We then passed another church (there were a lot of churches!)...the Church of la Chapelle or the Notre-Dame of la Chapelle Church. A chapel has been on this site since 1134, but has since been destroyed and rebuilt/remodeled numerous times...up until even as late as the 20th century. We then went to La Grand Place (more later).
On Sunday morning, we got up and took the double decker bus tour of the city. We saw the Royal Palace and L'Arc de Triomphe du Cinquantenaire...which I will talk about more later. We also saw: Pic 1) The European Commission (The Berlaymont building): Brussels is the seat of the European Commission as well as NATO. Pic 2) L'Atomium: The Atomium was built for the World's Fair of 1958. It was built to evoke the concept of the atom, which is the basis of all science dealing with the formation of matter. It has 9 "balls" that you can go up in and see amazing views of the city (unfortunately, we did not go up in them). Pic 3) The Chinese Summerhouse: Commissioned by King Leopold II after visiting the Paris Fair in 1900. All the exterior woodwork and verandah were made in Shanghai. Pic 4) The Japanese Tower: Represents a Buddhist pagoda (1901-1904). The entrance verandah matches the rebuilt porch of the "Tour du Monde" (World Tower) of the World Fair in Paris in 1908.
After the bus tour finished, we went to La Grand Place. La Grand Place was the city's first trading forum and dates back to the 12th century. All the buildings however were destroyed during the bombardments by the armies of Louis XIV in 1695. It took almost 5 years to rebuild, and today consists of beautiful gilded houses with their coats of arms and the Gothic Hotel de Ville that dates to 1402, and was the only building that survived the bombardments in 1695. La Grand Place is a large square and houses the world famous Flower Carpet (Tapis de Fleurs) every 2 years in August. The 1st picture is the La Maison du Roi (Kings House) which houses the town museum. No kings ever lived here, but in the 16th century it served as an administrative center where taxes where collected. Pictures 2 and 3 are just some of the many guildhalls. Picture 4 is the La Maison des Ducs de Brabant, or House of the Dukes of Brabant, built in 1698. The name comes from the 19 busts of the Dukes of Brabant decorating the base of the first-floor pilasters. Picture 5 is my friend Tammy and I in front of the L'Hotel de Ville (The Town Hall). Picture 6 is the t'Seerclaes, a sculpture of a patrician, who in 1388 was fatally wounded while defending the rights of his city. If you rub his polished bronze arm, it is said to bring you good luck. (I realize I am not rubbing his arm in the picture, but I did rub his arm.)
After the square, we walked over to the most well-known resident of Brussels...Manneken Pis...the statue of the little boy p*#^ing (hence the name ; ) According to legend, the little boy is supposed to have extinguished a fire, and saved the city. He is made of bronze and is actually pretty small, only 60 centimeters tall. He has over 750 costumes that he wears at various times in the year for various reasons/festivities. His wardrobe is kept in the Maison du Roi.
We then walked by the Le Palais Royal, or Royal Palace. The Royal Palace is actually two 18th century mansions joined together by King William I of Holland. It houses the offices of the royal family. Unfortunately, it is only open during the summer, while the royal family is gone. We also visited the Museum of Ancient Art.
Monday morning we got up and went shopping a little, and found out a lot of places are closed on Monday. We lastly ventured over to the L'Arc de Triomphe du Cinquantenaire. Originally only the two side wings were built to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Belgium's independence. It wasn't until 1905 that the three arches were added. On this site is also museums of art, history, the armed forces and the automobile.
Here are a few more various pictures I took along our walks through town. Pics 1, 2 and 3 are of the Le petit Sablon park (which was right across the street from our hotel). Pic 4 is La Bourse, or The Stock Exchange, the very first stock exchange. Pic 5 is the ruins of a former Franciscan monastery from the 13th century which used to stand on the site of the stock exchange. Pic 6 is of the Musical Instrument Museum, which houses over 7000 musical instruments from a large number of countries.
Overall, we had a great time. The weather was nice...cold, but sunshine everyday. I got to meet some new people in our overseas program and we had some pretty good food....including chocolates and belgian waffles!
