11th - 13th August

Thursday it rained. The relentless, steady rain that makes you want to stay in bed and watch movies. We went on a walking tour instead. Two hours of walking in the rain, with Viva tours, and a hilarious, knowledgeable guide named Ava. Caitlin got drenched, and we shivered our way through a history of Belgium and Brussels. Apparently Manneken Pis won an award for being amongst the most disappointing tourist attractions in Europe, so we weren’t too far off in our appraisal. We found the Manneken’s sister, a little peeing girl, and discovered a number of famous Belgian people.
To compensate for being cold and wet, Caitlin indulged in a waffle. We couldn’t find a vegan version, so I went for the next best thing, and ate some vegan churros. Hardly Belgian, nor healthy, nor gluten free. It was, however, delicious, and that’s exactly what mattered at that point in time.

Near the Grand Place are The Galleries. This is an indoor shopping strip, originally designed for royalty to shop in daylight with protection from the elements. Inside, was Mary’s chocolate shop. Mary’s was named after the first female chocolatier in Belgium, who went on to become the royal chocolatier, and also supplied chocolates for several American presidents. Here, I finally found a selection of dairy free chocolates, and went a little wild. The friendly staff showed me my options, and after a few days of drooling over things I couldn’t eat, I told her “one of everything please”. It was worth it.

There’s a chain of shops here called Exki, where they sell pre-made salads and sandwiches. It's all organic, and they have several vegan

and vegetarian options. I went and bought some adult (healthy) food for dinner, and for the grant total of €3, I had a lentil salad and some side greens. It’s amazing how a few lettuce leaves feel so incredibly good after a few days of fried foods and sugar. Thank you Exki, fast food winner of the week.

Friday was our last day in Brussels, and we made it a full one. The sun was shining, and for the first time I dared to show more skin than my hands and face. We began with a walk around two local parks, both of which are beautiful in their own ways. The first had a small lake in the middle, and so many ducks, ducklings and other water fowl that it was overflowing with fluffy cuteness. Mother duck watched us warily, but allowed us to get close enough for some nice pictures.
The larger park was connected to a palace, constructed around 1880 for the “Grand International Show of Sciences and Industry”. The buildings, statues, and sheer scale of the place kept us there for longer than intended. It seems like a great place to go running, so there’s a plan to return early morning.
Caitlin, with her better sense of direction, took us back into town. Every two years, there is a flower ceremony in the Grand Place, where a giant carpet is laid out in the centre of the square. The

display is huge, and incredibly impressive to look at. The number of tourists seemed to have quadrupled overnight, and it was easy to see why. It looks like a giant Persian rug, made entirely from layers of begonias. The display lasts for three days only, and we were lucky enough to see it while we were here.

We detoured to find more frites and waffles, then up the road to find the Zinneke Pis. Zinneke Pis is a pissing dog, installed on a street corner in 1998. A cheeky homage to Manneken Pis and his sister, we completed the trifecta, having seen all three urinating statues in Brussels. An achievement to be proud of. We hiked up the road to find a comic wall mural, and then further to an organic chocolate shop which no longer exists. We did find a different chocolatier, with archways of flowers outside, and the décor more impressive than the chocolate. The wall mural was called Guston Lagaffe. The main character devised complicated schemes to avoid paying for parking,

and according to our guide book, the city suspended parking payments for twenty four hours, with the unveiling of the mural. Unfortunately the mural had been graffitied, which was disappointing, as there were plenty of other blank walls which could have been tagged, instead of someone else's artwork.

Next stop was the Coudenberg Museum, which is an archaeological site of the former Palace of Brussels. On the way we passed a sculpture called "de riviere". The sculpture is a woman reclining uncomfortably on a bed of water. She is representative of the River Senne, the polluted river over which Brussels is built.
In the museum, we spent an hour learning about the gastronomic styles and preferences of Belgian royalty. There were impressive displays of pots, glasses and other kitchenware, found in the ruins of the palace, which burned down in 1731. I wasn’t so sure about the taxidermied birds, but the detailed explanation of table manners made us laugh. Apparently silence is an ornament of both women and children. Cringe, and laugh, that is.

We wanted to see the Manneken Pis gallery, which displays his hundreds of outfits, but we missed it by several minutes. Instead, we had a look at another comic wall mural, Rik Hochet. We found a ping pong table in the middle of the road, and visited a few supermarkets to find the best price and variety of (you guessed it) chocolate. The Australian ice creamery had a small selection of soy based ice cream, and for the novelty factor alone I had to see what it was all about. Pardon the pun, but it was nothing to write home about.
Dinner, sunshine and one final trip to buy more chocolate, and we sat down to catch up on writing, packing and enjoying our chocolate haul. It took a lot of will power on my part not to eat the whole lot in one go!

Saturday was a comedy of errors. It began with my early morning run, which didn’t get further than the front door of the building. The key stuck, and I couldn’t get out.
We left an hour later, in the car of our host, who had to come and rescue us from the apartment. He drove us straight to the airport. Despite the recent attacks, the staff and system at the airport were friendly and efficient. Which came in very handy, when I went to check in. In one of the biggest booking errors of all time, I discovered that my return flight was for September 13th, not August. Ticketing gave the number of the flight carrier, who were closed for the holidays. I tried calling my booking agent, and the public phone ate my money and cut me off, saying it was an invalid number.
After attempts at Skype calls and other internet connections, I ended up booking a brand new flight to Edinburgh. Caitlin was incredibly helpful, and I'm so glad for her presence!
Given the scarcity of flights, and the timing, I write this from the

business lounge of Brussels Airlines. The alternative was a flight to Newcastle at 9pm Sunday night, then a train to Edinburgh, potentially Monday morning. I’m considering the comfy seats and electrical charging points a silver lining, as my bank account and my heart are hurting at such a stupid mistake.
Note to self: double check, triple check, and then check again before confirming flights. It’s not worth it to do otherwise.