Brussels

When we got back from Paris my sisters and brother-in-law went back to the US and my parents and I went to Brussels!  Brussels is the capital of Belgium.  Belgium is next to France, the Netherlands, and Germany.  Their official languages are French and Dutch but a lot of Belgium also speaks English and Flemish.  Belgium is also known for their waffles and chocolate so I was very excited to go and try it!  We ate a lot of chocolate and waffles but I think I liked the waffles better.

Brussels is also very famous for an odd little statue called "Manneken Pis" which pretty much translates to "boy peeing".  This little statue is also a fountain and has been repeatedly stolen.  The current statue is actually a copy from 1965.  The original is kept at the Maison de Rio which is in the Grand Place.

The Manneken Pis actually has many different costumes that it wears at different times of the year.  Unfortunately I was unable to see it dressed up but if I had gone there closer to Christmas I think this is what I would have seen.

The Grand Place is a square in the center of Brussels.  It is a very popular tourist destination.  It is about the size of an American football field.  At night we were walking through the square when all of a sudden all of the buildings start to light up in all different colors like a light show!  When the light show was over we started walking away again only to find out about a minute later that it wasn't over at all!  It happened all over again but this time with a mix of different music most of which sounded like classical songs!  It was awesome!  We think it might have been for the last day of the Christmas fair because we were walking through again the next night and nothing was going on.

This is the square diring the day.

 This is the square at night.

When we were in Brussels we decided to take a day trip to Bruges.  Bruges is about one hour away by train.  Bruges used to be an important trading center because it was close to the coast but then in the 1500s its harbor silted in and was no longer able to be used.  Now it is a very touristy place and some people even call it the Venice of Belgium because of all its beautiful scenery and canals.  Some also say that it is the best preserved Gothic town in Europe.

 This is one of the canals.

This is the Bruges main square (also called the Markt) at night.  I couldn't get a good picture diring the day because they were in the middle of taking down the Christmas fair.

We saw many things in Bruges but one of my favorite things to see was the Madonna and Child. The Madonna and Child is one of the sculptures by Michelangelo.  It is said to be the only statue of his to leave Italy during his lifetime.  The funny thing was that it was on the edge of the town in a church that had only one other person besides us in it so I guess it isn't very well known.