Today, our European journey that has no official plan, began.
We opted to take the train in to town, and what a great call that was. We exited the Central Station, and our hotel was about 150 ft in front of us. As it turns out, our hotel location has been perfect for our stay.
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| View of the vibrant Foodsquare Grand Place, from our hotel room window. |
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| It's hard enough to get Fin out of the shower, but add a seat in the mix, and you may never leave the hotel! |
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| Funky Statue, of a fella with a wicked beard. Our hotel is the building on the right. |
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| A couple of lovely ladies in Brussels. |
We have very fond memories of Belgium from our visit to the wonderful city of Bruges in 2013
http://thefroginthewell-europe2013.blogspot.ca/2013_04_03_archive.html. During that trip, we fell in love with all things Belgian. These people do it up right, pastries, chocolate, food, beer, and fantastic architecture.
About a 90 second walk from our hotel, is the visually stunning heart of Brussels, the Grand Place. The square is surrounded by ornate 17th century Flemish Renaissance guild houses. The Hotel de Ville was the first of the buildings to be erected in the 15th century. The French attacked the town in 1695, and many of the buildings were destroyed by three solid days of canon fire.
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| The grey building is the Maison Du Roi (King's House). It is now home to the Museum of the city of Brussels. |
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| This drab building, is the Hotel de Ville. It is still used today as a town hall, and for civic functions. It dates back to the 15ht century, it was the only building to survive the 1695 attack by the French. |
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| La Maison des ducs de Brabant. |
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| I've just learned that there is a statue near the gery arch in the centre of this picture, in honour of fellow, Everard't Serclaes, who was murdered in 1388 trying to defend Brussels. Apparently it brings luck to those that touch the arm of his statue. I know where I am going one more time before we leave town... |
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| We were in Brussels for no more than 15 minutes before the first waffles were purchased. |
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| I can't decide if these fellas are infinitely cooler because of the graffiti, basically hey are bad ass steer with lots of ink. |
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| Cathédrale Sts-Michel-et-Gudule. Henry I, Duke of Brabant began construction in 1226, and the project wasn't completed for another 300 years. I thought builders in Calgary were slow.... |
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| We took a stroll through the Parc De Bruxelles. This part of town has a very different feel, everything is very symmetrical and the streets have very militaristic marching route feel about them. The park was nice, but I am sure it shows much better in full bloom. |
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| Palais Royal, is the official home of the Belgian monarchy. Man, Europeans complain that houses in North America are big... |
After our walk around town, we were pretty beat, so we headed back to the hotel for a break. You all know what that means on your first day of travel to a European destination.... It's near impossible to find the energy to go back out. So while the kids rested (by rested I mean full on sleeping by Fin), Stacey and I took a walk to find a grocery store to grab a few snacks. Along the way, we took a few pics of the Grand Place, and of this amazing looking sweets shop.
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| The Hotel de Ville. Apparently the 315 foot spire is crooked. Skid. Rebuild! |
And with that, we conclude our first day in Brussels. We loved what we saw, and we look forward to the next two days.
