Brussels, Belgium

Easter weekend Nasi came to visit me in Trier. So we decided to take a trip to Brussels since neither of us had ever been there. And, its only about 2:30 hours away from where I live. Brussels, if you didn't know is the capital of the European Union. So, basically the equivalent of Washington D.C. except for that most of the "states" don't seem to care so much about what is decided here. Regardless, I was very surprised about how cool the city was. Very old European feel to the downtown area and a lot of more modern stuff being built in the rest of the city. But more than that, it was extremely touristy. I don't know if it was because it was Easter weekend or not, but it was more than I expected. At least as bad as Prague. This mainly becomes a problem in the restaurants. For some reason Brussels is known for its seafood. So as you walk around you come across tiny pedestrian streets that are packed with seafood restaurants. So within 100 yards you might have 30 places all selling the same overpriced meals. They have seats inside and outside and all of them have a guy standing out there clapping and yelling at you to come eat in their restaurant...strange, cause thats not the one's we wanted to go in. But they seemed to get plenty of business anyways.

Old buildings in the city center.

Brussels is know for a few things, mainly the Belgium beer, which is of course very good, and the Belgium waffles. These are cooked all over at little stands. So they are fresh, then they cover them with things like strawberries, whipped cream, and Chocolate. Tastes good at first, but then you realize that the dough itself seems to be almost 100% sugar. So it becomes too much, not to mention the ungodly amount of calories that must be there.... Anyways, on of the biggest tourist attractions is Manacin Pis. It the smallest statue in the world of a boy taking a leak, cool!! Here it is:

He's about 18-24 inches tall..

On Saturday they had him dressed in a scuba outfit...so funny, ha ha ha!

On Sunday, Nasi and I just spent the day walking around. Really Brussels can be seen in a day. Most of the main attractions are within walking distance. And we had a beautiful day to walk around and enjoy the sites.

Old Mayor's house int he center

Our reflection in a building. Nasi is laughing at me cause she thinks my ears look big...

Nasi in the park.

Panoramic view of the city with the Basilica about 5 miles off in the distance.

Brussels is also know for the Atominium. Its a giant structure built in 1957 for the worlds fair. Its supposed to replicate an Iron Atom magnified 165 billion times... So on our way out of the city we drove there to see it. It about the only thing not near the center, but there is also a very large and nice park there that would be nice to talk around in.

Me and Nasi in front of the Atom. Its about as big as the Eiffel tower, maybe not as tall, but its very big.

I just got a new camera so I was able to annoy Nasi a bit with all my photographing, but I think I was able to take some good ones like this close up of the Atom. Here are a few others:

A band was playing at the Atom and a large crowd was watching. I thought this kid looked funny with how it was listening to the music.