Day 9 - Brussels

Today was our last full day in Europe. We decided to take it easy and spend the day wandering around Brussels. There were so many things I wanted to see but I knew that we wouldn't have time or energy to see them all so we picked things we could see that were within walking distance. The first stop was the Sablon Church (Our Lady of the Sablon).
The was initially a chapel built in 1348 by the guild of Archers. It became a pilgrimage site in 1348 when a woman claimed to have a vision of the Holy Mother. The chapel was transformed into a Gothic church from the 1400's to the beginning of the 16th century.

The church used to be surrounded by houses until about the 19th century when the houses were demolished during the urbanization projects of King Leopold II.
This is one of the beautiful stained glass windows in the church.
I'm not sure what this little statue represents as far as the rowboat but I liked it.
The altar.
The next place we went to spend time was the Grand Place. This is the King's House or Maison du Roi which now houses the Museum of Brussels which shows the history of the city. We went into the museum, which was pretty cool but no pictures allowed. One of the things that the museum had was an exhibit of all the outfits that had been donated to cloth the Mannekin-Pis.

After the French bombardment, the building was restored enough to keep it standing. In 1860, the Mayor of Brussels convinced the city to buy the building. It was torn down and completely rebuilt in this gothic style.
We stopped in a cafe to try another Belgian waffle. (Here they're just called waffles). These things are meals by themselves. You can get them with pretty much anything on them. We each got one that had fresh strawberries and chocolate syrup. It was very good but very rich. There was a bit too much chocolate for me. (I never thought the day would come when I'd think there was too much chocolate on anything!). We thought this would just be a little snack. We were STUFFED!
Back out into Grand Place, we stood in the middle of the square and just read the Frommer's book as to what all the buildings were. This building is House of the Dukes of Brabant. There are actually seven mansions behind this single facade.
On the building are 19 busts of the Dukes of the duchy of Brabant.
This house is No. 9 and is called Le Cygne because of the Swan above the door. It dates back to 1698 and from about 1720 was the butcher's guildhouse. It is currently a restaurant called La Maison du Cygne. Very original.
This next house is No. 10 and is called the Golden Tree. This is the headquarters of the Brewer's guild. It also houses the brewery museum. On top of the Brewer's Guild is a guilded statue of Duke Charles of Lorraine. It was built in 1901.
This is the town hall. It dates back to 1402. We wanted to take the tour but it's only offered on Tuesdays.
The spire of the town hall is what King Louis XIV used as a target to bomb the city back in 1695. He destroyed most of the square but the spire and town hall walls were only slightly damaged.
The statues above the entry of the town hall.
The center statue above the town hall entry is of St. Michael slaying a dragon.
Another view of the guilded statue of Duke Charles of Lorraine...with someone's head almost blocking the view.
The guild houses in Grand Place.
Grrr.. This is supposed to be a shot of the Fox, which you can see right above someone's head...
At the very far left is No. 7. This is Le Renard or the Fox. It was the guildhouse of the Haberdashers.
There are reliefs in the building of typical haberdashery tasks as well as a statue of St. Nicholas on the top.
This is the top of No. 6, Le Cornet. Above the door is a relief of a horn. This was the boatman's guild house. The top of the building (above) looks like the back end of a ship. It would have been easier to see had I not zoomed in so close. Unfortunately, I didn't see the resemblance when I was actually taking the picture.
This is the doorway over No.5 which is called La Louve (She-wolf). This is the image of Romulus and Remus being suckled by the she-wolf. This building used to be the Archer's guild house.
This one is called La Brouette or the Wheelbarrow. It's No.3. The lower floors of the building actually survived the bombardment of 1695.
The top of the building has a statue of St. Gilles who is the patron saint of the guild.
Nos 1 and 2 make up Le Roi de Espagne (the King of Spain). This was the Baker's guild and dates from 1697.
The gilded weather vane on the cupola of La Roi de Espagne.
The figure on top of the building are those of Marcus Aurelius, Nerva, Decius and Trajan.
The next place I wanted to see was St. Nicholas church. The inside was supposed to be beautiful. This is one of the oldest churches in Brussels, built back in the second half of the twelfth century. It was dedicated to St. Nicholas, the patron saint of traders. The inside was beautiful but no pictures. I lit a candle for my dad.
Walking back toward the hotel we stopped to check out a statue of Albert I of Belgium.
This is an exhibit by Javier Marin.
John at the foot of the steps of a really beautiful garden. In the background is Royal Square.
This place is called Old England. It was built in 1900 and has recently been renovated. It will eventually house the museum of musical instruments.
The Royal Square.
A close up of the statue of Godfrey of Bullion, who led the first crusade back in 1096.
This is the waffle guy. He parks his van right on the corner near our hotel and sells waffles. He's got like two or three waffle irons in there. This is where we bought our first waffle. It was yummy!

So ended our last day in Belgium.