This is a continued trip from the Netherlands.

We drove over to Brussels which took us about 2 hours or so. We are staying in the Marriott right in the middle of downtown. It is really really nice. It better be for about $600 and something a night, lucky for us it was free with Mike’s Marriott points, which made it even nicer!

Just across the street from the Marriott are the ruins of an old Abby in this below ground display.

 We walked over to the “Grand Place”. This is the focal point of the city. It was unbelievable! If you love Gothic and Medieval buildings this is the place to be! It was breath-taking to see! The only way to really experience it was to stand in the middle of it all with all the buildings surrounding you on all sides!

We walked over to see the “Manneken-pis” From what we hear no one really knows why this tiny statue of a boy peeing a jet of water has become such a cherished symbol of Brussels, but it has. Since the early 18th century, costumes of all kinds have been made for him, he now has over 650!

We walked through some of the cute shops and of course had to have a really yummy Belgium waffle. We then walked over to the “Restaurant de la Bourse” for dinner it was so good. Mike had escargot as a starter yek! He loved it though. We walked again over to the “Grand Square” where there was a concert going on. It was pretty cool with all the night lights etc. The band was pretty good and the sound, especially the bass were awesome in that great square!!! We thought of Andrew, he would have really loved this! We walked back to the hotel which was about 3 blocks and relaxed the rest of the night. Tomorrow we will spend a little more time in Brussels then drive over to Brugge.

Monday May 8, 2006
The bed at the Marriott was wonderful! We love the down mattress covers. We really want to get one of these!! We slept on one in a hotel in Japan too! We could have slept all day, but we got up about 8:30 a.m. We ate breakfast at Mc Donald’s since it was right around the corner from our hotel. We then walked over to the “St. Michael’s Cathedral.” We went inside it was really pretty. Along both sides of the cathedral are the apostles in stone. It was a cool Cathedral. We then walked over to the “Royal Palace.”

We ate lunch at another café. For dessert of course we had a strawberry and cream “Belgium” waffle. Their waffles are made differently then we would make them, they are sort of creamy inside but not too sweet. They are sooo good! Oh, and yes I’m sure they are good for you too! We walked back to some of the shops. We bought a huge tapestry for the dining room. We can’t wait to get home to hang it up! We decided it would be a great anniversary present to each other since its next month anyway. It was expensive but really beautiful. Besides a tapestry from “Belgium”! No need to say more. I had to of course rub the Statue of Everad‘t Serclaes. He died on the site in 1388 resisting Flemish occupation. People passing by have always stroked the limbs of the bronze statue for luck.

Shop where we bought our tapestry

We then walked back to our hotel to get our luggage and the car. We headed for “Brugge” at about 2 p.m. it only took us about 2 ½ hours. Thank heavens for our GPS. We got to our hotel. “The Hotel Navarra.” It’s a local hotel very quant and small but clean. It was local and different, which made it a local experience which was fun! The elevator was funny it opened like a regular door then you got in and pushed the buttons. When it reached the right floor you just pushed it open like a door! All the rooms are up a ton of curvy different set of stairs. I took a few pictures of them but pictures never show how it really looks.