Brussels (23rd December 2009 - 25th December 2009) | His Thots? Her Thots? My Thots?

I'm going to celebrate my Christmas with my new found boyfriend, Manneken Pis. Don't disturb us...

***** Butterflygal's Trip Update *****

The trip to Brussels was much more smooth-sailing although the same cannot be said for its navigation as I simply cannot decipher Brussels street names. But I have to admit Brussels can be quite vibrant…

A visit to the Grand’Place (Grote Markt) is the first thing we did as it is where the tourist centre is haha. It is like a central area in Brussels and has its fair share of tourists and locals too who will come down to join in the festive mood. Afterall there is a big Christmas tree right in the centre of Grand’Place.

A special mention about the statue of Everard ‘t Serclaes. It is said that touching it will bring one luck and grants the wishes of all who touch it. This constant polishing keeps the body depicted in the statue in a shining colour as compared to the rest of the sculpture. Hmm well I did not touch it though CL did, so hope her dreams come true :)
Source: Wiki

Oh and the reason why Grand’Place is famous is also largely dependent on the remarkably beautiful set of elaborately decorated guild houses. On the Grand’Place the names of the houses are often indicated by a little statue or some part of the decoration.
Source: Trabel

And because of the arrival of Xmas, the itinerary is much laid back to the extent we visited the Grand Place every night for the 3 nights we were in Brussels to watch the Electral Night haha. But I never got bored because somehow each night, I will see a new effect. I remember on Christmas night I saw the snow effect which I like it.

Not much museum visiting in Brussels because they close early in Christmas eve and closed on Christmas Day. So the few I went are

Museum des Sciences naturelles where lots of dinosaurs greeted me initially and I thought that’s it. But further exploration lead me to find other more interesting exhibits e.g the anatomy of a sea star:
1) anus
2) glande annexe (caecum pylorique)
3) estomac
4) organe de reproduction
5) ampoules
6) pied ambulacraire
7) plaque madréporique
8) piquant
9) pédicellaire

Musée Magritte Museum specially mentioned because it happened to be close much later in the winter on a Wednesday night and thus I spent my evening in this museum. Perfect!

Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinee (Belgian Comic Strip Center) where we had lots of fun seeing comics (unable to read most) and I had fun reading about how Smurf were created by Peyo (Pierre Culliford) and its initial comic first appeared in the Belgian magazine Spirou.

Musee du Jouet Speelgoedmuseum (Toy Museum) which is basically a toy museum. And the best part is it is open on Christmas day too so I decided to spend my Christmas finding my childhood in the toy museum. The owner was even keen to see if we have significant toys in Singapore. Actually I believed we could be able to contribute… at least I could because I don’t remember seeing five stones in the toy museum haha.Just suddenly thought about the traditional 60s games played e.g. fivet stones, skipping rope, chapteh... do the kids of Today still play such games?

I took a lot of photos in the toy museum partly because of these children (including the overaged). And nope I am not complaining because they were all lovely kids haha.

I remembered back then, I was pretty fascinated by this penguin toy model that I brought it around thinking of how it could model for me with the existing backdrop. So in honour of the penguin, I bought a chocolate back.... kidding... the chocolate penguin was bought by CL as a gift to our London hostess.

Mummy bear was preparing for their Christmas eve dinner while baby bears were studying hard... though one was quite camera sensitive and peeked at me when I took the photo... kidding once again "p.

We too had our sumptuous Christmas Eve dinner. Actually I did not know it is like the Chinese New Year where we feast the night before. Probably because in the past, we always had Christmas dinner instead. Anyway moules were a definite must-try in Brussels. (I remember a Singaporean we met during the Amsterdams RLD tour also highly recommend us to try it... oh ya and talk about coincidence, we later met her again in London.. Sometimes I think Singapore is too big and yet London is too small hmm). So our Xmas eve dinner menu consists of:
Appetizers: Scampis
Main meal: Mossels Golden served with French Fries
Complimentary: Bread

Yummy mussels though my friend could not stomach too much mussels in a night. I hope to get my parents on such feast next time. Oh ya I was told the guy is cute though I admit I was observing the lady more. Afterall she was the one serving us that night. In fact I did not recognise that the guy is the one I talked to the night before just to check if the restaurant is open on Christmas Eve haha. Afterall I was quite startled by him that night when he came out of the restaurant to ask if I need any assistance (I probably was staring at the restaurant or the sign to indicate if it is open for business).

More food eaten in Brussels include.. Waffles once again... and a new combination - cheese with beer. This was recommended when we were in Belgian Brewers to learn more about beer making. Brussels is a city of beer and known to have the best beer thus a visit to know how beer is made is absolutely compulsory. (Besides complimentary beer was given at the end of the visit haha... and it took us quite long to realise we were each served a different type of beer.) Anyway that was quite an interesting museum trip and after that, we bought Hoegarden and Trappist to eat with cheese though I still did not really fancy the beer. Hmm I think I drank beer in Amsterdam after the RLD tour and mentioned to CL that fact which is why Hoegarden was introduced to me. But being me, I still prefer wine... more gluehwein please.

Not forgetting escargot eaten in the streets. This is the first time I see the escargots presented unglamly, as compared to those posh French restaurants haha.

As usual I visited their Christmas market (only Amsterdam did not have Christmas market because for them Christmas begins on 14 November with the arrival of Sinterklaas and the celebrations continued on the weekend of 5 December, originally the holy day of Sint Nicholaas , when Sinterklaas is celebrated each year.)

The usuals we did in Christmas market - watch people ice skate (and probably wishing I can ice skate too except I never stepped into the rink after that minor accident.) The penguin is found in the rink again... wonder if it knows the penguin toy in the Toy museum.. oh no my penguin fetish at work...

I confess I have another fetish, I like to be high up the world haha. So we just had to take the Diamond Wheel to be up up up the sky (nearer to God).

Of course when in Brussels, one will definitely do a PISS statues search. Afterall I am a statue seeker haha.

Mannekin Pis has far too much attraction. There is even a museum of his costumes collection found at the "Maison du Roi" (King's House) in Grand'Place. For a very small statue, he sure is very famous.

On the contrary, Jeanneke Pis is naked and locked, tucked in a tiny street. I searched high and low for keychains on her without avail... feel so sad and indignant for her.

How to find her: It is located on the east side of the Impasse de la Fidélité / Getrouwheidsgang (Fidelity Alley), a narrow cul-de-sac some 30 metres long leading northwards off the restaurant-packed Rue des Bouchers / Beenhouwersstraat.
Source: Wiki