A selection of photos from our trip to Brussels and Bruges with Ali, Karen and David. The following pictures were taken by a Pentax Optio point and shoot camera before I knew anything about composition, exposure and how to straighten pictures in Photoshop!
Our hotel (top left) was only a 5 minute walk from the Grand Place (below) and was just next to the Congres Statue (top right). At this time of year It was very very cold but made for some nice blue skies.
The Grand Place is the central market square of Brussels. It is surrounded by guild houses, the city’s spectacular Town Hall.
As David had been to Brussels a few times we had our very own tour guide which came in particularly handy as we managed not to loose any valuable time being lost. It also came in handy for finding good restaurants. This is us at the Bier Circus, recommended highly by David, which sold some fantastic Spag Balls; Ali and I also had our first taste of Belgian beer, Chouffe.
We had to be thorough tasting the local beer as you can see….
Our hotel was fairly close to the St. Michael and Gudula Cathedral. Unfortunately, they were reconstructing the area around the front of the cathedral so there was lots of construction works.
You can’t go to Brussels without visiting the Mannequin Pis. He is dressed up on special dates and while we were there it was Mozart’s birthday hence the costume.
We headed out to the Science museum called the Atomium which is a monument built for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. It is 103 metres tall, with nine steel spheres connected so that the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Tubes which connect the spheres along the 12 edges of the cube and from all eight vertices to the centre; these tubes enclose escalators containing exhibit halls and other public spaces; the top sphere provides a panoramic view of Brussels. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovation while we were there but it was definitely worth a visit to see the outside.
As bruges is a short rail trip away we decided to have a day trip there on the Sunday. We will definitely go back to this pretty and quaint town, it’s impossible to see it all in the one day. Again, David acted as a marvelous tour guide.
It was so cold the canals were frozen over which made for some pretty pictures.
Bruges also has a large main square with an impressive town hall and of course many chocolate shops to take advantage of.
Back in Brussels we met up with David’s friends Shonah and Aidan who live out there. They took us to a wonderful meal at a mexican restaurant called Pablos. I’m not sure what caused the expression on Dadid & Karen’s face here…
but it didn’t put Ali off his pot of tea!
On our last night David introduced us to Lambic. It’s a very distinct type of beer only brewed in Belgium and is produced by spontaneous fermentation: it is exposed to the wild yeasts and bacteria that are said to be native to the Senne valley, in which Brussels lies. It is this unusual process which gives the beer its distinctive flavour: dry, vinous, and cidery, with a slightly sour aftertaste. Thanks David!
