Wandering Around Brussels

Terri's sister flew home yesterday.  That leaves Terri and I to begin exploring the local area more closely.  We have made several subway trips into the center of downtown Brussels.  The ride into the main terminal at Grand Place only takes 10-12 minutes.

Grand Place Square

I don't know how many  times we will have to go in order to see all that is in the area but after 3 trips I am guessing it will take a dozen visits to really see the majority of sights.  We will be using our son Matts home as base for the next 3 month so every time we are back in Brussels we'll continue the exploration.

Grand Place Square

We visited our first museum in the Grand Place Square.  The  Brussels City Museum is the building on the left in the first photo.

The reason we began with this museum is "Manneken Pis".  It is the landmark small bronze sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into a fountain's basin. It was designed by Hiëronymus Duquesnoy the Elder and put in place in 1618 or 1619.

Somehow this small statue has become the symbol of the city.  Now here's the catch, it is hard to find and we haven't found him yet.  Another strange thing is they like to dress the little boy in different costumes (500 costumes) that have been donated from countries all around the world.  We thought that going to the museum would be a first good start in finding him.

The first two floors of the museum were fine art and history of the city.  The third floor was devoted to Mannaken Pis and his fine wardrobe.  I must lack any class because this was my favorite part of the museum.

Even Manneken Pis had political  thoughts.
Wonder what he would think of the Donald?

This is for Jamie.  How do you like Manneken dressed up like Elvis?

The search will continue until we find him.

Not down here.

Or here.

Maybe through here.

Down this way?

We'll have to keep looking.  The adventure is always in what is around the next corner.  It's just like life.

Life is good.... we'll keep wandering.

Next up:  A train trip and 4 days in Amsterdam, starting early Monday morning.