Brussels

With only two days in Belgium we decided to spend one in Brussels and one in Bruges and were not disappointed with what either city had to offer.

To start our day we headed out to the Atomium - a structure which was constructed for the Brussels World Fair in 1958 and was supposed to be dismantled afterwards except that the city of Brussels requested for it to remain as an icon of the city.

The Atomium in all its glory

We had considered paying ludicrous amounts of money to get into Little Europe
but were quite satisfied with the view of it we got from the Atomium

Me and the Atomium posing

Brussels

The grounds outside the Atomium were a spectacular demonstration of autumn perfectly displayed in one scene:

Breathtakingly beautiful

Artsy win, I think

On our way in to Brussels we passed a marketplace and all decided we'd like to take a wander around it. This ended up being an excellent decision as the suburb we stopped in apparently looked exactly like Syria as it was before the war. It was a nostalgic visit for Hisham and his family who thoroughly enjoyed exploring the shops, ordering food just as they would have at home, and generally reliving the glory days of their homeland.

We also found a place selling delicious Middle Eastern sweets

When we finally headed into the city centre our handy GPS delivered us straight to the square in the middle of town and we were the only car around. Thankfully there was a public car park just across the square to hide our bulky vehicle and spit us out to join the throngs of other tourists touristing.

First things first: Chocolate!

This shop was as wondrous as it looks from the outside

A few of the fancier shops also had free samples (swoon!)

As we were wandering the sweets trying to find the iconic Mannekin Pis statue, we came across one of the Tintin murals which are scattered around the city:

Zoom in if you can for a closer look: it's quite cool.

Found it! Adam delighted in telling the little boy that 'Wees go in the toilet!'

Apparently he is dressed in costumes several times each week but as you can see he was quite naked the day we visited. While Adam and I lectured the little boy, Hisham bravely waited out the queue for some spectacular Belgian waffles, and then we began the journey back to the car and home.

.. but were sidetracked by the Grand Place - another square in the middle of town - which has a light show during the Christmas season. We were planning to come back into town after dinner to see it but by this time it was already evening so we waited around for a few minutes until the next show began. They are fifteen minutes long on the hour and all of the buildings surrounding the square light up. The lights change in time and according to the mood of the music playing. An incredible spectacle not to be missed!

We all very much enjoyed the fact that our apartment was only a ten minute drive from town and spent the time saved on travelling by relaxing and catching up with family overseas on Skype.