December 11

 Brussels, Belgium

The Brussels Group

Khloe, Mike, LuAnn, Astrid (our Viking Guide), yours truly

We were up and on the bus at 9 am for a two-part tour of Brussels today.  The first part was about an hour long "Panoramic Tour" by bus where all the major buildings - mostly of the Belgium government and of the European Union were pointed out to us.  When the bus returned to the hotel we had a short break and then went on about a two hour walking tour around the central part of the city.

This is the Atomium which is very famous here.  The highest ball is over 400 feet in the air and you can go inside all nine balls.  An elevator goes straight to the top and it's a restaurant.  Escalators connect the other balls along the "tubes."  We were told that this is a favorite field trip site for school students and that it's possible and frequently done that a class can "rent out" one of the balls and have class inside of it AND spend the night.

Brussels at Christmas time:  Just random photos of shops during our tour that reflect the holiday spirit:

One of the highlights of the walking tour was when we visited the "Grand Place."  The square is so, SO huge you can't even imagine from the photos.  Was a good spot for photo op, of course.  Also took a shot of the traditional European cobblestone underfoot.

The final stop was at the iconic "Manneken Pis" which is a statute of a young boy urinating - which is also a public fountain (interesting).  The buildings right next door house the MORE THAN 1,000 costumes that the boy is dressed in to reflect the various holidays and festivals of the year.

The Lights & Sounds Show & Christmas Markets

We returned about 12:30 to the hotel and then reunited with Astrid for the evening's tours of the Christmas Lights & Sounds Show before walking through the Christmas Market.  Worth noting.....unlike previous Christmas Markets I've visited, here in Brussels there are many small Christmas Markets that make up, in their collective entirety "the Brussels Christmas Market."  We began by walking through some of the smaller market stall collections before arriving back at the "Grand Place."  After dark, with the lights it had a whole more festive vibe....then the lights went out and the show began.  It was really cool as the lights and animation were projected onto the face of the city palace AND the buildings on the sides of the square would change color and animate to the music as well. 

The Christmas Lights & Sound Show - A Sample

The show lasted about twenty minutes and then we headed over to the main city square for the hub of the Christmas Market.  IT WAS PACKED!  There was really little opportunity to check out all the stalls......well, you COULD have, but to fight the crowd just to get close enough to see what was being sold at most of the places simply wasn't worth it.  I had told our guide Astrid that I was looking for some kind of ornament or knick-knack at each market.  She asked me several times if I had seen anything but eventually I told her I would wait until tomorrow when we are in medieval Bruges and their much smaller Christmas Market.  I had also mentioned that I was interested in the mull wine or gluhwein - warm wine - with the souvenir cup.  When we came to a stall that sold that Astrid told all of us that this one was included as part of our package and she went and got two red gluhweins - for Khloe and LuAnn; a hot chocolate for Mike; and two white gluhweins for herself and I.  (See us enjoying them in the photo at the top of the page!)

The original medieval city gate - NOTE:  when this building was constructed they were required to build around the ruins of the ancient gate!

And on a side note - I must say I very much miss my wife being with me, but was happy to see a photo posted of her with her family (and our daughter Julie who went with Kim to Pa).