A Walk Through Brussels | Day 32

Well the additional beers might have led to sleeping in a bit haha. It was about 11:30 when I woke up and could easily see the day slipping away. I rallied and got in the shower and aimed to head back to the Grand Palace Square and just walk around. With shower complete and gear packed I headed outside to find it to be a much nicer day than yesterday. There were a few bikes in the same parking spots so scanned one of them and started the journey to the square. The ride went a little smoother than yesterday since I generally knew which way to go, and what to avoid. The bike parking area was next to the statue the tour had met at yesterday, and there were plenty of food options. Food seems to be the first thing on my mind before exploring. There was a spot called Chez Charles that was filled with people and they had a decent menu. I found the last seat out on the terrace and waited for the waitress. I will say, the service at a lot of these places has been pretty poor. The people are very nice but it takes them forever to come around and they hardly ever check on you. I’m not sure if that is because the know I’m not from the particular country or if it is just how service is in general. Either way it matters not to me. Finally the waitress came over and she took my order straight away. I went with the bacon burger and a beer for good measure. I clicked around on my phone for a while until the food appeared. The burger looked really good but the moment I picked it up the bread started crumbling. The gentleman next to me was eating his with a knife and fork, which I refuse to do, and that seemed to be working out better for him than I. It was messy but it was decent. I ate my food for a bit and then was ready for the check. That took a while as well but what can you do. After paying it was off to the square.

The square was packed. Tour groups, families, street merchants, you name it. I had brought the infrared filter with me again so I could get those blurry clouds over the cool buildings. I found a spot or two and posted up. Somehow the tripod is still hanging in there but I’m sure it will give up the ghost soon. I ventured from one side of the square to the other stopping in front of different buildings and shooting. The exposure time is anywhere from 8 to 30 seconds so it took a good 45 minutes to shoot a few different buildings. At one of the stops a young man came up to me asking if I could take a photo of him with the towers in the back which I was more than happy too. While the camera is exposing it is so much fun to people watch. As I mentioned, there is a bit of everything in these large squares. Some kids are really in to it and some not at all. Watching how the parents handle the ones that aren’t is quite amusing. I watched the instagram people stand for a quick photo then walk off, young couples taking their photos, and older folks just standing and admiring the architecture. I wrapped up what I was shooting and was going to head toward the Butcher’s street when I saw a group of guys standing on the corner. One of the guys in the group had a red and white stripped one piece and he was sitting on the curb. He had a sash on and it became clear he was the one getting married. All the mates sat him down on the curb and lathered him up with shaving cream. One by one they took turns with the razor giving him a shave. They even found people walking by to take a turn with the razor. It was pretty funny and I have never seen that before haha. He was taking it in good stride but boy did he stand out in the crowd haha. I had to snag a few photos. His mates kept laughing and they were thoroughly pleased with themselves. I continued on my way landing on the Butcher’s street. I walked passed a few of the chocolate shops we had seen yesterday and was in the neighborhood of the peeing boy. There were shops with chocolate molds you could buy of the peeing boy and it took every ounce of will not to buy one. We had seen the other statue of the little girl yesterday and unlike that one the little boy statue was packed. It was located in a more visible area than the girl. The crowd was a solid 3 deep and everyone was taking photos it. They have a specific division that is responsible for dressing him up every day. Today he had black pants with green and red stripes, a blue coat, and a black top hat sporting a Belgian colored ribbon. I of course got the photo that everyone else was getting and then promptly departed. Everyone was trying to get as close as possible so no need for me to stand there and keep getting bumped in to. I spent the next hour or so just walking the streets. I took photos of the people, interesting visuals, murals, and more. It was cool to not have any particular direction and just walk around and see the city. I decided to take a little Redbull break before heading to the last spot on my list, which was the Royal Shops.

Redbull finished and was back to walking. The shops were to far but a good 10 or so minute walk. When we were there yesterday I had noticed a few art/photo galleries. I really wanted to take a walk through those and see what work they had. I roamed through the various streets and arrived on the backside of the shops. The one place that had some cool photos was closed which was a bummer. There was a modern art gallery on the next corner called Bel-Air Fine Art. They had some really cool pieces! One of them is an optical illusion. It is a scene or a town on a river filled with bridges. When you look at it straight on you see the scene. When you start moving left to right the scene sort of follows you. If you walk up it you can see that in fact the art piece is made of protruding cones. The cone sides are warped perfectly so when you stand in front of it you see no depth. It is pretty cool haha. They had other modern art pieces which are always fun to look at. The gallery was pretty busy which was nice to see. I can only imagine how much some of those pieces cost. I exited the gallery and decided it was time to start the adventure back home. Belgium was playing a football match in the Euro Cup in a couple of hours and I wanted to go somewhere to watch without all my stuff. I walked through the shops, square, and the meeting spot statue and found a bike. The route home was a different one than I had taken before. the streets were much quieter and appeared to be more residences than cafes and shops. The weather was nice and it was warm but a had a cool breeze. The ride took about 20 minutes and stress free. I parked the bike outside of the hotel and headed to my room. I made the mistake of laying down and opening the computer haha. The football match was to start in an hour and a half but my little “rest” lasted a bit longer. I searched the internet for a close sports bar to watch the game but nothing seemed to catch my eye. The only thing was an add looking bar just a block and a half from the hotel. I threw on some clothes and headed towards BBP Bailli.

I could hear the cheers from around the corner. They had the match on and needless to say the place was crowded. It was multi-level and had a patio. Every table was filled that had a good view of the TV. I worked my way through the crowd and waited the line for a beer. I went with a lighter Belgian beer which was tasty. I found a sub-par seat against a wall and behind the metal staircase. I was there just in time for the start of the second half. I am not nearly as invested in the games as the folks in Europe but I do appreciate their fandom for it. Even if you aren’t that in to it just by virtue of being in the environment you get sucked in. One half, two beers, and a Belgian victory later it was time to head back. I had gone back up to the bar to see if they still had pizzas but the dude said they stopped an hour ago haha. In fact, they had sold out of all of their dough so were forced to stop selling pizzas. On the walk home the late night hunger kicked in. I attempted to not order anything but the urge was to strong. I hit up the Uber Eats app and where most things were closed there was a trusty late night pizza place open. I put in an order for a pepperoni and mushroom pizza and 30 minutes later it was at my door. I must have looked like such a fat kid cuz I sat on that bed and just destroyed it haha! I had a train semi early in the morning headed to St. Malo, France. Brussels was amazing and really glad I stopped. Brussels I shall be back!