Today is a day to get to know Brussels. We did not feel the need to rush since this week is intended to be relaxing and restoration time.
We had a few issues with the apartment that are to be dealt with today. One was the kitchen faucet and the other was the stove. As we relaxed this morning the repairman arrived and fixed both. All is good.
We headed off to discover the downtown area of Brussels, in particular to explore the Grand-Place (the Grand Square which is the 2nd most important square in Brussels). Around this square is the Place de la Bourse. The Brussels Stock Exchange (BSE) (French: Bourse de Bruxelles, Dutch: Beurs van Brussel) was founded by Napoleonic decree in 1801. On September 22, 2000, the BSE merged with Paris Bourse, Lisbon Stock Exchange and the stock exchanges of Amsterdam, to form Euronext N.V., the first pan-European exchange for equities and derivatives, with common trading and clearing of all products, and was renamed Euronext Brussels.
We then had a good look at the other building on the square; the Town Hall (made the Grand Place the seat of municipal power) with the earliest part of the building was started in 1402. The facade is decorated with numerous statues representing nobles, saints, and allegorical figures. The present sculptures are reproductions; the older ones are in the city museum in the "King's House" across the Grand Place.
On another side of the square is the ‘King’s House’ (the Breadhouse). To counter this symbol of municipal power with the Town Hall, the Duke of Brabant built a large building across from the city hall as symbol of ducal power. It was built on the site of the first cloth and bread markets, which were no longer in use, and it became known as the King's House, although no king has ever lived there. It is currently known as the Maison du roi (King's House) in French, though in Dutch it continues to be called the Broodhuis (Breadhouse), after the market whose place it took.
The fame and beauty of the Market Place do not lie only in the Town Hall and the King's House, but perhaps first of all in the presence of a remarkably beautiful set of elaborately decorated guild houses. The name "guild houses" is most commonly used for the entire set of houses, although in reality they did not all belong to the medieval guilds. Some of the houses were always privately owned.
During the Middle Ages and later every city in the Low Countries had guilds or corporations which always had a stake in the city administration. Because they were very wealthy and politically powerful, their importance had to show in their houses in which they regularly met to discuss new rules or regulations within their specific trade or commerce.
In Brussels the guilds built their houses, of course, around the main town square. After the French bombardment of August 1695, the city ordered the guilds to submit the restoration plans of the houses before a final approval could be given for the construction. Because of this wise decision the unity of style could be preserved and former irregularities could be done away.
In the Middle Ages no house numbers were given, but names. There were so few stone houses that most people could locate a house just by its name. On the Grand-Place the names of the houses are often indicated by a little statue or some part of the decoration.
Then we had wondered around to the have a look at the Manneken Pis. Manneken Pis (Literally Little Man Pee in Marols, a Dutch dialect spoken in Brussels), is a famous Brussels landmark. It is a small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin. It was designed by Jerome Duquesnoy and put in place in 1618 or 1619.
We then walked by Place St-Jean on our way towards Place Royal. We passed some well designed gardens but again it is not the best time for the showy colors of blooms. At the end of the gardens we climbed some steps to gain an elevation for a backward view. From there we walked along Rue Montagne Hofberg to enter the Place Royale Square. I learned today that Belgium is a constituent monarchy and that Albert II is current King of the Belgians.
The square itself is built on the former site of the Baliënplein, which was the main market square adjacent to the former palace of Coudenberg. The palace burned down, however, during a fire that took much of the original royal complex on the night of February 3, 1731. Construction of the new buildings around the square took from 1773 to 1780, using the design of French architect Barnabé Guimard, who received that commission in 1769. The square is almost an exact replica of the Place Royale in Reims.
After we had a look at the outside and noticed the decorations and guards, we decided it was time to take a walk in the Parc de Bruxelles. We entered through one of the three gates opposite the Palais Royal (by crossing the Place des Palais) to find a beautifully landscaped and treed park. From our vantage point we could see straight up through a row of trees to a water fountain. In the trees to our right was a slight dip where there was a ‘natural’ trail through the trees. I think that because it was a bit of a dip and the trails were narrow gravelled they had the appearance of being more natural than the wide ‘avenue’ type of roads. We sat by the fountain to have a late lunch, but had to move when the breeze caused the water spray to sprinkle on us.
By this time we had figured it was time to consider heading back to the apartment. Our goal is to take it easy this week and get lost of rest. We headed back through the city to catch the metro. We got to the metro by 2:30 and waited for about 15 minutes for the tram that is advertised to be on schedule of every 3 minutes and 45 seconds. Time has a different meaning here apparently. Not a problem but by the time the tram arrived it was packed solid with travelers. Although we had visions of pick pocket from previous places we have been we had no indications of it happening here. However, we were careful.
As we walked from the metro line back to the apartment we pass through a small community square. Today there is a camera crew set up with a large green backdrop screen. In front of the raised backdrop is a raised narrow platform and on the ground below is a couple of large landing mats. The whole set up got our attention so we stopped to watch as a young man ran down the raised platform and threw himself into the air doing a couple of flips before landing. We watched him make several jumps in various forms, forward and backward. Obvious he was an acrobat and it was being filmed for some reason. We may find out someday, but for now it was a fun way to end the day.
We returned to the apartment to do some reading and to take a nap. Tomorrow we will likely head over to a cathedral we saw downtown and tour it.
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