Museum Day in Brussels

Today was originally reserved for Luxembourg, but I managed to find a pretty good day tour that was only open on Friday.  No, today was going to be "museum day" instead.

First stop is the Royal Palace.  The present-day palace stands on the grounds that were once part of the Coudenberg Palace; a very old palatial complex that dated back to the Middle Ages.  Today the palace is only used for state functions.

Inside the Royal Palace

Next stop was the Musical Instruments Museum, a collection created in 1877 with a collection of a hundred Indian instruments given to Belgian King Leopold II by Rajah Sourindro Mohun Tagore in 1876 and the collection of the celebrated Belgian musicologist Francois Joseph Fetis.

The collection now boasts over 4,000 instruments.

Ornate cello, or viola or something.

Brussels is also the home of Adolphe Sax, of saxophone fame, which he patented in 1846.

Collection of stringed instruments.

A knot garden in Brussels

Champagnoteque??!!

The next stop was the MOOF museum (Museum of Original Figurines).

Yes, the Smurfs were a Belgian creation that began in 1958.  The original name was "Schtrompf", which is an invented word.  There are 105 different Smurfs.  The caps they wear  are Phrygian caps, which represented freedom in Roman times.

TinTin was created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi under the pan name Herge around 1946.  The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, which has been published in more than 70 languages.

TinTin's dog, Snowy.

And of course, American superheroes.

According to the City of Brussels Museum, my next stop, "The wardrobe of Manneken-Pis did not really grow in the 19th century. Between 1918 and 1940, it received around 30 suits. In the 80s we counted more than 400 and today we have more than 800!"  

Bizarre costumes from all over the world, including Saudi Arabia, Malta, Spain and more!  They keep about 100 displayed at a time, rotating the wardrobe every month.

You can also check out an interactive computer with all of the costumes, and where and when they are from.

Scary looking baby Jesus in a nativity scene at the museum.

City Hall in the Grote Markt.

Next up, the Chocolate Museum.

Complete with a demonstration of how chocolate is made.

Different kinds of cocoa beans from all over the world.  Why is Belgian chocolate so good?  Chocolate manufacturers in Belgium only use 100% cocoa butter whereas European Union legislation allows up to 5% of vegetable fats such as palm oil in chocolate, leading to a loss of quality.

But it must be considered how cocoa is harvested and workers exploited in poor countries.  Some men have never tasted cocoa from the beans that they themselves have harvested.

End of the day.  There was barely enough time for the Comic Strip Museum.  I got there right as they were closing, but the kind man let me in for free.

Merde is shit in French.

 Last bits of randomness for that day.

Weird French singing group.

Really weird.

Check 'em out.

Mmmmm...beer.

And I will leave you with this....thing.

In Bruges

"In Bruges."  A great movie with Colin Farrel and Brendan Gleeson.  

Here is the official trailer:

"Bruges is the most preserved medieval city in all of Belgium."  -Ken, In Bruges
So I decided I wanted to check it out. 

It was an hour train ride from Brussels, I spied the St Salvatores Cathedral and there was a proper downpour upon my arrival at the train station.  No problem, I ducked into an Italian restaurant to formulate a game plan to visit some of the main sites from the film.

 

My first stop in this UNESCO World Heritage city would be the 13th century belfry, and yes the steps were very narrow.  In a poem, the belfry was immortalized by Longfellow: 

In the market-place of Bruges stands the belfry old and brown;

Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, still it watches o'er the town.

Americans.

"I wouldn't go up there.  It's really narrow!"  366 steps!

Some of the 47 bells that make up the carillion.

Views from the top of the belfry.  Bruges is derived from the Dutch word for bridge.

Another glimpse of St Salvatores.

So a random group of kids approached me and asked me if I would be in a picture with them.  They were just trying to get their picture with lots of different people.  I was happy to oblige as long as I got a picture with them too.

A bad panorama of the Markt

In the Basilica of the Holy Blood.

Church of Our Lady as seen from the canals.

It's not that bad!

Old fish market.

This building with the pelican over the door was built so poor people would have a place to live.  It is still for poor people today.

You can see this doggy in the first 4 minutes of the movie.  He literally just hangs out the window on his pillow all day long.

This guy is playing a musical instrument invented in Switzerland in 2000 called a Hang.  The thing he is blowing into is called a didgeridoo.

 And here is some video

 

The Church of Our Lady again.  Its tower is 122.3 meters high which makes it the tallest structure in the city and the second tallest brickwork tower in the world (the tallest being St. Martin's Church in Landshut, Germany.  It contains the famous "Madonna and Child" by Michaelangelo.

Another shot of St. Salvatores after the skies cleared up.

A stroll along Minnewater Lake

The day was drawing to an end.  I didn't have time to visit all of the sites from the film, but I got to see quite a bit today.  Maybe I'll have to come back.

 That's a wrap!!