Brussels, Belgium
Friday, May 22, 2009

Garrett and I didn't have anywhere in particular we wanted to go, so we just started wandering. We took a ton of pictures, but here are just some highlights. We started out at Grand'Place:




Apparently the town hall (Stadhuis/Hotel de Ville) really does function as a town hall. It was of course closed when I first saw it on the Sunday evening, but today we were able to go inside, and there was even a wedding party out front. It turns out it's just a square in the middle:

These are my favorite buildings in Grand'Place.

This was just a cool shopping plaza we found in the northwest part of town.

The northeast corner (the back side) of the Bourse.

The movie theater (well, the one closest to my house) is at this crossroads.

The St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral.

Apparently the statue in the middle of this one is of the "first" king of Jerusalem. (I thought maybe Melchizedek held that distinction, but this guy's from the Crusades. Think Middle Ages, not Old Testament. )

This is the Palais de Justice, seemingly near the center of the city. (It's hard to tell when you're just wandering...)

I had to use my picture of Garrett on its steps because I fancied it rather artistic. I have that problem of being really attentive to the way I take pictures, which often makes me like photos I carefully framed of other people more than the ones they take of me... ;)

Inside the Palais de Justice.

I'll save my EU pictures for another day, but this is straight east of the city center, past the European institutions and towards Garrett's place.