I made it here to Brussels this morning after one of those typically awful Air Transat flights full of screaming babies, fasten-seatbelt-turbulance lockdowns, arctic-level freezing cabin temperatures, and maybe 15 minutes of sleep, if that. I was tired this morning, exhausted by this afternoon and right now I’m hovering somewhere between overtired and incoherent. But must… fight… temptation to sleep! I’m determined to get onto local time as quickly as possible, and that means staying up all day and evening.
Luckily, I’ve had plenty of help in this mission to resist sleep. Marie and Yannic picked me up at the airport this morning and we headed to their apartment, located in a student area just east of the city centre. It’s a very cute top-floor apartment with a great view off the balcony, and it’s also walking distance from the metro, making it very convenient as a base. First stop was the local supermarket, where I had fun browsing at the different brands of food and the selections in the beer and chocolate aisles while we food-shopped for the week.
After lunch, we set out for downtown Brussels to explore. We started in the Upper Town, heading first to Rue de la Loi so Marie to a very important landmark: Marie’s office. From there, we walked up to Parc de Bruxelles, the large public park in the middle of Brussels that leads to the Royal Palace. The area is full of museums, beautiful architecture, embassies from various countries, and important government buildings including the Parliament and the Town Hall, both of which we stopped at. Onto the Palais Royal from there, where we convinced Yannic to go in and take a look, only to decide against because they were insisting on confiscating our cameras. Yeah, nobody trusts anyone anymore. I’ll probably go back and take a peek inside sometime later this week, though. We did, however, go into the nearby Belvue Hotel Museum, which has an extensive exhibit on Belgian modern history dating from independence in 1930 to the present. I’m not that much of a museum person, but this was the perfect intro to Belgium, since it will allow me to put the rest of the week’s sights and facts into context. Underneath the museum, we also visited the archaeological site of the Ancien Palais de Bruxelles de Coudenberg, which consists of the excavated ruins of the old palace that destroyed by a fire in 1731 and razed to build the present-day version right on top of it.
After we were all historied- and museumed-out, we headed down to the Lower Town and walked up to Brussels’ defining landmark, the Grand Place. Historically, the Upper Town was French and housed the aristocracy, and the Lower Town was Flemish and housed the working people. The Grand Place is the main square of Brussels, and contains some of the most lavish architecture and most stunning views of any European city. Most of the buildings date back to the 14th century but were destroyed by fire in 1695 and subsequently rebuilt. Of course, today there are loads of tourists, and everything that goes along with them, such as fancy hotels, expensive shops, and – seeing as how it’s Belgium – lots and lots of chocolate. I could tell right away that my chocoholic side was not going to be disappointed by Brussels. It was after 4pm by then, and Yannic’s biological clock was telling him that it was snacktime. So we got some authentic (Belgian) waffles – mine smothered in chocolate, of course.
The afternoon downtown made for a great intro to the city and, indeed, to the country, and I’m glad I have all week to explore.
Dinner’s nearly ready, and then we’re heading to Leuven for a festival this evening. I’ll update more when I get a night’s sleep, but meanwhile, enjoy the photos.