Lo and I headed in to Brussels today for a little excursion. If I had to summarize, I'd say the following about Brussels, at least the touristy, old town bits:-It's a charming city, and doesn't feel that big and overwhelming.
-As the ubiquitous Starbucks is to SF, NYC, and many other cities, so are chocolate shops to Brussels. Each major chain seemed to have an outlet every few blocks.
-Its art museum was a pretty big disappointment, though I did see a few highlights that I'm glad I had the chance to see. I really like Breugel's Landscape With the Fall of Icarus.
-The peeing-boy statue is tiny, and it is baffling to me why it's such a big hit.
That said, here's a video of the Grand Place (weather was chilly and windy today), and a few photo highlights of the day:
Flowers for sale right on the Grand Place.
Lo being a dork in Neuhas, one of the top chocolate shops. Every shop was completely decked out for Easter.
Lo joined the joggers at the main city park for a few moments. Kudos to this gentleman for posing so nicely.
I don't even know the price, but so fancy! Little mini macarons all around. I hope it tastes as good as whatever it costs.
The obligatory photo with the Mannekin Pis.
We stopped in at the 4 top chocolate shops and bought the same type of chocolate at each one. We had plans for a blind taste test tonight.
Prepping for the test.
Something about feeding someone things while their eyes are closed struck us all as very funny and, soon after this picture was taken, Kate laughed so hard she, um, lost some of what she was testing. On my hand.
Stasia's turn.In the end, we all picked the two most expensive chocolates, Godiva and Neuhaus, as our top two picks. In this case, quality really did seem to match slightly increased prices. The hazelnut milk chocolate from Godiva was so delicious. Good thing I can just buy it at Bay St. when I get home. :)
And I'll sign off with this little gem, brought to you by Anna, Kayla, and Belgian television:
And I'll sign off with this little gem, brought to you by Anna, Kayla, and Belgian television:
3 comments:
Awesome dancing!
Leonidas didn't rate, eh? When I go back to Brussels, I want to hit the Magritte museum. JJ and I made our way there, but we were too late to really fit it in. It looked great though and I was sorely tempted to do the museum sprint, but I resisted. I'll be there again and now that I have seen the Grand Place and piss boy, I can make a bee-line to Magritte. The Brussels museum looked like a set-up for disappointment- I mean you are going to the Louvre (aren't you?). I also really enjoyed the cartoon art museum.
Likewise, feeling defensive for Leonidas over Godiva. Neuhaus is in a rarified league.
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