BRUSSLES, België

The city was absolutely gorgeous but absolutely freezing. We left from the Bologna airport and flew to the city of Chaleroi. It was already getting quite late so we took a cab into the city of Brussles so that we could jump on the metro and hurry on our way to our hostel.

ON OUR WAY, CIAO ITALIA

FINALLY ARRIVING IN BELGIUM

Our group of students flies RyanAir over here because they have the cheapest flights all over Europe, but one major disadvantage is that they only fly into smaller or farther away airports so we are always forced to do a little more traveling once we get to our destination.

SHOPPING CENTER

The next morning we wandered around the city, no set path in mind. We found many shopping centers which were outdoor but had a glass roof above the walkways to protect the customers and passersby from the elements.

FIRST BELGIAN CHOCOLATE EXPERIENCE

We then arrived at our first Belgian Chocolate store, Chocopolis! Inside you could look behind a huge glass window to see them preparing the chocolates and forming them into beautiful designs. They also gave us a sample piece of chocolate which made our decision apparent that we HAD to buy some more chocolate there.

Brussels is famous for their fries, waffles, chocolate, and mussles.

ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS

Since they are known for chocolate and waffles, we figured that for lunch, we should eat them both together! A sweet waffle with chocolate, strawberries, and whipped cream!

BRUSSELS' RESIDENTIAL AREAS

I liked this statue, (even though I cannot read Dutch and have no idea whom she actually is) because the area around her combines the statue which is very old fashioned looking and puts her in a more contemporary setting. It made me think of Michelangelo's quote "All art was once contemporary," which is also written on the Ufizzi in Florence.

MENNEKEN PIS

We then made a visit to Manneken Pis (Dutch for little man urinating), also known in French as the petit Julien, a famous Brussels landmark. It is a small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin. It was designed by Jerome Duquesnoy and put in place in 1618 or 1619.

There are several legends behind this statue, but the most famous is the one about Duke Godfrey III of Leuven. In 1142, the troops of this two-year-old lord were battling against the troops of the Berthouts, the lords of Grimbergen, in Ransbeke. The troops put the infant lord in a basket and hung the basket in a tree to encourage them. From there, the boy urinated on the troops of the Berthouts, who eventually lost the battle... strange.

INSIDE A REAL GODIVA CHOCOLATIER

BUSY STREETS OF BRUSSELS

GORGEOUS ARCHITECTURE

BRUSSELS BREWERY TOUR

Later in the afternoon we took a tour of the last brewery still in business in Brussels. The whole factory was very cold and filled with spider webs, unlike other breweries I have seen back in the United States.

LEARNING HOW TO PACKAGE THE BEER INTO BOTTLES

AGING PROCESS

The tour was very interesting and they let us sample two different types of beer at the end, but both were extremely bitter and I only had a sip!

A VIEW FROM THE TOP OF BRUSSELS

After this, we had a long delicious dinner in Brussels, grabbed our bags and headed to the train station to make it to Antwerp, Belgium before it got too late! Ciao Ciao.