| BRUSSELS, BELGIUM |
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We didn't know what to expect in Brussels and we only had two days to find out. We ended up staying three days because we couldn't get the bus we wanted. Regardless it was a great time.
We got off the bus and tried to find a hostel. Unfortunately the first one we arrived at looked great but was full. Apparently the hostels are networked because he also told us all other hostels were full. We discovered later it was because we arrived on the weekend of Belgium's National Holiday. It was perfect. We just participated in the day and all the activities. Actually it saved us some cash. We ended up staying in an inexpensive hotel on a dodgy street call Hotel Aberdeen. Like I said, the street was bad, but the location and rooms were good. We even had our own bathrooms. (This is rare)
We started our first night with a wonderful dinner in the Grand Place, a beautiful square in the middle of tonnes of old buildings. There were canopied seating areas set up around the square. Our waiter let us know that the weekend was going to be kicked off with 5 marching bands performing. After dinner we found a spot to watch the show. Unfortunately it rained like crazy. The bands powered through, shortening their programs just a bit. We took refuge under the arcs of a museum bordering the square to watch.
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Our second day in Brussels was a Sunday. We weren't sure what was open so we slept in until 11am. A nice treat! Brussels is actually not that big. It is home to 970 000 people and it is only 55 sq. km. The areas we wanted to be in were all within walking distance. We had heard about a great market so that was our first stop of the day. It was huge. Tonnes of food, flowers and clothing. We ate Belgian Waffles!
After the market we bought some Belgian Chocolate and hit the streets for the day of festivities. The big photo above is of Manneken-pis. A famous statue of a little boy peeing. There is a legend about a rich man loosing his little boy. When he found him again, he was peeing on a wall. Hence the statue.
The boys fought fire in the streets, we watched streets performers and ate from vendors. There were so many people filling the streets. The party in the evening was right in front of the Royal Palace. There was entertainment and fireworks. We had a great seat in the middle of it all, right beside the beer gardens. The boys had some Belgian Beer and I got the excellent hat. Very fashionable I think, don't you agree?
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