Brussels September 2008

At the end of September I had to work a trade show in Brussels. Now, Brussels is a funny city, and not my favorite in Europe. In fact, it rates above only Paris from being at the bottom. But I enjoy going anywhere with Diana, and she'd never been there.

I say Brussels is funny. As the HQs of NATO and the EU, as well as lots of other international organizations, you'd think it would be a very international city. But it's not, it's French!. Outside the tourist areas, no one can or will speak english, and you see very few foreigners on the streets.

Also, I'd always wanted to take the Eurostar, the train that runs between London and Paris and Brussels. So we booked onto it.

After a September of really rainy, crappy weather, the weekend in Brussels was lovely, sunny and mild. We spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday playing Japanese tourist around the center of the city. Then, when I went to work on Monday, Diana went to the city outskirts for more sightseeing.

A couple of more notes. Brussels is also a city of bizarre fountains. You'll see several pics of fountains. The most famous is the Mannequin Pis, which is a little boy peeing into a fountain. They dress him in different costumes. There are 2 other that go with this, his sister and a dog. There's pictures of them too. Not really sure why the Belgians are so fascinated with urination.

Also, you'll see pics of the Atomium. This is a giant replica of an atom left over from the 1958 or something world's fair. Oddly, the place I was working the trade show turned out to be right beside it.