Day 6 - Brussels City Tour

Last night we asked the girl at the front desk if she would book the "hop on/hop off" city tour of Brussels for us. She said all we needed to do was walk over to the Palace of Justice and the bus would pick us up. So, that's what we did.
Palace of Justice.

So, just a little background on Belgium. In 1830, Belgium won its independence from The Netherlands. They asked Leopold Saxe Colburg Gotha to be their King. Thus, he became Leopold I. His son was interested in having colonies so he conquered the Congo. The son was King Leopold II. The next guy in line was Albert I. This king had to deal with World War I. In 1934, Albert I died and his son, Leopold III took over. Leopold III had to deal with World War II. He basically surrendered and was a prisoner in his own castle for the duration of the war.

When the occupation was over, the people blamed Leopold III for surrendering and in 1944, his brother, Prince Charles, was appointed regent. There was a huge stink and Leopold III transferred power to his son, Baudouin. Baudouin had no children and he died in 1993. Baudouin's brother, Albert became King Albert II. Albert's son, Phillipe, is the heir apparent. Phillipe and his wife have lots of children.

This monument is to the soldiers of World War I and World War II.
This was really cool. The view of the city from here was very nice but one of the things we noticed was this elevator (to the left). There's a parking lot at the bottom of this cliff(?) and this elevator brings people up from below. I think it's cool because it's outside. I'm sure the view coming up in the elevator would have been nice.
The next stop of the tour that we got off at was the parliament buildings. One of the buildings here houses the parliament of the European Nation.
This looks like a tribute of some sort to JFK. I guess the Europeans like him. We saw a similar tribute in Rome several years ago.
Waiting for the bus to pick us up.

This was a nice stop. We found a little cafe where we got croissants and coffee. That was fun.
This is the Arch of Triumph - the Belgian version.

The flag on the right is that of the European Union. This is in Cinquantenare Park. It was commissioned by Leopold II and completed in 1905 in time for Belgium's 75th anniversary of their independence.
John & I in Cinquantenaire Park
Arch of Triumph from the other side.
The fountain in front of the monument.
Amour in Belgium.
The next place we wanted to "hop off" was the Royal Palace. We should have taken the hint when the driver asked if we wanted to get of here. This was about a 10 minute stop. The bus was supposed to come by every 30 minutes. Right? This is where the King & Queen of Belgium work.
The flag on top signifies that the royal couple is in the city.
Well, the 30 minute wait for the next bus ended up being over an hour! Now, had we been smart and walked around the corner, we'd have seen more stuff. We were afraid we'd miss the bus and we weren't sure where we were in the city. When the bus finally did come by (stopping because some other suckers wanted to get off), we decided to stay on for the remainder of the tour.

Right around the corner was the Royal Square. The statue is that of Godfry, the leader of the first crusade in 1096. The statue was placed here in 1843.
This is the Atomium.

It was build for the 1958 World's Fair that was held in Brussels. You can go into the various spheres where there are different exhibits. There's a restaurant in the top sphere that is supposed to have an amazing view of the city.
In the part of the city called Bourse is the Stock Exchange. It looks a bit like the Pantheon in Rome.
The building was erected between 1868 and 1873.
The next stop was Laken where the royal family actually lives. Now this would have been a good place to get out and look around.
There's a park where there is a Chinese Pavilion and a Japanese Tower. Leopold II wanted to have exotic monuments in the park but they cost quite a bit of money and the project was never finished.
After the bus tour we went back to the hotel to rest. We were starving as we were too afraid to get off the bus for lunch lest we have to wait another hour or so to get back on. On the way back to the hotel we saw the waffle guy. It's a van parked on the corner of Avenue Louise and he sells Belgian Waffles. When in Belgium...get a waffle. They were good! No syrup needed.
Poor John. He was sick and I was dying to go walk around. He finally consented to walk over to the Grand Place and find dinner. I was navigating, once again, the old fashioned way: Via Map! I'm very proud of myself. As we were walking toward the Grand Place, we realized how close we were to our hotel earlier in day when we were waiting for the bus by the Royal Palace. So close! We could have even walked to the next stop!
This was one of the may Gardens in Brussels. On our way to the Grand Place. The spire in the background is where the Grand Place is. The spire is actually part of the Town Hall. Back in the 15th Century, Louis XIV used that same spire as a target when bombing the city.

Making our way to the Grand Place, we came across the Chappelle de Madaleine. It was a very pretty church.
John in front of the beer store.
When we finally made it down to Grand Place, my jaw just dropped. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The photos don't really do it justice. The town hall (above) dates back to the 1400s.
These are the guild houses. After Louis XIV bombed the city and pretty much wiped out the town square, the various guilds built their meeting houses here and basically built up the square once again. These house date back from about 1695. More info on these later.
More houses in the square. If you're facing the town square, these were the buildings to the left.
The House of the Dukes of Brabant.
The famed Mannekin-Pis.
We pulled over into a cafe for a coffee/wine break. We were sitting and just people watching when this kid came riding by. He can't be but 2 or 3 and he's already riding a two-wheeler! The parent was not far off. I think I was 8 or 9 before I could ride a two-wheeler. We were appropriately impressed by this kid.
St. Nicolas Church had this fabulous painting inside that I wanted to go and see. We made our way over there and found it to be closed. Bummer. However, right around the corner from this was a nice Italian restaurant. So, we found dinner.
Afterwards, we were strolling home back to the hotel and we happened to turn around when we got to the top of the garden and this is what we saw. Beautiful!