Off to Brussels

I had a business meeting in Brussels, so it was a good opportunity to take along the whole family for a long weekend trip to Belgium. We were able to take the ICE high speed train this time, which really felt like riding in style. We reserved the "little kid room" on the train, which felt like we were travelling in a living room.

There were a total of 6 seats in our little "suite" - four wrapped around the table, and then another 2 in a semi-separate room. For most of the trip we had the entire compartment to ourselves, which was very nice.

For the last leg of the trip, a man came an sat in one of the other seats in the compartment. A few minutes later, an older man came by and started talking in French. He didn't really seem to be addressing us specifically, but rather seemed to be talking in general. He and the other man in our compartment spoke back and forth for awhile - but we had no idea what they were talking about. The older man seemed rather agitated, but I wasn't really sure what we were supposed to do. There were plenty of seats on the train, so it didn't seem to be an issue of finding a place to sit.

After the two finished talking, the older man continued to stand outside the door to our compartment. After 10 minutes or so, the older man started crying. He cried for about 5 minutes, and then stopped, but continued to stand outside our compartment for the remaining 40 minutes of the trip. The whole episode was very disturbing.

Once we got to Brussels we checked into our hotel, which since we were staying on a business trip was much nicer than the level to which we are normally accustomed. I found out later that the royal family in Belgium keeps a floor reserved at this hotel for when they are staying in Brussels. In fact, we noticed later that all the side streets around the hotel were blocked off and guarded with police, so it is possible they were staying there when we were.

After checking in, we headed downtown the to the Grand Place, which is pretty much the tourist attraction in Brussels. It is the central square in town that is marked by a couple of impressive gothic buildings, and an impressive array of old guild houses. Interestingly, the house where Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto is in the Grand Place. Karl Marx really got around during his European travels, as this must be the fourth of fifth place where we've walked in the footsteps of Karl Marx.

Brussels was busily setting up for a big Christmas lights display that was set to be started the following weekend. We were disappointed that we wouldn't get a chance to see that, but SJ had a good time wandering around the square nonetheless.

Off the Grand Place is Brussels' most famous tourist attraction, the Mannekin Pis. I have to say it is one of the most overrated tourist attractions I have seen in Europe. The statue itself is probably less than 2 feet high, and for some reason they have developed the tradition of dressing the statue up in ridiculous outfits.

After the Mannekin Pis, SJ took a nap in her stroller while we went for a walk around the city. Like something straight out of a sitcom, as we passed underneath a passageway it erupted with the sounds of incredibly loud bells. Amazingly, SJ did not wake up - she must have been really, really tired.

We ended up in the park in front of the royal palace just as SJ woke up from her nap, and as luck would have it, there was a rather nice playground.

Always the swing connoisseur, SJ found a new type of swing in Brussels that she had not seen before. She was quite thrilled.