Brussels in a Day

Mar. 1 2012

We were told that Brussels did not have a lot to offer so we just did a day trip. It was a perfect day trip full of good food, great architecture, and lots of learning.

Cathedral

Royal Palace

Who would not want to go shopping here?

City Hall

Awesome Architecture

Megan loving her Waffle

It tasted as good as it looks

YUM!!!

Before arriving in Brussels knew almost nothing about the European Union but I am happy to say I learned tones while touring the European Union Building and the Parliamentarium.  Learning about how the EU was created and when each country was introduced was very interesting. There are many rules that must be followed to be part of the EU. Many countries in Europe are still working to get this status. 23 languages are spoken within the EU , so every document must be translated into each of these languages... crazy I know.

EU building

EU flag

Hemicircle where all the action happens

It had the number of km to major cities through out the EU

Brussels Pissing Boy (yes this is what it is called)

So we were told in our book to go to the pissing boy (yes it was written just like this). We randomly found the fountain and were underwhelmed by it. It was much smaller than we expected. However we were still intrigued by the hype around it and headed to the city museum which had a display about it. Many myths existed related to the origin of the boy and significance of the fountain but generally the function of it was a  fountain for drinking water for the city when it created the water system. The crazy thing about the pissing boys is that is has over 700 outfits sent from people all over the world. The Canadian outfit was a Montreal Canadian jersey while the American was an Elvis outfit. It was crazy the number of outfits this crazy statue has and how many replicates of the statue exist. 

Even a chocolate one with a waffle.

Another Chocolate pissing boy!

The Pissing Boy fountain