BRUSSELS

You polled, we delivered! Our first trip was to Brussels, Belgium. We left yesterday to fulfill a day's itinerary I had planned, where we visited the touristy places as well as some local delights! We had a great time! The weather was a little chillier than I would liked, but we couldn't complain. We started the day off walking through the Grand Place (town square). It's magnificent, and stately. They do a "carpet of flowers" every even year, so next year we'll have to go and take pictures. We saw some post cards with what it will look like,










and you'll die! Stay tuned. We then headed down to the disappointedly small "peeing child" fountain (Mannekin Pis). I'm not talking about his "endowdness," moreso the entire piece. I was expecting a statuesque fountain, and it was a corner piece--and covered in costume to honor the voted "Best Beer in Brussels." Apparently, the poor boy has many different costumes: santa, devil, graduate, pig, spaniard, tourist, etc. for different times of the year and different festivals. Speaking of festivals, we didn't realize that this weeking marked the middle of a music festival in Brussels. We looked












to see if we recognized any of the bands, wishful thinking I guess. We didn't, but Rihanna is going to be there in a few weeks...might come back for that :) We left the little guy and made our way to the American embassy. We found a lot of cool buildings on our way, including a wonderful waffle shop (see pic) that produced some serious waffles. It kind of made me sick to imagine having those all the time! We also












found many wonderful cathedrals on our way. The architecture and stained glass in these churches is phenomenal! I was taken back...and stayed in there for quite a while! (Mom...didn't light a bunch of candles praying for snow--I've learned a little since that time!) We finally found our way to the American embassy, found the Palace of the Nations and the Grand Palais, which were both amazing. There is a park that Gracie would love to roll in separating the two, which reminded me of Central Park. Very beautiful. On our way back to the main square, we toured

the Gran Central (or the train station) and watched a few trains load up and leave. We had a quaint lunch and then a romantic dinner on the "Rue de Bouchers," a very popular dining street, with restaurants spilling over each other. Stephen surprised the heck out of me, we had seafood and he tried clams, mussels, ate crawfish, shrimp and rice! He was a very happy boy until the clams. He almost vomited (see pic)! All in all it was a fabulous day, and we'll
definitely go back!!


A Bientot!
The Dotson's