Belgium February 2006 - The Grand Place

Hey guys. It was a cold and rainy day here in Belgium, but I did get
> to Brussels for a few hours.
> Now, I didn't get to do as much as I thought in terms of seeing the
> really important art museums - they were not that close to the Grand
> Place and like I said it was cold and rainy so I stayed fairly close
> to the square. It was raining just enough to keep my glasses wet, but
> not quite enough for an umbrella which I had left at the hotel, but my
> driver, Antoine, loaned me his. BTW, this year is the 500th
> anniversary of Mozart's birth, so Europe is going Mozart crazy!!!
> Now I'm not a big Mozart or Beethoven fan - my favorite composers are
> Strauss and Schoenberg. So, it was a nice ride to Brussels since
> Antoine was playing Straus on the CD player.
>
> Grand Place - basically the town square - is really beautiful. Of
> course, it's a huge tourist trap, but then I'm a huge tourist!!!! The
> architecture of the buildings is just awesome - I can't even begin to
> describe it. The Grand Place was the city's first trading forum and
> dates from the 12th century. It's been destroyed and re-built a
> couple of times. THe architecture is mostly Gothic and the sculpture
> is just incredible....I could have spent the day doing nothing by
> looking at that. Every two years, in the center of the square, they
> do a carpet of flowers - begoias from Ghent.. I'd like to see that
> sometime.
>
> Today, I went into the King's House - no king has ever lived there -
> it's the town museum - and the home of one of Brussels most renowned
> citizens - Manneken Pis.
> Actually, "he" is a statue of a little boy peeing (I guess that's
> probably where the word "piss" came from). THere are a number of
> legends surrounding him
> - one being that he was supposed to have extingushed a fire, thereby
> saving Brussels from disaster.
> Another
> one is that one of the kings way back then was having trouble getting
> an heir so he asked a bishop or the priest or some man of God to come
> to the palace and "intercede" on his behalf. Nine months later a son
> was born and he promptly peed all over the bishops beard so the bishop
> put a curse on him that he would never grow and would always be
> peeing. (Y'all know how much I hate that word, but it's the only thing
> that works in this story and if the Europeans can throw it about, I
> guess I can too.)
>
> Anyway, he is made of bronze, about 2 feet tall and has 740 costumes
> which are all exhibited in the museum. (Yes, there is an Elvis
> costume - the white jumpsuit). He even has his own website - check
> him out at http://www.manneken-pis.com/intro.html
>
> After that, I just walked around, stopped for some lunch, peeked into
> a couple of shops, visited a couple of art galleries. Mary Anne - no
> lace this time - there were plenty of shops, but they sold things like
> doilies - already made - no actual lace.
>
> Of course, there were chocolat shops EVERYWHERE.
> But,
> a lot of them were Godvia (which is all over the
> states) and NEUHAUS which they have in the hotel. I had just about
> decided to save that for another day when I happened upon one that
> looked interesting.
> Popped in there - had a nice chat with the owner - they are local and
> independent and offered me a sample
> - certainly couldn't be rude and refuse!!!! It was so good that I was
> forced to buy a box of assorted candies. The proprietor assured me
> that it was last for eight weeks. HAH!!! It may be GOOD for 8 weeks,
> but it will never LAST that long. In fact, excuse me for a minute,
> while I pick out another piece.
>
> Strangely enough, I only saw one street musician and he wasn't very
> good. He was playing mainly Johnny Cash - they are really big on him
> over here right now
> - WALK THE LINE is playing and a couple of people at the office have
> asked me about him - like maybe they think I KNEW him or something.
> IN fact, there is a Johnny Cash biography on BBC right now as I write
> this.
>
> OK - time for bed. Got a busy week - will be home next Sunday.