In one corner of the Grand Place, is a Museum of Chocolate. It contains three levels of information about the production of chocolate. In the bottom level is this person demonstrating how he makes bite-sized pieces of chocolate.
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Brussels Brussels is the capital of Belgium and also the unofficial capital of the European Union (EU). It is also often referred to the second international city in the world, as measured by the number of headquarters of international organizations. About a third of its 1 million inhabitants are foreigners, most of whom are either Islamic immigrants or civil servants, expat business people and diplomats working for the European Union, NATO, or one of the many other multinational institutions or firms that are located there. The city is officially bilingual (French and Dutch), but most everyone understands and speaks English. Our excursion began at the Maastricht Train station at 9:10 a.m., Saturday, January 25. By 9:55 a.m. we were leaving Liege, Belgium, and at 11:03 a.m., we had arrived at Brussels' Central Train station. The photos below are representative of central Brussels. |
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At the heart of the medieval center of Brussels is the Grand Place - the central market square. It is said to be the most beautiful square in the world as it is surrounded by 15th century Baroque guild structures. One of the more dominant buildings is the Town Hall, shown here. |
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The very tall tower of the Town Hall is a major element in the Brussels skyline. It can be seen from many places around the city as shown here. This photo also shows other characteristics of the city. |
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As you can see, the Town Hall tower is an impressive element of the skyline of Brussels. |
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This is the tower of the Town Hall looking down one of the very narrow streets that enter the square. It is too difficult to get a good picture of the tower and the building while you are in the square. |
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These are other buildings that border the square. All were built in the later years of the 1600s. |
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More buildings in the square. |
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Another building in the square. |
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Buildings that border the square and one of the narrow streets that enters it. |
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Just off the Grand Place is the Galeries Royales. It is a very long shopping area with shops on each side. |
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Coming out of the Galeries Royales, you come to this wonderful little street. It is known as the Petite Rue des Bouchers - street of the butchers. It is famous for the fact that every house in the street is a restaurant. |
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This is the other end of the street of butchers. |
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All along the street of butchers, restaurants exhibit some of their products (especially sea food and fish) in a rather spectacular fashion in front. Here the display is being created on a big pile of ice. |
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I don't know what to say about this popular tourist attraction near the Grand Place. Down one of the narrow streets away from the square is a large stone monument with a very small boy in it. You can see the little boy standing on the pedestal in the monument. When you look at the next photo, you can probably understand why this is called Manneken Pis. |
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Do you see what I mean?! |
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In one corner of the Grand Place, is a Museum of Chocolate. It contains three levels of information about the production of chocolate. In the bottom level is this person demonstrating how he makes bite-sized pieces of chocolate. |
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I would like this in my house. What you see coming out of the tube is nice warm chocolate. The wheel is spinning in the chocolate. In the upper left, you can see a hand of a person who dips crackers in the chocolate. then lets you eat it. If you think it tastes great, it did!! |
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To the west of the Grand Place is the Royal Palace. The Belgian royal family uses this address only on state occasions. When the Belgian flag is flying, as it is here, you'll know that the monarch is in Brussels. |
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This is the Cathedral of St. Michael and Gudule. It is located near the Central Train station and a rather short distance from the Grand Place. Its construction was begun in 1226. The next photograph shows the interior. |
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This photo gives you an idea of how massive this building is. It was huge and very beautiful. |
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This cluster of buildings is on the far northern fringes of the center of Brussels. They stand in stark contrast to the buildings in the center. These are rather new government and office buildings located along the west side of Jacqmain Boulevard. One of the buildings toward the back is the Brussels World Trade Center. You can just see the white letters (WTC) at the top right corner of the building if you look carefully. |