Since WORLDS pretty dominated our first go-around in Brussels, it was decided that since the return flight was (originally, thanks KLM) departing out of Brussels, we would get back a little earlier in the day, so that we could actually spend some time and possibly enjoy the city, aside from the few sparse hours spent after the semifinals were over.
Needless to say, it was a pretty relaxing day in Brussels after we managed to get into the city (Brussels’ own regional train is a little suspect too), as the mythical girlfriend and I were able to leisurely wander around without (as many) deadlines of things threatening to close on us so soon, as it was, once again, a Sunday afternoon.
The one downside I would have to say was that there was this one street seafood vendor that I really, really wanted to try. But upon arriving at their location, their entire building was steel shuttered up, with a paper sign on the walls stating that they would be closed from that particular point, until three days from then; so the bottom line was that I was denied the one thing I really wanted to eat in Brussels. 🙁
Otherwise, the rest of the afternoon and evening were pretty great. The mythical girlfriend and I wandered around downtown Brussels, which interestingly had most of the streets closed off to vehicles, leading to an environment that was easy to traverse, and without having to worry about street lights and crosswalks for a change.
Among the tourist sights we saw were the Grand Place, which was a magnificent plaza, surrounded on all sides by ornate buildings and what appeared to be a pretty grand looking cathedral. Admittedly, it threw me for a loop, because all prior pictures I’d seen of it had greenery; apparently such is placed there, and usually in the springtime. It was no less impressive to see and sit in, while enjoying more Belgian waffles.
And then there was the Mannekin Pis, otherwise known as “the peeing cherub statue.” Seriously, it’s really no big deal as it’s like a 17” tall statue of a cherub holding its bare wiener which coincidentally is a fountain spout, so it looks like it’s urinating. But for reasons unknown to me, it’s absolutely the biggest, highest demand, must-see destination in the entire city.
I’m not kidding, whenever seeking out any sort of tourist information in regards to Brussels, two destinations are mentioned on just about every single resource out there: the Grand Place, and Mannekin Pis.
Clearly, I was not the only person who had been swayed by the importance of seeing Mannekin Pis, because there was a point where I was looking on my phone at GPS to find out how close were to the peeing statue, and then the mythical girlfriend pointing out that the huge crowd ahead is probably where it was. And sure enough, was a huge crowd, tourists of all genders, races and ages, all gathered around a particularly fenced and well-secured corner of a building, where the tiny Mannekin Pis was standing, peeing into a fountain.
Either way, I’m glad I got to see what all the fuss was about, which in the end really wasn’t a lot of it. But I can say that I did see the Mannekin Pis, and if it’s the greatest landmark in all of Brussels, well consider it visited and seen.
And because it was so awesome the first time around, we made our way back to the Delirium Cafe, making it the only place on the entire trip, visited twice. We had Euros to burn, and no desire to switch our money back once we got back to the states. Frankly, there was little that would’ve been a better way to close out the trip to Europe than awesome beer in the company of my awesome mythical girlfriend.
