Brussels

We shot over to Brussels on Sunday for a mere 24 hours to check out the sights.  When our friends here would pipe in with their opinions and recommendations on Belgium, almost EVERYONE would say "Oh gosh, I LOVED Bruges...it's SO much better than Brussels."  And to that I have to say...well, yeah.  But you're comparing apples to oranges and they are completely different cities.  Bruges is a cute old town with canals and beautiful architecture cafes and squares around every corner and Brussels is a bustling metropolis that houses the EU and tons of international businesses and everything else you'd find in a huge city.  But I did like Brussels - though I don't think you'd need more than 24 hours there.  Here are some pics!

We had a sunny seafood lunch at a cute cafe under the shadow of a big beautiful church!  Mussels in Brussels!
Confessions: I consider myself an adventurous eater but I don't love shrimp with their heads and eyes still attached.  SO SUE ME!

Brussels also has a big square, the Grand Place, and it's hailed as the "biggest landmark in Brussels."  The architecture is ornate and pretty magnificent.  It's surrounded by...what else?  Cafes and beer gardens!
This is Town Hall, topped with a statue of St. Michael slaying a demon.  Yikes.

The many guildhalls all around the Place.

Guildhalls + Cafes.  La la la.

The Maison du Roi ("The King's House") or the Broodhuis ("Breadhouse").

So...this is a very famous fountain statue called Manneken Pis.  It's a little boy peeing.  People go nuts for this statue.  They also have a woman peeing elsewhere, called Jeanneke Pis, and I took picture but its just too crass to post.  Weirdos.

Here's a life sized version of Manneken Pis, holding a Belgian waffle.

Delirium is a type of Belgian beer, and they have their own beer hall in Brussels!  We spent quite a bit of time here.

Cutie with a brew.

Bonjour.

Cool ceiling decor.

A sampling of beers.  Ooohh yeah.

Raspberry beer!  Interesting but good.  Unlike a cider, it just tasted like...a fruit beer!  Weird. 

The funny bartenders holding up their beer goggles - pint glasses with magnifying glasses on the end.  Silly Belgians.

Pic taken by a set of Canadian gals we made friends with.

Drew and a bicycle-riding cat.  WTF.

Drinks at Le Roy d'Espagne.

Blue Chimay - this stuff is STRONG.  But good.

Dinner at Restaurant Vincent, recommended by one of our pals!  It's basically a traditional French bistro - I'd highly recommend it too!

House salad.  Why do I take pictures of this stuff?  And more importantly, why do I post these pictures?
Because I'm a food pornographer.  That's why.  Dangit!

Mushroom toast - sooo good.

Filet au poivre for Drew - this peppercorn sauce was a dream come true and now I've made it my mission to try every peppercorn sauce offered across Europe.  SO RICH.  SO DELICIOUS.  SO HELP ME GOD.

And lastly, my main course: the steak tartare.  I ordered the Filet Americain, thinking it was just a filet, though I'd toyed with the idea of getting the tartare anyway.  "When in Belgium.." and all that jazz.  So the waiter told me what it actually was and I WENT FOR IT.  It was...interesting.  Rich.  Had the texture of a really thick guacamole.  Hmmm.

This was the little counter at which all the waiters would come and prep the food.  Cute.

The rare meat was a little too rich and red for us towards the end of the meal so we went home and moaned and groaned about our food choices.  But it was all delish and I'm glad I got it!

Last day: we wandered around the city parks, the EU, and headed back to Dubs.  I naively thought that the EU was like...one big large headquartered building, but it's actually a bunch of buildings all together.  Which makes a lot more sense.

City park/monument/museum.  I should tell you which one but I just don't have the energy to Google it right now.

Part of the EU!

More of the EU!

A really cool photography exhibit about different world events.

(Click my photos for bigger versions and you can actually see what they are.)

Brussels was cool.  Bruges was cool.  I'm glad we went, ate some good food, drank some good beer, spoke a little French, soaked up some culture, and checked another fun place off our ever-growing list!