Monday, September 27th:
Josh, Theo, and I had a delicious breakfast at our hotel and then met our tour guide in the lobby of our building. She was a very nice local lady, who knew a lot about Brussels!
Our first stop was the St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral. We walked around the outside before heading into the 500 year old building.
The interior is a classic Brabantine Gothic style, except for a few chapels and a very gaudy baroque style pulpit.
I have mixed feelings about baroque. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. This pulpit is just too over the top for me.
After leaving the cathedral, we headed up to the Rue Royale. We walked on this street, along the Brussels Park, to the Royal Palace. The flag was up which means the king was there and working.
We then walked to the Royal Square.
[West side of the Royal Palace with a statue of Godfrey of Bouillon]
We then headed down to the bottom of the Mound of Arts, passing the Musical Instruments Museum and a large carillon.
[Musical Instruments Museum]
[Giant clock carillon]
We kept heading down the hill and arrived at the Mary Magdalene Chapel. This 13th century church was constructed on top of another sanctuary that was built by the Knights Templar (or so we were told).
As we made our way towards the "Mayor Statue Central Square" it started to rain.
We ducked into the Royal Gallery for a few minutes and then decided to walk down the Rue des Bouchers (Butcher Street). This beautiful historic street is lined with restaurants and is a great place to come at night if you are looking for some authentic Belgian food.
We then walked pass the Opera House and the Place de Brouckere. The buildings to the left are being renovated, but the façades are being left as they are because they are protect as historic buildings. It's expensive to renovate, but they want to preserve their history.
It started pouring rain, so we quickly made our way down Anspach Rd to the old Stock Exchange Building. This large building is undergoing a huge renovation where it will be turned into a "Beer Sanctuary" (according to our tour guide).
We then made our way to the Grand Place. Our tour guide started telling us about all the guildhalls when my parents showed up! YAY! They made it!
[Guildhalls]
[Town Hall]
[Bread House]
[Town Hall]
We then walked down to our final stop: Manneken Pis! Even though it was cold and rainy, he was still out there peeing in the fountain.
We all then headed back to the hotel where we came up with a plan. Josh would take Theo back to the room and put him down for a nap, while I take my parents around town and showed them all the things we just saw on the walking tour. Luckily for us, the rain stopped right when we got back to the hotel.
We headed to the St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral first and then to the Royal Palace. We saw the guards marching around outside, so we decided to cross the street and get a better look.
We zigzagged through the city until we ended up back at the old Stock Exchange Building. We were getting hungry so we got some frites with mayo and a waffle with Nutella and strawberries. They were so good! People who eat mayo with their fries are my kind of people!
We then went back to the hotel to pick up Josh and Theo.
[Classic small elevators in Europe]
The sky was clear and blue, so we headed back out into the city to look for chocolate! We stopped by Neuhaus (since 1857). Jean Neuhaus Jr was the first person to put fillings inside chocolates and we are glad he did!
[Neuhaus is known for their champagne truffles and their triangle-shaped filled chocolates]
We got a variety of chocolates and they were all delicious!
We then walked back to Grand Place to take pictures while it was sunny.
[House of the Dukes of Brabant]
[Town Hall]
[Bread House]
[Guildhalls]
Our tour guide mentioned that a lot of restaurants will serve a "Belgium highlights plate" where you can try a few different classic Belgian foods all at once. We found a restaurant close to Grand Place that offered this, so we decided to give it a try. Josh and I both got the "Trip Belge" and it was perfect! The dish came with beef carbonnade (beef stew), Liège meatballs (meatballs in an apple and onion gravy), and Vol-au-Vent (a puff pastry filled with sauce and chicken [it was similar to a chicken-pot-pie]) with a side of Belgian frites with mayo (of course)!
Everything was delicious, but my favorite was the meatball in the gravy sauce.
[Dad got the mussels]
[Theo is pretty happy as long as he can be near his dada and play peek-a-boo barn]
After dinner we headed back to the Grand Place. The buildings looked really cool when they were all lit up!
[Gang's all here!]
We tried our best to stay updated on Hurricane Ian as it approached the US as a Category 4. Even Disney World was closing for the day, so you know it's a legit storm!
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