Saturday morning we returned to Heathrow and were told the flight was overbooked and we might not get seats. We were lucky and even upgraded to business class. We boarded then were delayed for an hour due to passengers checking in luggage then not boarding. All bags were taken off and re checked then loaded on again. What a nightmare.
We arrived and took a train to Brussels central. We were a bit lost looking for our hotel then a man came over and helped us. He actually took us the whole way, about a 15 minute walk. We think he wanted money. Surely nobody is that nice. After unloading ourselves at the hotel, which was right in the centre of the old town, we went out exploring. The Grand Place was very close to us. It was so cool. Standing in the square looking at the most amazing buildings is the way I’ll remember my first taste of Europe.
We brought a guide and took a walk to look at the Mannequin Pis, a little statue of a boy pissing. The story of the Mannequin Pis is that he put out the enemies match, that was about to be used to blow up the city, in his own unique way. It’s certainly the oldest resident of Brussels today.
We wandered back to the Grand Place where street pubs were the go and I enjoyed my first taste of Belgium beer. There was a jazz marathon taking place there so the atmosphere was great.
On one of the buildings was a gold statue of a women and everyone was going past and touching it. I was curious and used French to ask some girls about it. And I got the story; it was for good luck for babies and other things depending on where you touched. I felt very proud of my self. We ate in one of the street cafes. Luckily most people we came across spoke English.