.g. the ubiquitous krieks, a cherry beer).
Mr. Mercator himself:
Belgians don’t only love Tintin but all comics. They even have a comic book museum and random comic murals all over the city.
Trappist (special monastery) beer:
Another cool-looking beer I didn’t have a chance to try:
Other interesting facts/highlights:
One can’t miss the waffles. They come in two types: the Brussels waffle (is fairly light with deep pockets which you add sugar and toppings to) and the Liége waffle, which has sugar granules baked-in and you eat like it is. Apparently I committed a major faux-pas and ordered a Liége waffle with whipped cream (the “tourist waffle”). They punish you by charging a full euro for the squeeze of whipped cream on top
I did a bike tour with a Russian couple and an excited family of five. I was impressed that the 6 year-old could keep up and that we all made it back in one piece. Brussels isn’t exactly the most bike-friendly city (at least not compared to Munich) with almost no bike paths except in front of the fancy EU commission’s block of buildings and the 6 year-old wasn’t overly familiar with the rules of the road. Yikes.
Here is a relatively-relaxed Dad trying to load his family and five bikes into an elevator:
Remember: calories don't count if it's a cultural experience:
At the fine arts museum I saw some sombre Flemish art, including the famous painting of Marat lying dead in his bath after being murdered. This image was imprinted on my brain during my grade 11 study of the French revolution.
“The Death of Marat” (by Jacques-Louis David)
I Visited the European Parliament, but on the weekend the place is absolutely dead since the Eurocrats all fly back home.
Can you identify all 23 EU languages?
The proud embodiment of the Euro:
I saw an impressive exhibit of Robert Capa’s photography covering everything from Trotsky, to the Spanish civil war which made him famous, to China during the Japanese invasion before WWII and D-day during WWII. This controversial shot (was it staged or not?) of a soldier in the Spanish civil war made him famous:
The austere central square ("Grand Place") and City Hall ("Hotel de Ville"):
Other random pics:
Yes, you aren't mistaken: this is a scuba-diving duck in the middle of a roundabout.
The royal palace:
The world’s first covered mall:
Interesting arrangement of chairs in an antique shop:
