Brussels Day 4

Brussels Day 4

On my last day in Brussels I still had a few things I wanted to do. One tourist attraction that has become symbolic of Brussels is of a little boy weeing and its name is Mannaken Pis

It has become quite famous world wide and he is often dressed in national costume from various places in the world. However today - he was dressed Au Naturele.... His costumes even have a whole floor dedicated to them in the National Museum (I didn't manage to get there and view them this time around...

So after my train trip into town, that didn't take long, so what next...???

My trusty guidebook had talked about an area called St Catherine's which apparently is a "village in the city" which has great eating opportunities. But remember, today was Monday, and most places over here don't do Monday, especially at 10.30 in the morning....

St Catherine's Church Brussels

The Church itself was quite decrepit and falling apart. According to my guide book, during its construction the architect got the commission to do the Palace of Justice in the Upper Town (which I visited later!) so he rushed to complete this Church so that could begin the more lucrative job more quickly.

Inside was a lovely statue of St Catherine so I prayed especially for all the Catherine's, Cathy's and Kath's I know...

Statue of St Catherine

There was a lovely square nearby but it had the "not open" look about it..

Square near St Catherine's Church

Anyway, I just kept wandering and I saw another Church not far away - this was one was the Beguinage of St John the Baptist.

Beguinage of St John the Baptist

Explanation of the Beguinage

Explanation of the Beguinage

If you look carefully at the first picture you can see a tent in the left hand side.
Inside this Church they had half of it cordoned off and had a set of tents set up there, and obviously they were providing a home for refugees. Wonderful use of Church space....

My next target was a couple of places I had seen on that bus tour yesterday when I only hopped on and didn't hop off!

I had to climb up the hill because Brussels is actually divided by "altitude". A ridge line splits the town into Upper and Lower Town, and as you would expect, Upper Town is where the more grandiose live and work.

So after lots of stairs, interrupted by a lovely bowl of tomato soup for lunch, I came to this wonderful park called the Parc de Bruxelles. The autumn colours were just beautiful and it felt so peaceful. There were heaps of people using it during their lunch hour...

Parc de Bruxelles

Parc de Bruxelles

At the end of the Park was the Parliament House of Belgium ( as opposed to the EU Parliament which was in yesterday's pics)

Parliament House Brussels

Parliament House Brussels

The Royal Place was also up there, but I didn't get a pic. Apparently it's only used by the Royal Family for State visits and entertaining. They actually live somewhere else.

So, there was one other place I wanted to visit after yesterday, and I had already asked at the Tourist Bureau earlier in the morning how to get there.

One other little related challenge was I was not sure if my 3 day train pass would last  today. When I bought it on Friday, it was at 3.30ish and I wasn't sure if it was 72 hours from when I bought it, or just actual days.  So it got me into town quite happily this morning, but when I tried to go to this new place called Louise, it gave up the ghost. So here was yet another challenge on the journey - how to buy a new ticket. It seems like this holiday is a continual intelligence test. Soon as you work out one thing, another one pops up to solve.

But, I passed this latest test and decided to buy an all day ticket, so I didn't have to do any more problem solving for the day....

But... I was wrong.....

As those of you who have travelled on the Tube or the Metro know, you always have to  work out which side of the station to stand so you end up in the right place and not the opposite direction. After more problem solving strategies, I worked out that I needed to get to the other side of the station, but could not for the life of me work out how to get over there... There are renovations and building projects all over the place in Brussels and this station was right in the thick of it. I tried going upstairs to see if I could cross over, but no... tried various options but always seemed to end up on the same spot...

Anyway, long story short I eventually realised you had to go down to the station below where the other line was and follow the  signs....

Why is life never simple...???

Once I got there though it was a lovely view...

View from Louise

View from Louise - notice the elevator to take you down if you wished. I didn't wish!

This was also where the Palace of Justice was to be found but it's also in the midst of renovations...

Palace of Justice

As you may have noticed in my journey through both France and Belgium there are many war memorials remembering those who died to save their countries. There was a biggie up here..

War memorial - photo doesn't do it justice

War memorial

So that was the end of my expedition. I was beginning to work out the Metro by now, and it turned out that this place called Louise was only a few stations from Gare Midi, so the train took me straight home.

The ladies who clean my hotel room were just about to attack mine, so what's a girl to do....

Go straight down to the bar downstairs and have a glass of Stella Artois and recover from a big day of sight-seeing!

So, this just about wraps up the Continental part of my European adventure. Tomorrow I'm on the Chunnel to London and to go to my unit in Earls Court.

I've been very spoiled with my accommodation so far, so I'm not sure what the rest will be like as apart from London and some time in Fort William in Scotland and perhaps Leicester, and staying with my friends in Ireland, I'm at the mercy of the B&B system...

And that sounds like yet another saga or two coming up in the adventures of Wattle's Wanderings...