Shantel-e-Lace: Brussels Sights

We only had one day in Brussels so we had to make the best of it. Our first stop was the Brussels Palace.

It was very pretty and the garden was spectacular. There were gardeners out working as we were there and it appeared they groomed the garden at least weekly, if not sooner.

Even the gate to the palace was nice. It was rod iron with gold accents. This place was heavily armed. They had guards just like at the cathedral in Prague.

Across the street from the palace was a really nice garden. Brian and I took a nice little stroll through the gardens to see all the landscaping. At the end of the garden there was a pretty fountain, that we stopped at and found a nice bench to relax for a few.

Just a quick walk from the gardins and we arrived at the beautiful St Michael and Gadula Cathedral.

This church looked similar to the Notre Dame again. It was built in the early 9th century. It had awesome stained glass windows inside. They all seemed to tell a story, and had such great detail.

In the afternoon we went to the Grand Place Market. The buildings there were really neat.

We also got to see the Belgium "mascot" the manneken pis statue. I kept seeing replicas of the statue all over like in front of the waffle shop:

And all over, so when we arrived at the statue you can imagine my shock when I saw a teny tiny statue.

After using the zoom as far as I could I got a close up.

After seeing the statue we decided to go on a brewery museum tour.

We got to see some old brew tools and learn how the beer is made.

We even got a free (included in price) beer! We went to the bar and the bartender asked light or dark beer, Brian said dark and I said "no thanks," and when I did I got the stare of death as he said "what?, what beer do you want." Since I'm pretty sure I offended him I quickly said light. Brian said he is sure no one has ever turned down a beer before with that guy.

I took a drink because the guy watched me the whole time, and it was..... BEER! I hated it and could barely choke down one drink. So I learned to do the fake drink then when the guy looked away Brian drank from my cup.