Day 260: Far out, Brussels sprout

11/04/2022

Google Maps in the UK and Europe include landmark icons. This morning we were off to have a look.

The first stop was Port de Hal (Halle Gate), Lachnado was preparing for a big day.

We followed the line of buildings to Palais de Justice (Law Courts of Brussels), which was having a lot of work being done to it.

We past some pretty terraces to Église Notre-Dame des Victoires au Sablon (Church of Our Lady of Victories at the Sablon), Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg and Palais de Bruxelles (Royal Palace of Brussels).

Lachnado was tiring from the early morning gallop, although he did actually seem to enjoy the cobbled paths. We took a break at Brussels Park to ring the family back at home. The new timezone changes make a big difference.

We arrived at Cathédrale des Sts Michel et Gudule, Bruxelles (Catedral de San Miguel y Santa Gúdula) which was open.

The building was as impressive on the inside as it was on the outside. Someone was playing the suspended organ which was lovely. Sophie enjoyed looking at the stained glass windows for as long as Eloise would let her “come on, hurry up, this way Mum”.

Another check of Google Maps and we noticed Arcade du Cinquantenaire, we had visited its chocolate model yesterday.

We decided to visit Autoworld, Eloise ran to the door. There was an impressive collection of cars, bikes and hippomobiles.

After her extensive research, Eloise then made quick work of designing and building the Eloisemobile with assistance from Foxie.

There were plenty more where they came from.

After realising a singular sushi roll cost AUD$13.00 we grabbed some incredible burgers from Manhattn’s Burgers, which we ate in Parc du Cinquantenaire.

After all the walking the past couple of days, it was nice to sit down and watch Eloise chase pigeons while Lachnado tasted the lawn.

We started making our way back towards the hotel when we stumbled upon the Parlamentarium, Liam was very excited to check out the Hemicycle. The tickets were free but it was getting late, we managed to squeeze in. Foxie had to go through the scanner, Eloise played it cool this time but was very relieved to be quickly reunited.  

We exited at Station Europe, but hang on a second, where was the Hemicycle? Did we miss it? Turns out we chose the wrong tour, in our defence, there was not much English around. We rushed off to the Hemicycle, but we were too late. Bugger. We will have to visit it next time. If anyone has questions about Europe’s current financial position or peace policies Eloise is always happy to chat.

Eloise was also disappointed and no amount of the Berlin Wall was going to make up for it.

We headed towards the busy Grand-Place to find dinner. We walked past the unusual Musical Instruments Museum and the Mont des Arts Garden.

Eloise was a big fan of the Smurfs ceiling mural, come to think about it we have seen a lot of Smurfs the past couple of days. Makes sense as they were born in Brussels. Same as Tintin.

These little blue creatures, famous the world over, were born in Brussels in 1958. Peyo (Pierre Culliford), their creator, was working at the time for the magazine Spirou, for which he produced 1000 adventures for Johan and Peewit. The two heroes met these little blue people – exactly five inches tall – in the comic The Smurfs and the Magic Flute. It was love at first sight for the readers, and the beginning of a phenomenally successful new series.

The girls had some room left after dinner so picked up another waffle to share. This meant that Dad had to get some Belgian chocolates.

We almost forgot…

The Brussels sprout is a member of the Gemmifera cultivar group of cabbages (Brassica oleracea), grown for its edible buds. The leaf vegetables are typically 1.5–4.0 cm (0.6–1.6 in) in diameter and resemble miniature cabbages. The Brussels sprout has long been popular in Brussels, Belgium, from which it gained its name.

No Brussel sprouts were consumed in the making of this blog.