Brussels and if you gotta go, you gotta go.

Before my wife and I left Pennsylvania for Brussels, we tracked the weather of that bilingual city with the intensity of a national meteorologist tracking a "storm of the century."

Like many of them, we miscalculated.We thought Spring was just days away, so we left our winter cloths home.

Bad move.

Unfortunately for that beautiful city, going forward, my first thoughts of her will always be "damn I'm cold," and "where's the umbrella?"

 Brussels wears two hats. It's the capital of Belgium and the Capital of the European Union. If you enjoy the random gargoyle, beautiful architecture, cobblestone streets and history galore, then you'd love walking around this city.

The circular structure in the middle of the photo below....

 is a part of the original wall the used to surround the city in the 13th century.

 My daughter meeting us in one of the city's beautiful gardens, after putting in a few hours at the office.

 They do take their beer seriously in Brussels. That is not a champagne bottle.

 As we were walking through the city, we bumped into about 6 guys who were out and about having a good time. It seems, the gentleman pictured below had to kick a ball through the legs of a stranger and if he missed he had to take a swig of the beer he was holding in his hand. ( we were under the impression this guy was getting married and this may have been part of his bachelors party.)  Anyway, with his friends cheering him on, he takes a shot aiming at my wife's legs.

 He misses ( on purpose) and he has to guzzle his beer to the delight of his friends.

 It never fails, my wife will find wildlife to feed where ever she goes.

 I don't believe I've ever seen people walking the tight rope before.

 The Triumphal Arch at Parc du Cinquantenaire is very impressive.......

 but I don't understand the zip lines they have set up for tourist from the top.

 Wouldn't that be like having zip lines from the Washington monument? Just not right.

And something else that isn't right. Someone was walking a mop-like dog.

So, if the history and architecture and unbelievably impressive churches don't get your blood flowing,
the chocolate shops ON EVERY CORNER should.
Below is Pierre Marcolini..........

 and across the street is Godiva, my actual place of worship.

 I walked into Pierre Marcolini's store and the atmosphere was as if I was walking into a high end jewelry store. I had my camera in hand, but Matt wispered in my ear, "I think Erin got yelled at for taking pictures in here a few weeks ago."
I mean to tell ya, they take their chocolate goodness seriously. I refrained from taking photos, until I got outside.

 And then, we have the pride of Brussels, the famous landmark of the statue of the urinating boy.
There are about 7 different legends concerning this little tinkling statue, I like to believe the one that states it is in honor of some troops that were fighting in 1142, and this 2 year old lord was put in a basket and the basket was hung from a tree to encourage the troops. When the enemy came under the basket, the 2 year old lord urinated on them.
So there you have it.

 As you can see, Mannekin Pis is everywhere.

 Next post, the beautiful medieval city of Bruges.