Business Trip to Brussels

Earlier this week I traveled to Brussels (Belgium) on a business trip (a meeting for a big European Commission research proposal; I'm collaborating with them for a similar US proposal).  As I've never been to Brussels before (except for an airline connection), I went up a little early so that I could have a quick visit.

Grand'Place (Brussels)

The most striking feature of Brussels has to be its central square (The Grand'Place).  We walked into the square on our way to dinner and I was just blown away with the magnificence of the buildings.  This picture is of City Hall.  We had dinner at a traditional Belgium restaurant after visiting a traditional Belgium pub (Belgian beer being the first of three significant culinary contributions hit upon in this blog post).

My host told me an interesting story about the square that I thought I'd relate ... the buildings around the square were built in the 11 century.  But in the 17th century the French bombed the square, almost completely destroying its buildings.  The Belgians decided to rebuild them, and this is the first one that they completed.  As you can probably tell, this 17th-century architectural style is very different than the above 11th-century style.  The citizens also thought inferior.  So, the rest of the buildings around the square were reconstructed in the 11th-century style.

17th-Century Style (much more "flat")

Ok, so, I mentioned three significant culinary contributions above ... Belgian beer was the first, but what else?  Well, Belgian waffles, of course!  Here is my breakfast!

Sue first thought this was my dessert, not breakfast!

And then the third?  My favorite of the three ... Belgian chocolate!  Here is a picture of the very nice shop where I made my purchases.  I was really looking for "bulk chocolate" to take home to friends, but there were only these artisan shops.  Oh well, the sampler box of dark chocolate I took home was a big hit :-)

I discovered when I got home that the clerk gave me more than she should have for the price I paid :-)

There are better picture of this online!

And I'll close with this picture of the Atomium.  This is Brussel's engineering feat that was highlighted during the 1958 World's Fair (just like the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1889).  (Side note:  I always thought the St. Louis Arch was constructed for a World's Fair (it sure fits the model), but it was constructed well after the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.)  You can ride an elevator to the top of the highest "molecule" and their are escalators that connect some of the others.
So, that was my half day or site-seeing in Brussels!

Russ