Europe - Trip 6

Day 2 - February 14, 2002

The lobby with Tintin and the car.

We we were thinking of actually heading out to Antwerp or Gent today for a day tour but felt that there were so many fab sights in Brussels that we'd stay the day here and check out more. We woke up to the sounds of tourists giggling in front of the Mannekin Pis at about 8AM and watched a busload of tourists hang about for about 15 minutes. It is amazing how this 50 cm statue attracts huge crowds at obviously all times of the year and at all hours of the night - truly all hours of the night. We definitely enjoyed the randomness of the whole thing.

In the tube to the next atom

On the list today was general vagrancy in random places, Jeanette Pis, a stop at the Museum of Comic Art (Belge des Bandes Dessinnees), a tour through the Atomium, lunch, dinner and more beer. We headed out to the Jeanette Pis, the recent statue of the little girl peeing and found that as would be expected when a patriarchal society gets antsy about feminine things, she was locked up behind bars in a little side street. Poor showing that. We were going to stage a protest about the situation, but felt that lunch would be a better idea.

Shop building tops and a blue, blue sky

Next was a tour of the Museum of Comic Art, loaded full of Herge things and strip art from dozens of other Belgian artists and writers. Again we felt that it would've been more enjoyed if our Dutch and French were better but Todd thoroughly enjoyed the tour and the familiar artists and characters that it afforded. We wandered around town and saw many more impressive monuments and buildings - almost overload when every other street had something of import.

We next caught the train to the former World's Fair site where the Atomium was located - a bulding in the shape of a crystal molecule. Impressive from the outside it didn't live up to the billing while on the top deck - the grimy observation deck windows and guides did not provide much of a view of the city. The ride down through the various atoms and connecting structures did show an excellent display of 1952 World's Fair artifacts and was quite fun.

Last stop on this Hallmark Holiday was dinner at an an Italian place before we hit the sack.

A lovely day all round