Brussels - day two

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Sunday morning I woke up really early. Everyone else in my room was still asleep but given some of the girls had commented about lack of hot water the morning before I decided I would get up early and shower. After checking my email (which was quite difficult given the keyboard is completely different and even logging into my email was a challenge) I headed off to see some more of Brussels - this time while it wasn't raining. So I headed to Palais de Justice which was quite a hike. By the time it hit 9am I was able to jump on my sightseeing bus again and use the rest of my 24-hour ticket - this time when I was actually awake.

Went back the EU/EC, past lots of the embassies, several cathedrals and parks and also much of what I had seen the day before.

It hit lunchtime and after an infuriatingly long wait to even get served at a cafe I gave up and headed to a place that had pre-made sandwiches and waited there for almost as long. I forget how terrible service in Europe is sometimes - generally speaking there is absolutely no sense of urgency - even in places like McDonalds. So I had a dodgy baguette that wasn't particularly great before heading to the Cathedrale des Sts Michel and Gudule. They actually still hold services there and since I was there just after noon on a Sunday they were in the middle of a service. So I had a quick look, including at the basement/vault thing before deciding to leave. When everyone was walking into the cathedral they were doing the obligatory cross bow but having never really been a church person I did my best to sneak in and out unnoticed.

On my way out I noticed a sign to a free National Bank Museum so figured I might as well have a quick look. Didn't understand most of the signs but some were in English. I would never go to something like that if I had to pay but since it was free figured I might as well.

Then it was back to Grand Place where I visited the Musee de la Ville de Bruxelles - museum of the city I think - where there was no English captions on pretty much anything. Four years of high school French more than 10 years ago didn't really enable me to understand much - and I certainly do not understand Flemish either. However, what I did manage to understand was there was a lot of really really old artefacts and historical pieces. Wow. It didn't take a genius to figure that out!!

On the top floor though there was a Manneken Pis costumer exhibition. While I saw the statue the day before, I didn't notice any costume and when I looked back at my photos he was definitely naked. Anyway, turns out he has something like 500-600 costumes that he wears. Manneken Pis is basically this little tiny statue of a boy 'urinating.' There was a video showing in the museum which (thankfully) had English subtitled.

Despite obviously having been made in the 1980s or something, it did enlighten me slightly as to what this statue was all about. According to the video it is meant to capture the city's rebellious spirit. My guide book also told me that he has a 'sister' in the city which doesn't do much urinating and which no one knows much about (called Jeanneke Pis) and a canine companion called Zinneke Pis which is supposed to symbolise Brussels' irreverent spirit. Needless to say, having seen the 'iconic MP' I didn't bother with his sister or pet dog.

Since I was (again) nearly falling asleep watching the video which was really quite long, I headed to the Comic Museum - the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinee. This time I got given an English folder which was slightly more helpful than in the previous places. Anyway, turns out the Smurfs are 50 years old and there was a major exhibition all about them and how they came to be, along with Tintin which was created by a Belgium artist and lots of other comic artists I had never heard of. Museum itself was quite interesting and I did end up spending a little time there and in the gift shop.

Since it was quite late in the afternoon I headed back to the hostel before heading out at about 7pm for dinner and to see the city at night - particularly Grand Place as I had been told it looks a lot different. Ended up back at the hostel at about 10pm and headed downstairs to the bar with a few of the girls from my room as there was a 'reggae' evening with a live band - and Belgium beer. Still had a pretty early night though.

Will cover day three briefly in the next entry (likely to be short and probably boring) - but in the meantime I have uploaded more pics again to the following address:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1307468&l=a9f70&id=822333781

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