Our first stop, a short four hour drive from home, was Brussels. We saw signs and footsteps on the sidewalk toward the Mannekin Pis, so we followed them there first.
We found the little squirt surrounded by tourists and sporting a reusable shopping back for "Keep Belgium Green" or something like that. There was a guy there who gave similar bags to this one to all of our children.
He is really tiny! I know it is a random touristy thing to go see, but I loved the kids' reactions. We had amusement, disgust, indifference, and befuddlement.
A little further up the street on our way from there to the Grand Place, we saw a Belgian waffle shop and decided to have lunch. Three kids had waffles with dark chocolate, Toby had a waffle with speculoos (cookie butter), and Rob and I each had a waffle panini type thing with ham and gouda.
Then we strolled into the Grand Place, or Grote Markt. I love that Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German. In addition to this, nearly a third of the capital city of Brussels are non-native Belgians, largely due to this being the unofficial capital city of the EU. All of this to say that Brussels feels really diverse and accessible for a non-Dutch speaker.
The Grand Place is the home of the Town Hall as well as many guild halls and shops... my favorite being the chocolate shops, of course. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered one of the most beautiful squares in Europe.
I do love Gothic architecture, but not as much as I love chocolate.
We made a beeline for the chocolate shops and went inside just five or so, though we must have seen 20. Most of the shops offered free samples as soon as we stepped in the door, and we made sure to purchase something in the ones that did. The kiddos picked out a variety of chocolates to take home, take to teachers, and for Rob to take to work. We are suckers for good chocolate.
Personally I was waiting to visit the flagship Godiva shop, the first Godiva shop ever opened in 1926 was here on the Grand Place. Yes, they gave out free samples. And yes, we purchased two small sampler bags that each had about eight chocolates in them. And no, we did not share those ones with the kids. (Though with all of the other chocolate they have been getting to eat, I don't think anyone noticed.)
Next we stopped in the Tintin experience, which was half gallery and half shop. The kids aren't super into Tintin, but have seen the more recent movie that came out. The original Belgian comic debuted in 1929 and was wildly popular in Europe. Other Belgian comics you may have heard of are The Smurfs and Lucky Luke. In fact, Belgium has so many comic artists that it has been called the "Home of the Comic Strip." Really it makes sense to me. When one of your most famous tourist sites
is a little boy statue peeing, what else are you going to get famous
for but drawing comics?
Speaking of which, as we got in our car to drive the few miles to the Atomium, we were lucky enough to go right past the Het Zinneke or Zinneke Pis. This peeing dog sculpture was installed in 1998, and while we wouldn't have made a special trip to visit it, it was amusing to see... and to see a crowd of tourists near it. (Check out the comic-style graffiti in the background too.)
After a short but harrowing drive (Belgian drivers and traffic patterns are insane,) we arrived at the Atomium. We were there on a Saturday and it was super crowded. The interior is a museum with each round room connected by escalators and elevators. While that sounds cool in theory, the massive lines just to get in, the four tired kids we were marching around, and the high price tag made us decide to skip the interior. It is a cool building though. It was built for the 1958 World's Fair and forms the shape of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. CNN named it Europe's most bizarre building.
Outside the kids mostly wanted to climb on the big "be.WELCOME" letters. However, Rob and I thought it might be fun to visit Mini Europe as a nod to Belgium being the unofficial capital of the European Union and our lack of interest in visiting the more austere sites of the European Commission, Council of the European Union, European Council, or a seat (officially the second seat but de facto the most important one) of the European Parliament.
Mini Europe was not nearly so crowded, very kid friendly, and overall just kinda fun. The kids enjoyed these photo ops that were scattered around and pretending to be giants.
Rob and I liked seeing which landmarks were chosen to represent each European country, how many we had been to, and how many we have not been to but might like to.
Everything is supposed to be at a 1:25 scale.
I thought it was kind of nice to see some of these sites as a whole. For example, we have visited Sacre Couer in person and climbed all of those stairs, and walked around the perimeter and inside, but because of how the streets are leading up to it, it is impossible in real life to get this view of it.
It was kinda cheesy, but also fun, and perfect for the little ones.
Afterwards, we grabbed some Belgian fries and headed back toward our car.
It was a long day with the drive to Brussels and all of the sightseeing and we still had to drive to our homebase for this trip in Antwerp before calling it an evening.
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