A Georgia Girl in Germany

After spending the afternoon with Ann, we drove a couple miles to visit friends from San Antonio who now live in the area. MacKenzie’s best friend from Kindergarten lives just outside Brussels, and the girls had hoped to get together one last time before Shay and her family moved back to the states. This was the perfect opportunity!

The next day, Shay’s family took us on a short driving tour of the city before finding a park and exploring on foot. Here’s a photo of Cathédrale St. Michel (St. Michael Cathedral). We didn’t get to visit inside since Sunday services were ongoing, but we enjoyed seeing it from the outside nonetheless.

Below is the Royal Palace. It was built in the 18th century, then rebuilt under Leopold II when it became the official Royal Residence and the site of ceremonies and receptions. The flag flying above the palace indicates the king was onsite.


We saw several stoplights in the shape of hearts throughout downtown, which I thought was pretty neat. The waffle van parked on the other side of the light was interesting as well (think of musical ice cream trucks enticing young kids to a summertime treat!), and just goes to show how easy it is to find waffles in the city!


When we parked and began making our way downtown, we walked through a small market in Place Agora and the kids climbed over a statue of Mark Twain. Of course, MacKenzie had to sit where she could pet his dog.

From there, we headed to lunch at a delicious Italian restaurant, where we enjoyed calzones, pizza and spaghetti. What’s neat about living in Europe is that anywhere we find an Italian restaurant, it’s run by Italians so the food is authentic...and awesome! This was no exception!!


After lunch, we headed just around the corner and into the Grand Platz. It was absolutely breathtaking. MacKenzie posed with Shay and Shelby with the Town Hall in the background. The Grand Platz was bombarded in 1695 by Louis XIV and was completely destroyed (except for the Town Hall). The citizens rebuilt the Grand Platz in less than five years to its current state of grandeur. The Gothic Town Hall itself was built in the 15th century. The right wing is younger and deliberately shorter, and is topped by a 90-meter belfry with a spire topped by the Archangel Saint Michael, the Patron Saint of Brussels.


The photo above shows the 17th century Houses of Corporations in the Grand Platz. If you look closely, you can see a Muslim lady wearing a black burka. I didn’t notice her until after I took this photo. Someone tried walking toward her to take a photo, but she covered her eyes (the only part of her, other than her hands, that was visible) then quickly turned away.

Just off the Grand Platz is this statue of Jesus. Supposedly, it’s good luck to touch it, so Zachary picked up Benjamin so he could touch it just like the rest of us did. The photo below shows another view of the Grand Platz with the Maison du Roi (Museum of the City of Brussels) in the background.


A short walk down the street from the Grand Platz is the Manneken-Pis ("Little Man Piss"). This statue is Brussels oldest inhabitant, and symbolizes the town’s mocking and boisterous spirit. One legend is that in the 14th century Brussels was under siege by a foreign power. The city held its ground for quite some time, until the attackers thought of a plan to place explosive charges at the city walls. A little boy named Juliaanske from Brussels happened to be spying on them as they were preparing, and he urinated on the burning fuse and thus saved the city. MacKenzie wasn’t too thrilled about having her photo made in front of a peeing boy.


On our return walk, we all kept our eyes open for chocolate, and we definitely found a lot. Zachary and MacKenzie watched in awe through the Godiva window as the saleslady dipped strawberries in chocolate.

We saw several towers of flowing chocolate. Zachary really wanted to dip his finger in the chocolate as it streamed down. I’m sure they all would have been more inclined to do so if there wasn’t a window separating them.


Our final stop was at Donetta’s favorite waffle shop. The waffles were very fresh and warm. Shay and I had ours topped in warm chocolate, which was the ultimate combination of Brussels' two famous treats: waffles and chocolate! Surprisingly, the other kids all opted for ice cream. It was a great opportunity to sit on the curb and enjoy our treats. I thought it was pretty funny that Benjamin was determined to eat his strawberry ice cream even though it was cold outside -- so cold that he needed to wear mittens to keep his hands warm!

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If these last two posts aren’t enough to whet your appetite for chocolate, check out this link for a story profiling someone who makes Belgian chocolates. The story is the second from the bottom at http://www.afneurope.net//Article.asp?id=351836.

Labels: Belgium, Benjamin, MacKenzie, Travel, Zachary