Brussels

Brussels, the capital of Belgium and home to may European Union institutions. Brussels is a bilingual city (Flemish and French) enclaved within the Northern (Flemish) part of Belgium.
In recent decades, the arrival of European officials as well as of immigrants and refugees from all over the world have made it a bustling town with a very colourful, varied population, but also one with increasing traffic and parking problems. But fortunately, there are spaces and parks where anyone can find some quiet and rest away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

The Town Hall Tower

The Town Hall Tower is located in the Grand Place, the Medieval Market Square, in front of the Brussels Town Hall. The tower, in pure Gothic style, dates from the 15th century. The tower is topped by a gilt statue of St. Michael, the city's patron saint, fighting the dragon. Legend has it that the architect Jean Van Ruysbroeck, commited suicide beacuse the porch looked badly centered. it is a fact that the two wings of the town hall are not of equal size, because they were not built at the same time, and for the same reason, the gate is not in the middle of the tower.

The Maison du Roi

This pretty building is called the King's House in French, but no king has ever lived there. In Flemish it is more appropriately called Broodhuis (Bread House), attesting to the fact that at one time it used to be the Baker's Hall. It was subsequently rebuilt to house the administrative offices of Charles V. It is here that the martyrs of the Reformation, Henry Voes and Jean Van eschen as well as Egmont and Hornes were executed. Today, it hosts the Museum of the City of Brussels.

Manneken Pis

One of the Popular sights in Brussels is Duquenoy's sculpture of a little boy relieving his bladder, called Manneken Pis. There are several anecdotes about the origins of the statue. One of them say that the little boy was found resorting to his natural kind of fire-extinguisher to douse an arsonist's fuse, thus saving part of the town from what might have been a murderous fire at the time when many houses were still built in wood. Most tourists expect a large statue; actually, it is hardly 2 ft tall. But the shops around the statue sell copies in all sizes and substances. Brusselers find it a bit surprising that while the city has so many beautiful things to show, it is this little statue that proves to be one of its major tourist attractions. Manneken Pis has a whole wardrobe of costumes. Famous foreign visitors and heads of state will sometimes thoughtfully offer him a suit of clothes. The costumes are displayed at the Brussels Historical Museum at the Grand Place.

The Galeries Saint Hubert

The Galeries Saint Hubert, built in 1846, feature luxury shops and cafés, a famous tavern, a cinema and a theater. They provide a link between the surroudings of the Town Hall Square and the National Opera. Smaller side galleries are the universe of antiquarians and librarians.

Saint Michael's Cathedral

The Gothic cathedral of Saint Michael is known to Brusselers as Sainte-Gudule (an apocyphal saint). In front of, a statue of the late king Baudouin, who was loved as a symbol of national unity in a country divided by ethnic and linguistic strife between Flemings and Walloons.

The King's Palace

The King's Palace, built near the Brussels Park, hosts the King's offices and services and plays a mainly ceremonial role. The King and Queen's residence is a palace just outside town, linked to the centre of town by means of the Royal Avenue. The Belgian flag, black, yellow and red, flies from the palace when the king is in the country.

The Flea Market

In the centre of the Marolles quarter we can find the Brussels Flea Market. This is where the real Brussels dialect, a strange mixture of Flemish and Belgian French, can still be heard at times; though like much of the rest of Brussels, it has become very international.

Place de Brouckére

In the centre of town, at the meeting-point of two large downtown avenues, Brouckére is a busy spot, alive with commercial and cultural activity both during the daytime and at night. It is the home of the Metropole Hotel, Famous for its Art Nouveau dcoration.

Rue de la Loi

The Rue de la Loi (Law Street) is one of the main inroads into central Brussels, and is chronically congested and polluted : in the morning by people going to work, in the evening by people seeking recreation downtown, and on weekends by trucks and cranes attending to various bulding sites. This narrow-looking urban canyon, lined with the buildings of the EU, corporations, banks and insurance companies, leads straight from the European quarter to the government quarter, and beyond that into the city centre. Recently, the five lanes of the street have been reduced to four in an attempt to "humanize" the street and make room for pedestrians, cyclists and the handicapped.

The Free University of Brussels

The University of Brussels was founded in 1834 by the Freemasons as a non-confessional alternative to the Catholic University of Louvain. The hall and tower in the picture, now part of the main library, were built between the two World Wars in a style of reminiscent of American colleges. Franklin Roosevelt Avenue, where the University was built, was the site of the 1905 World Fair. The statue in the foreground is of Theodore Verhaegen, the founder of the University. Every year, on November 20th, students celebrate the birth of their University by a noisy, beery parade in the centre of town.

dus dat was mijn reis naar Brussel.
hoewel ik ga er gewoon voor een nacht, ik nog steeds genieten er echt van.

Ik hoop dat je het leuk vindt