Today we are going to explore again. We have been doing some research and the Mini-Europe caught my attention and at the same park we could go to the Atomium. As we got to the tram station we arrived just as the tram was leaving so we had to wait for the next one. However, there seemed to be a problem up the street with a crew of metro workers bunched together doing something. The tram, which is suppose to be every 3 minutes and 45 sec was again about 15 minutes in arriving. And whatever the issue was, it affected this part of the track since the driver had to get out and manually set the tracks to ensure we continued on the street and did not turn onto a side street. I suspect the automated track changer was malfunctioning. We got to our destination without de-railing I am happy to report.
Mini-Europe is a park located in Bruparck at the foot of the Atomium in Brussels, Belgium. Mini-Europe has the reproductions of the most attractive monuments in the European Union on show, at a scale of 1:25. Roughly 80 cities and 350 buildings are represented. The park is renowned for the quality of its models, some of which cost as much as €350,000 to make (the Brussels Grand-Place). The park contains numerous live action models (train, mills, eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Airbus, cable cars, etc).
I could not help but compare this with Madurodam in Amsterdam. In both cases the miniatures are extremely detailed and well done. Both have the same scale of 1:25 and both have used bonsai plants to create the vegetation needed to surround the miniature buildings. I was impressed with both and again took so many pictures it took a bit of time to sort, organize and also to label. I decided that if I did not label the pictures while sorting them out that I would likely never remember what model represented what part of Europe. I am sorry if you find the pictures boring, but I did cut the number down as much as I could.
Both Wes and I enjoyed seeing models of locations we had visited on this trip but what really amazed us was the many others that we have not yet visited. There is so much to see in Europe and of course 3 ½ months will not give us a chance to see it all. I guess we will just have to plan another trip sometime.
As you look through the pictures note the people you see included to help with gaining a perspective of size. There are also pictures of Wes and I standing behind screens of period costumes. We spent several hours walking around and studying the exhibits and I would put this on the list of must dos if asked about Brussels.
After we left the Mini-Europe park we headed across the parking lot to find the Atomium. The Atomium is a monument in Brussels, originally built for Expo '58, the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Designed by André Waterkeyn, it stands 102 meters (335 ft) tall. It has nine steel spheres connected so that the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times.
MORE PICTURES OF MINI-EUROPE AT END OF THIS WRITEUP
Waterkeyn felt that an atomic structure would be symbolic of the era. It is a model of a crystalline metal molecule, magnified 150 billion times. It was intended to `symbolize faith in scientific progress and peaceful cooperation among nations´. The structure is 103 meters tall. The nine spheres representing the individual atoms are hollow, and measure 18 meters across. The connecting tubes are 3 meters wide. Visitors can travel around in the Atomium using escalators and stairways. The monument was originally planned to stand there for six months. However, it became a symbol not only of the World's Fair, but of modern architecture and the city of Brussels and of Belgium. It received monument status and stayed on the former exhibition grounds for over 50 years. It is now one of Brussels' main attractions.
Tubes connect the spheres along the 12 edges of the cube and all eight vertices to the center. They enclose escalators connecting the spheres containing exhibit halls and other public spaces. The top sphere provides a panoramic view of Brussels. Each sphere is 18 metres in diameter. Three spheres are currently (2008) closed to visitors, others can be reached easily by escalators. The vertical vertex contains a lift which was very fast and advanced at the time of building (the speed is 5 m/s).
We headed to the top to enjoy the panoramic views of Brussels with the outreach of trees and parks in all directions. We could see the random patterns of pathways through the trees and the organized roads with boulevards leading off in several directions.
Once we returned to the base we started to follow the route to visit 4 of the spheres using escalators and stairs. In each there was a theme and exhibits. The first sphere we had two floors of exhibits about the 1958 World Fair (which was the cause of this building in this site) and we were able to find a model of the Canadian Pavilion. We were reminded that in 1958 the Canadian Flag as we know it today was not yet adopted.
In the next sphere, which we rode up an escalator through a dark ‘leg’ with red lights, we walked through an exhibit of the history of immigration in Belgium and current day issues dealing with racism and other social challenges.
In the next sphere, which we got had to climb a set of stairs, we arrived at a restaurant and gift shop. We did not stay long here and took the set of stairs downward to the next sphere which is set up for school kids and talks. It was not open right now so we continued back down to the ground level and headed for home.
Wes is feeling a bit better today so we decided to walk through the park to catch the tram rather than retrace our steps through the parking lot. In this way we would be able to locate a store to pick up some groceries for the next couple of days. When we got to the store we were offered a taste of a yogurt. What surprised us that we were handed a large sized container of yogurt and not just a sample. We had to eat it there, but since it was good to and late afternoon, we had no trouble doing so. Wes had a chance to practice his French again so we had a very nice chat with the sales lady.
We returned to the room 3:30 today so it has been a longer day than we have had, but Wes is doing much better and was not too tired out. He only had a one hour nap. We will see what we can find for tomorrow.
More pictures to enjoy:
No comments:
Post a Comment