My heart is with Brussels. Two days before my train ride to Brussels, the terrorist attack happened. When I heard, I was sad that another violent act happened to innocent people and a lot of my friends contacted me to see if I was okay. I was still in London at the time, and they all asked me the same question, are you still going? I did not, for one second, think about not going, the question I had is more like how do I get there? Luckily, the Eurostar only stopped service for a day and so I was able to get to Brussels no problem. My return flight was supposed to be from the Brussels airport back to LAX, and the Brussels airport was shut down. At the time, I still had no idea how was I gonna get back.
Because of the attack, the city was very tense. There are military walking at different train stations as well as patrolling along the streets. There were people gathered in Place de Bourse for the victims from the attack. There were flowers, candles and music about peace. This was the closest I have ever been to a terrorist attack, and it was awful that it happened. I thought the memorial is beautiful. Honestly, if I changed my schedule or if the terrorist changed their schedule, I could have died. There were attacks at the airport and the metro, two places I was planning to be at some point. I was lucky.
First spot I went to was the Manneken Pis. It is a famous statue depicting a naked little boy peeing into the fountain. It was nothing like I expected, and I really don't understand why is it famous. Then, I did a little research and found that there were different stories about a little boy peeing on something to save the city in history, hence the statue. On occasion, the statue is dressed up in different costumes.
I walked around the area and saw another statue, the Everard t'Serclaes, who was made famous by recovering the Flemings. I saw everybody touching/rubbing the statue, and I figured it's a thing to do, so I followed, but have no idea why. I later found out that it is said among locals that the statue brings luck and grants the wishes of all who touch it, especially the arm, because it was said that rubbing the arm will ensure one's return to Brussels.
Above are some pictures I took when I was wandering the city aimlessly.
Now, this is the Grand Place/Grote Market, and it is the central square of Brussels since the 12th century. It is surrounded by apulent gulldhalls, the city's Town Hall, and some museums. It was the Easter weekend when I was there, and it was supposed to be PACKED, but due to the attack, it was pretty empty. Even the weather was gloomy. The sides streets around the Grand Place have a lot of restaurants that serve Belgium cuisines. I planned to come back to the Grand Place at night to take some pictures, but due to safety issues (the metro stopped running early, not a lot of people around), I didn't. Got to come back here!
More wandering around the city, and I found a lot of goodies! That meringue store was magnificent, thee best meringue I have ever had. There are also other goodies that looked really good, but I couldn't have tried it all. (sad face) I also found the Brussels Chinatown! It is small but it's there! I even had dinner in one Vietnamese/Thai restaurant, and it was pretty decent considering there isn't a huge Asian population around here.