Monday, August 20, 2018

Fighting the Cobbles - My trip to Belgium in 2018, Part 16 - In Brussels (9)



Monday, June 25, 2018
  
   Leaving the Grand Place and the many visitors I found the Manneken Pis (little pee man in Flemish), the statue of a young boy urinating into a basin of the fountain, not far away. Already designed in the 17th (!) century by J. Duquesnoy the Elder (1597-1643), the statue became an institution, a 'must' for every visitor. 
   When I arrived there were some people so I took the obligatory picture but mounted my telephoto lens first. The little man stands only 61 cm tall and all photographers zoom in to let it 'grow' for the photo. As some might know there is a different costume for every day or occasion, there is even a museum showcasing the clothes of the original naked boy. Why the boy was dressed in obviously Dutch clothes was beyond my knowledge...
   Beside the fountain are different waffle shops showing the small boy seemingly made out of chocolate in larger sizes. For anyone disappointed about the original statue can take photos of the models in front or in the shops. 
   I walked back to the Grand Place and enjoyed some quiet moments there. It is amazing how much work and money goes into the buildings to keep them for the world to see...
   From there I walked to the Boulevard Anspach, the main road between the Place Rogier in the north and the South or Midi train station. The road was still rebuild when I walked along and came to the Brussels Stock Exchange or 'Bourse De Bruxelles' in French. Behind the dry word 'stock exchange' stands actually a quite stunning building erected from 1868 to 1873; mixing elements of the Neo-Renaissance and Second Empire architectural styles. It has an abundance of ornaments and sculptures, created by different famous artists of this time.
   Beside the fountain are different waffle shops showing the small boy seemingly made out of chocolate in larger sizes. For anyone disappointed about the original statue can take photos of the models in front or in the shops. 
   I walked back to the Grand Place and enjoyed some quiet moments there. It is amazing how much work and money goes into the buildings to keep them for the world to see...
   From there I walked to the Boulevard Anspach, the main road between the Place Rogier in the north and the South or Midi train station. The road was still rebuild when I walked along and came to the Brussels Stock Exchange or 'Bourse De Bruxelles' in French. Behind the dry word 'stock exchange' stands actually a quite stunning building erected from 1868 to 1873; mixing elements of the Neo-Renaissance and Second Empire architectural styles. It has an abundance of ornaments and sculptures, created by different famous artists of this time. 
   Covering a large distance on my 2nd day in Brussels I've decided to head back to the hotel. There were still many things to discover beside the road, some buildings were decorated with large sized famous Belgian cartoons which caught my attention.

   Back to the hotel I've discovered that all beds with all furniture of my room were dismantled and my luggage in between. I went to the reception and they told me that the room will be redecorated and they arranged a new room for me. So I went back, packed my things and moved into the new room.
   It had true bunker beds with curtains like on ships which gave the room a very comfy and private atmosphere. I choose a bed on the 1st floor, bed no. 6 on the picture. The pillow case, the sheet cover and mattress cover all were prepared, so I started to work on my bed. It was a little awkward to get in but I had a 220 V outlet right beside my pillow which I used for charging the batteries of my cell phone and camera.

   I felt great in this bed but decided to a nice shower first. Later I would meet some other roommates but, as mentioned, I have the experience that this generation is very interested in their smartphones and neither want to communicate and nor reveal much about themselves. 
   Tomorrow I will start my walking part of the trip. Originally I planned to take my bike on a nice tour to Namur, a beautiful city and great destination south of Brussels. But the bike did not work out so I decided to make the same tour but to walk instead. Some people might wonder why to bother but Belgium is a very reasonable place, there are not many mountains on this tour and the route seemed to be manageable. I planned to see the country side while walking step by step to discover new places and people. I did not have a map but rode some name places in my notebook which would be enough...
   For today I would sleep early and prepared myself for a trip covering roughly 5 days with around 100 km by foot starting tomorrow.
   But first I closed my curtains, put my head on my pillow and had a good night's sleep. 

(to be continued @ 



Disclaimer: I traveled Belgium by myself, I am not sponsored by anyone. Interested subscribers and/or followers in traveling an in this small but beautiful country are more than welcome! If not convenient to subscribe on Blogger.com, I've started my own homepage @ https://gerhardwanninger.wixsite.com/travel

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