After arriving on Saturday we went to the grocery store and bought groceries for breakfast and dinners. We learned quickly why it was so busy at 5pm on a Saturday - most grocery stores aren't open on Sunday. We ate in and had a relaxed Saturday evening. However throughout the night we heard several groups of people who were having a great time, the last time I heard people was 4:30am. Needless to say, we've both had better nights of sleep.
On Sunday we went to the Musical Instruments Museum first. It was unique because we received an audio device that played the sound of the instrument you walked by. Next up we walked though BELvue Museum which gave a great overview of how Belgium was formed. Like America, it's pretty new too! Beneath that was the Coudenberg which was a palace from the 12th-15th (ish) centuries. After that, they demolished most of it and built a new palace on it. So we went under the new palace and walked through the remains. It was pretty cool but the first time I heard an underground train I got a bit spooked!
After that we followed the tourist to the Grand Place. Let me explain the Grand Place in three words: oh my gosh. This was the most beautiful square I'd ever seen (and by judging by the amount of other people simply gawking and taking pictures, it was pretty popular with other people too). The buildings were decorated gold and very elegant. Most importantly around the Grand Place there were several chocolatiers - this is Brussels, the home of Belgium chocolate! Clearly we had to sample a few different chocolatiers (Galler, Neuhaus, and Mary). We saw the Cocoa museum and got to sample different kinds of chocolate much to my delight.
| Grand Place! |
On Monday, we quickly learned that most museums and tourist attractions were closed. Our pass had a few options for a Monday so we took the train out east of town and visited AutoWorld. On our way to the museum from the train we walked by a juice shop, I wish I could've taken a picture of my excitement! AutoWorld was a well designed museum to showcase the evolution of cars. Even without being a car buff I could still appreciate the differences in each decade. After the museum we headed back to the Grand Place and had lunch. Rachel finally got her mussels and I got a cheese and tomatoe tart accompanied with a Belgium beer of course! We stopped by a few more chocolatiers on our way out but before we left we visited the Belgium Beer Museum. To be honest it was a very dismal museum but it allowed you to sample a beer on your way out. That was probably the high point of the museum :) The last thing on our agenda was to visit the Planetarium. Now ordinarily this wouldn't be on our list but since most museums were closed this was what was available with our pass. It was a short visit and we watched a show on the "Secret Lives of Stars" - it reminded me of something you would've seen at OMSI as kid. Right next to the Planetarium was the Atomium, an odd atom-like structure that was built for the 1958 World's Fair. It was cool to see but that was about it!
We headed back to the central city area where we stayed and called it a night. Off to Amsterdam in the morning - or so we hoped! The Belgium train workers union decided to have a strike during our visit and thankfully our train was neither canceled or delayed, unlike others.
Again - you won't find many pictures on my blog as I've had trouble posting on the tablet so here is a link to a share folder that I'll continually update with new photos (https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0IJtdOXmJuFtyh). In addition it will be much more up to date than this blog as I try to add new photos every other day.
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