I can't say it is an overly memorable train trip, even with going through Ghent, then again it isn't like the places to really enjoy in Ghent are right in front of the train station. Big surprise! Arriving in Brussels, we got to enjoy a stop at Midi station, which is not all that attractive overall, but it is where the Chunnel train terminates. Just a couple of minutes later we got off at Bruxelles Centraal and had our shorter arrival trek to the hotel that we have had this trip, took about 5 minutes to get to the Aris Hotel. We walked in expecting to just put bags in their luggage room, but our room was ready for us so we checked in and took a few minutes to unpack things and settle into our space on the fifth floor. Turns out that if you opened the window and leaned out you could get a nice view of the upper reaches of the Grote Markt, which came in handy that night. As for unpacking, I don't know when it started, but I have always felt a bit more relaxed having things out of the duffle bag and hung up and shelved. Turns out that now I have Steph doing that as well. I think it has to do with the fact that when you have folds led that can wrinkle it is best to get them hung quickly, although it could just as easily be that I am a little Type A and feel a need to have things orderly.
It was then time to go through the stomping grounds so completely covered in March. As it was a late lunch time we stopped by La Brasseurs on the square for a bite of lunch and an adult beverage. This had been a pretty much daily stop during ITC, enough so that the weekday barman recognized me immediately. The biggest change was that we got to sit outside at a table and watch everything going on in the Grote Markt without having to be a direct part of it. The people watching was a great deal of fun, and in some ways even more pleasurable than Amsterdam because it was such a centrally important location and students, parents, tour groups, individual travelers, and a few locals found their way though here.
Around 3pm we decided we should get the mandatory stop out of the way, Manneken Pis. I don't think it is overstating the case that this is one of those underwhelming sights for tourism, and even Steph's reaction wasn't "oh wow" but more of a "that's it?" With such a reaction and with the warmth of being out we had enough time to go and do something a bit more memorable the Rene Magritte museum. I enjoyed it just as much the second time and Steph also was quite enthralled by his body of work, especially that in his impressionist period he did not eliminate surrealist elements to the paintings.
We wandered by the Royal Palace and park immediately to the north of it before sitting and enjoying the fountain and simply watching things go on around us for a little bit. By that point it was nearly 6pm so we went back to the hotel to relax and freshen up, a matter that was so much easier because the hotel was right on the edge of the market square on the Grassmarket. The more we had a bit of time, the more we realized that having a clean, albeit dated, place to stay in such a central location was not to be underestimated. We did not have that in Koblenz, but we did have it pretty much everywhere else, but nothing as truly close as being just 250 yard from the most central location of the city.
It only makes sense that when you are in the city of peeing statues you ought to see Janneke Pis, right in the alley where Delerum Tremens triplet of bar, cafe, and ministerium are. This statue is about the same size as its sibling, but it was more about the people there gearing up for the night's World Cup qualifier against Serbia. We stopped for the expected view of the place, and a glimpse of the beer bible and just how diverse and extensive their beer offering are, with well beyond 1000 choices. We chose not to spend too much time there as it was feeling like time to seek out something more substantial in the way of dinner, heading over to an Iranian restaurant Ken introduced me to, Caspian. If it hadn't been for his head's up I am sure that we wouldn't have stopped as there was nobody dining there. All of that changed within about ten minutes of our arrival, with four tables of people appearing in short order. The food is excellent, so very flavorful that is worth seeking out the block south of the row of Greek restaurants.
The long evening light led us to do two more things, seek out the last of the official peeing statues, Zenneke Pis, the leg lifting dog. This was the one I was least confident in finding, even with the map, because although the is some affinity for it, it is on an out of the way side street that I don't think many tourists would seek out. This may have been their intent, to have something more for the locals, but I am not convinced by that either. I knew roughly where it was, but the space invader street art was what led us to know we were in the right spot. In some sense I think it is the best of the three, but only because it has much more of a feel of accessible street art rather than something caged off and away so that people see it from a bit of distance.
Once I connected where we were at with being close to St. Catherine's cathedral we wandered up there to take a look at is as we were headed toward dusk and see the area that has the most specifically fish restaurants on the square that I know of in the area. The side light was seeing yet a fourth space invader tile art image. Based on it getting later we decided to head back east into the center of town and watch the second half of the game back at the micro-brewery we first stopped at lunch time. It turns out there were a few locals and then a bunch of guys from London, Chelsea fans to be exact, joined us for the half as well. It was all exciting and great fun to do. After the game we headed back to the hotel hearing all the reveling still going on to celebrate Belgium's win in the game. As we got to the room and opened the window they were lighting up the Grote Markt in blues and greens and reds so we got to see a bit of that right from our window.
I ended the night wondering whether or not we should have more actively pursued tickets to the football match. I felt so mixed about it because while it would have been wonderful to experience such a game in person they kept moving the game time back, and I felt less comfortable being so far On the edge of the city in an area that I didn't have the most inviting feeling about when I was there in March. Initially the game was supposed to be in the afternoon and I would have been much quicker to say yes, but for whatever reason the game start was moved to 8.30pm. This meant we would be coming home at night in situation that was potentially highly charged in an area that left only two options out of there, and neither was a simple walk. After the game was over I had that thought that maybe we should have, but by the same token what if the result wasn't a win for Belgium, would the feeling of people leaving the game created a riskier situation. Lots of what ifs and the only outcome to speak of was that we had a great day and a fun evening doing what we did.
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