The Mannekin Pis Tour
Day 1: Brussels

Our first day of the trip was mainly just a travel day, where we got the train from London to Brussels. From there we did a bit of sightseeing in Brussels itself.

The main area for sightseeing in Brussels is the historic centre based around the Grande Place and the Central Metro and train station.

As you might expect in Belgium, there are a lot of places selling Belgium Chocolate. I think I counted at least eight different chocolate shops, plus a lot of the souvenir shops offered hampers and gift packs of chocolates.

I think the best time to explore the centre of Brussels is after dark when it takes on a beautiful atmosphere. At this point we decided to look for the cities signature landmark, I've seen the Houses of Parliament in London, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Coliseum in Rome. I wonder what Brussels has?

Brussels has the Mannekin Pis. He's a two foot high statue that spends all the day peeing in the pool below him, he isn't wearing anything here, but he often dresses up in different costumes. Easily the most fun, and my personal favourite, landmark to appear on nearly all of a Cities souvenirs that I've seen.

Apparently he's been stolen seven times over the course of his history. This includes by Antoine Lucas in 1817, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Making him possibly the only person in history to go to prison for taking the Pis.

There's a huge tourist industry based around him, the square he's located at has a Mannekin Pis (or Manneken in Flemish) Tavern and chocolate shop, and every souvenir shops has various models of him, including some very bizarre corkscrews, and some unusually shaped chocolates.

The historic centre of Brussels did remind me a lot of the Old Town in Prague, with it's spectacular gothic architecture. This is the Grande Place, that when seen at night is one of the most spectacular areas I've seen in any City.

Another shot of the Grande Place.

Just off the Grande Place is the Galerie du Roi. It's a spectacular shopping arcade, the photos here don't do it justice.

Just of the Galerie du Roi is this street, which is lined end to end with a great selection of restaurants. It's great if your hungry, just don't go at a quiet time, or you'll be stopped at least four times by someone wanting you to eat in their restaurant.