Mussels in Brussels

Well as most of my readers know I have been fairly busy over the past month or so. Despite moving to a part-time position at Sherfield School the end of the school term proved to be quite hectic. The reason? Reports!! My first time on these and already I don't want to repeat it - ever! And unfortunately for me, despite moving to part-time I still had to write up reports for my former Primary classes (as well as my continuing RE classes). Suddenly all those glum teacher faces at the end of an Australian school semester make a whole lot more sense.

I have also recently moved - to Oxford! I am hoping to spend 4-6 months in this place of classical English learning soaking up the atmosphere and hopefully emerging as something like this:

Of course some voices I can remember from my youth might expect me to end up more like this:

Publishing books like this:

:) :) :)

Anyway, moving right along. In my last post I described the beginnings of my journey into the environs of Brussels and meeting up with my friend, former flatmate and travelling companion Pria.
The plan Pria and I had agreed on was to stay in Brussells overnight (October 21st) and head to Luxembourg City the next day. In essence this meant that we took it easy with Brussells. We weren't there to do a major exploration, focusing instead on a few key places and just a general "wander around".
Our "wander around" on the night of the 21st focused on exploring the central part of the city. And "wow" it is a great city to explore. Brussels combines some of the best elements of European city exploration - superb architecture, cosmopolitan environs, cobbled streets and fine dining.
Our 'fine dining' began with some world famous Belgian waffles (well that's what the shop sign claimed anyway): and ended with:

The similarly world famous, "Mussels in Brussells"

And whatever I was eating, some mystery dish or other - I really can't remember...

In between these culinary delights Pria and I managed to gape in awe at the architectural equivalent of a "meal of meals". In this case, a "square of squares", the Grand Place -

"One of the most beautiful town squares in Europe, if not in the world"

Yes, even over St George Square in Brisbane...

The Grand Place is the central market square of Brussells surrounded by various guild houses, the Town Hall and the Breadhouse.
Grand Place Tower

I can only emphasize that you have to be there to really experience the majesty of the Grand Place. In my imperfect words I would describe it as the perfect expression of differently blended architecture - the Gothic, Baroque and Louis XIV styled buildings truly do form a greater whole.

What else did we do that night?

We rubbed a Saint for luck (you can see the worn bits where people have been doing this years)
Video exists of Pria and I doing this in the proper Brussells way (us tourists were shown how by a jovial old local). Said video can be purchased for $9.99 by e-mailing me or by calling at all good retail outlets.

Pria conned me into this photo with a local Terry Prachett character Act:

In the dark we witnessed and heard the unofficial mascot of Brussells, The Mannekin Pis, doing his thing:


The next day Pria managed to get a photo with an Australian flag in front of this "naughty little boy". I should also mention that Pria had brought along a Bronco's Teddy Bear mascot for his world trip (with a shot taken of it in each city visited). The bear's Brussels shot was of course the Mannekin Pis...

This one still puzzles me I have to admit, anyone understand the reference here?

The day of October 22nd consisted of some wider wanderings for Pria and myself. The almost quaint trains of Brussels took us to the Atomium, a 103 metre tall representation of an Iron Atom. We also dropped off into the nearby environs of mini-Europe which contains replicas of the great buildings of each country in the EU. Well almost, some of the newer EU countries had a little catching up to do on their exhibits (Hungary had an empty lawn as its exhibit for example). Perhaps most amusing for me though was the sight of 'giant ducks' playing around the buildings. Watch out Parisians, the Giant Ducks are coming - flee!

Being the herioc adventurers that we are Pria and I of course went to the top of the Atomium.

The rest of the day was spent wandering around central Brussels again. A variety of requisite sculptures, gardens, parks, churches and cathedrals caught our attention. But really, I shouldn't underplay just how pleasurable it is to wander the city and examine these various nooks and crannies. The church buildings particularly stand out. Witness the wonderful exteriors, enter for a sense of the awe and mystery of the divine. Candlelight interiors offset the vaulted ceilings inside. The paintings, glassworked windows and statues combine in sometimes wonderous patterns of craftmanship.

And that's just the everyday stuff. We also strolled the Royal Park, witnessed the staunch majesty of the Royal Palace (yes, that's another palace for me) and gazed with some level of amazement at the Palace of Justice - one of the largest buildings in the world in the 19th Century. Much we missed also - the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the Notre Dame Church of Laken (the burial site of Belgian Royalty), the Royal Residence and of course much more.

The Palace of Justice in the distance.
Above, a rather poor shot of the Royal Palace of Brussels.

Well that's the Brussels story almost over, though I should mention that Pria and I made sure to have a final ultimate waffle (loaded with chocolate, cream, banana and strawberry - yummy).

A 4 hour train journey into heart of Luxembourg, one of the smallest countries in the world, awaited us next.