Brussels, Belgium

Brussels was one of those places I wanted to go if we had time.  Guess what?!? We did!!!  Yay!  :). We popped in, stayed a day, and popped out.  The only reason I wanted to go is because Belgium chocolate is my favorite chocolate.  Since we were so close to Belgium, why wouldn't we go?  Right?  it would practically be a sin not to.  lol.

The city is really nice (has more to offer than just chocolate, there are waffles too) and we had a great time!

We stayed just out side of the city center in a Jewish school.  There was two homes connected to make the school and one of them had a private room down stairs with a bathroom so they rent it out.  It was by cute and the lady running it was very sweet.  

After we checked in. We went our for our one day in Brussels. We got the the city and wanted to find the Grand Place but kept getting lost.  We stopped several times for directions and I swear everyone gave us a different answer.  They all said, "its right down this street and to the left (or right). Then you will run right into it." For the life of us we could not find it.  We must have walked around this thing at least a million times before we FINALLY found it.  When we walked into the center both of our jaws dropped. It was absolutely beautiful!  It was so big and grand there was no way a picture could capture it.  We tried, of course, but failed. I hope the pictures we did get captured some of how cool this place was. There was this one artisan I the middle who was selling his art work. He was really good and we considered buying one of his water colors but the one we liked was too big. Unfortunately, we didn't see one in his smaller collection we couldn't live without so we decided to pass on buying it and just enjoyed it while we were there.  

We walked around the Grand Place for a while and "accidentally" stumbled right into a Godiva shop.  As some of you know that happens to be my favorite chocolate :). Inside the shop smelled like heaven. The gentleman that helped us was very nice. He is from New Jersey but had to go to Belgium because he got into some trouble. (He didn't elaborate)  I asked him if he likes chocolate still and he said he doesn't.  He ate so much chocolate in the first couple months he worked there that he gained 20 lbs and now doesn't even like the smell of chocolate. Poor guy :(   He also told us this store was the first Godiva shop ever. What luck! We talked about the different chocolates and he gave us a few yummy samples which of course encouraged us to buy some more.  :). Praise God for chocolate! Then we headed over to visit the chocolate museum but it had just closed.  I was really bummed but very happy with the chocolate we did have.  

Since we were there, we thought we would go see the famously statue of the little peeing boy.  There were pictures and big plastics replicas of this boy everywhere; it is like their mascot.  Why?  I have no idea.  I remembered Kelly telling me about it once and how it was a lot smaller than she thought it would be and she was right. They make this huge deal over this little boy and the original statue is only maybe a foot and a half to two feet tall!  The plastic replicas are as tall as I am.  What in the world!?! After seeing the fountain we went to the waffle stand next door and enjoyed a fresh and warm Belgium waffle. 

In this city there was a lot of wall art. They have comics painted on random side walls.  It is an actual attraction.  They are all  labeled on the map so we walked around for a while to find them. Kinda a neat little scavenger hunt.  

When we had and enough walking we headed back to our little apartment and turned in.  The next morning we will leave for Aachen, Germany.

Look what we found in the train station :)  Totally random.

Another Church :)

Cute little building

The Belgium Stock exchange



The following are buildings in the Grand Place  Absolutely beautiful

 The very first Godiva shop opened in 1926

Enjoying our samples :)

Us at the peeing boy fountain. See, I wasn't kidding that he really is a small statue. 

We don't get the facination.  

The waffle stand right next to the fountain with a huge statue of the peeing boy eating a waffle.

 The first waffle we had was topped with strawberries , banana, chocolate, and whipped cream.  Unfortunately it was cold and a little stale, wo we had to try another one from the shop right next to the fountain.  :)  That one was much better!  The only strange thing was that they gave us these tiny, itty-bitty little forks to eat it with.  Really,they were useless and steve ended up having chocolate all over his face and hands.  lol

Random girl. . . modeling? There were two of them and one photographer. 

 A little questionable to me :)

 Some of the cartoons Comic Walls

 Another Church.  The bells were so nice to listen to :)

Happy day in Brussels!