Brussels 1.5

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We got up from our naps around 3p.m. and decided to head in to the center of Brussels and see some sights. I'm not sure what all we saw, but a lot of it was beautiful. Our hotel is probably only a 20min-30min walk from Grand Place (the historic center/ square of brussels). On our walk though, we took the long way to stop and take a few photos of some beautiful looking places. .. More importantly though, we made a pit stop for some delicious frites (french fries) which are admittedly better over here, and what would be a big batch of fries without some mayonaise (also better over here)... I do not know the names of all these places ( what a useless blogger I make). However, some of the more breathtaking ones I do recall. For starters, the Royal Palace ( or something like that) was beautiful, it had a statue directly in front of it, and it seemed as if all roads looked up to it (or at least one in particular... see pics)... From the palace, we walked to the Brussels park, which was a great little park, it was cool and crisp and had an utterly calm smell about it, dont know how to describe it, but it was like a perpetual autumn day. In the park was a pretty cool fountain (see pics) and just on the other side of the park was the Belgian parlianment. From this we continued back to the Grand Place, and got quaintly detoured by an awe inspiring church (something not lacking in Europe); the St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral. We snapped a few pics of this beauty and headed to the Grand Place, only to take a quick detour at a bar called "The Office," an appropriately named place with its vicinity to Parliament and clearly business clientele. After a quick stella artois, off to the Grand Place... After all the build up of Grand Place, it lived up to the hype. It made for a great panoroma.. (sadly though some construction was going on so part of it was not visible, but that part seemed to not matter. After staring at the main building for so long, and assuming it was a church, and we inquire if we can enter it, only to find out it is City Hall!! And quite a city hall it was... Other buildings in this area include the Kings House and the Guildhall.... Well all in all a good day in Brussels, another blog post tomorrow chronicling our time in Brugges and Brussels at night (what a site for both of em)... enjoy

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Photos

Church
the beautiful church of St. Michael et al

Grand Place
one heckuva city hall

Frites!
Nothing washes down a twice fried french fry like mayo!!

Brussels
random photo

horse
just outside the royal palace

Random
a shot looking back towards grand place

Royal Palace
a shot of what i call the royal palace

Water
The fountain in the park

The House
A pic. of the Kings House

Guilds
various guild halls in the grand place