Belgium’s Capital - Brussels

Remarkably, we have been here for over a month but it has taken us this long to make our way to Brussels, just a short 45 minutes from Mons. We took the train (a relief for poor D, he finally didn’t have to drive to a location!) and it was nice to enjoy the countryside. We choose to go on a day that the city had shut down traffic to the inner city – meaning that the entire city center was a pedestrian walking zone. Naturally, there were arts/crafts dealers set up to take advantage of all the additional people – and there were a TON of people.

Again, the Grand Placee was beautiful. I feel that I am a bit of a broken record, but with a gorgeous blue sky, the old style buildings with gold leaf statues, and the copper decorations, it make quite an impression. Then when you add good food and street performers in a festival atmosphere, and it is a fantastic place.

Now, interestingly enough, the national symbol of Belgium is a statue of a boy peeing into a small pool – it is a fountain (naturally) and you can imagine from where the water flows. The name of the statue is Manneken Pis. This fountain is just a few blocks from the Grand Place so after a quick snack from a street vendor, we followed the crowd up to take our picture of this lovely statue. The Belgians have a sense of humor – they dress up the statue at times in one of the over 700 costumes that have been made for it. We were fortunate to be there on a costume day.


The current statue is made out of bronze and has been there since 1619, however the original Manneken Pis was made of stone and has its origin from the 14th century. The story behind this irreverent statue is, as the tour book says, “lost to legend: some say he’s modeled on a boy who extinguished a fire, others say he was a nobleman’s son.” Either way, it is an unusual mascot (Mons has a monkey…, I will write on him later. Seriously, I am not making this stuff up.)


After our visit of the fountain, we decided to check out the EU sector of town. Brussels is the headquarters or capital of the European Union. [For those interested, the EU is an economic and political union made up of countries stretching from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean Sea. It is a unifying organization that allows Europe to speak with one voice on valued issues, such as environment, security, etc. The 1990’s were a huge turning point in the Maastricht treaty, which made way for the single currency, the Euro, as well as a close cooperation on foreign and security policies. They also signed the Schengen agreement that allowed for the virtually borderless Europe that we know today – the free movement of people, goods and services throughout member states. If you want to learn more, go to www.europa.eu.int.] This is normally a busy and highly trafficked area, but with no cars allowed in, it was eerie how quite it was. There were a bunch of bicyclists to look out for, which kept us busy, but that was it. It was quite different than the other cities that we have visited in that it had a very modern, sky-scraper aspect to it, very un-european.


We made our way down to the Parc Cinquantenaire which had an open air concert going on. Just past it was what I really wanted to see, a prime example of Art Nouveau. This house, know as Maison Cauchie (the Cauchie Home) was built in 1905 by painter and architect Paul Cauchie and is Brussels most stunning example of an art nouveau façade. I have really enjoyed seeing the art nouveau buildings, furniture and paintings in Europe. I understand better now why it is such a popular period, the art is beautiful and unlike other periods, it has a contemporary flare that makes it “in fashion” even now, 100 years later.


After admiring this lovely house, we trudged our way back to the train station. We had done a lot of walking so we had to struggle to stay awake on the train ride home. Another lovely adventure for the Avillas.