Brussels

We went to Brussels for the weekend on Friday!  We hired a very nice car (Audi A4 - HEATED SEATS!!!!!!) and sped off through the rain on the autobahn after work (After Matt had played football and I'd been to the pub for wine and chit chat).  The car was much larger than Matt is used to, plus the steering wheel was on the wrong side, and the car was on the wrong side of the road too.  It took a while for him to get used to the dimensions of the car, and I helped,but after a while we were fine.  We arrived at about 9,30pm on Friday and went out for a burger/pizza near the hotel.  We didn't realise how central we were to the city centre until Saturday morning when we went to explore and discovered the Grand Place (above) just a few minutes walk away.  The buildings are wonderfully ornate and covered in gold in the Grand Place, and we sat outside a waffle house there, with huge waffles for breakfast (chocolate, walnut and nutella).

Unfortunately, it rained quite a lot, so we had to spend a lot of time going into pubs and chocolate shops which was a real shame!

Brussels is home to the Tintin comics... 

Brussels is all about food and drink really - chocolates, belgian waffles, beer, mussels and chips are just some of the things that Belgium is known for.  The chocolate shops are fantastic, but so expensive.  These giant meringues caught my eye in one shop window... 

Above is a chocolate shop window display of chocolates shaped like the Mannequin Pis, a statue of a small boy urinating, which has become a symbol of Brussels.

More chocolate shaped like tools!

On Saturday afternoon, Matt's parents arrived by Eurostar.  They were there for Margaret's birthday and only Tony knew that we were meeting them in Brussels!  We went to their room in the same hotel, and called out 'room service!'  Margaret was VERY surprised to see us!

We had a lovely afternoon wandering around, and stopping in pubs to escape the constant rain.  We went out for dinner in the evening, and the next day had a bit more of a wander around.  It didn't rain on Sunday, but it was bitterly cold.  It was nice to wander about, buying chocolate and beer, and soaking up the atmosphere. 

This was a wonderful clock we discovered on our wanders. The bells at the bottom played silent night at 11.30 - it was really very nice.

We like our art, and Matt found these lovely painting in a pop up shop in the city.  They are only about 6 inches high - very cute.

The spoils....