Belgium: Brussels (Mini-Europe)

We spent our final day in Belgium exploring the rest of Brussels



Triumph Arch
Even though it has the same name(Arc de Triomphe) as the one in Paris, I feel that it strongly resembles the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and bears little resemblance to the one in Paris



EU Building



Atomium
A giant molecule of an iron molecule. It was a space-age leftover from the 1958 World Fair. Unfortunately it was closed for renovations.



Mini-Europe, next to the Atomium
It was rather expensive to enter but it was defintely worth it. Exact replicas of all the famous buildings in Europe are on display. All of them are scaled down to 1/25 and you can have a good feel of how big each building is in comparison to the other. Needless to say, the Eiffel tower was towering above everything else.



Compare the original Brussels' Town Hall...
[By the way, this Grand Place is the most beautiful part of Belgium with the Town Hall(+Belfry) and the House of the King which contains the famous wardrobe(600 costumes) of the Manneken Pis]



... to its replica. No wonder this replica costs 372,000 Euro.
Besides showcasing the many replicas of famous buildings all around Europe, there is a very good book given upon entrance educating the readers about the significance of each building and the significance of the EU. I definitely think that Mini-Europe has succeeded in attracting both tourists and educating the public about EU, its significance and its need to band together to face the world today.

Perhaps Singapore should also set up a Mini-Asean/Mini-SEAsia. Haha. No, serious. Singapore will then able to showcase the famous buildings in SE Asia and its diversity. What better country than Singapore, which is centrally located, to showcase this? Afterall, many tourists use Singapore to sling/hop to surrounding countries. Singaporeans, including schoolchildren, will also have good understanding of the counries around us. Not to mention the tourists flocking to Singapore just to see Mini-Asean. $$$$



Galeries Royales St-Hubert: the world's 1st shopping mall
where Han bought the high-quality, expensive Neuhaus Chocolate
The Neuhaus shop owner was evidently very happy to see a group of jap tourists, after us. She even has a jap assistant to increase sales. Why r the japs so rich & so welcomed in every part of the world?



How can u resist these waffles?



Manneken Pis-the symbol of Brussels/Belgium
It supposedly represents the "irreverent spirit" of Brussels but I dun really understand what irreverant spirt of the Belgian it is referring to.


Belgium Conclusion:
We went to 5 different cities in Belgium and covered all the essential icons in 5 nights, 4 days. Not forgetting the fact that we attended the Oasis concert in those 4 days. It was almost like an amazing race in Belgium!

Overall, I'm quite impressed that almost all of the cities in Belgium are well-developed. Each city is rich in history and has impressive architecture. The only city I would have gone if given more time is Spa, which is the famed site of healing hot springs and where the word Spa comes from. But then again, 4 days of churches & other urban architecture is a bit monotonous for me. I will prefer a variety of activties. Luckily in the upcoming Czech/Poland trip, I will be popping by Poland's Auschwitz concentration camp in the heart of winter. Haha.

Anyway, after exploring Belgium, it's easy to understand why so many international organizations are located in Belgium. It is indeed the melting point of Europe!

Belgium: Antwerp

Next morning, we then took the train from Leuven to Antwerp



Antwerp Central station, which has absolutely gorgeous facade & interior.



Antwerp is the world diamond centre. (70% of diamonds in world are traded here)
DiamondLand which showcases the different types of diamonds and technology to achieve the perfect 'Flanders' cut.



Courtyard of Rubenhuis (home of Rubens, Antwerp's most famous painter)



Cathedral of Our Lady, the largest & finest Gothic cathedral, which took 2 centuries to complete. It has breathtakingly beautiful interior and houses 4 early canvases by Rubens, such as...



"Raising of the Cross"
Nearby was the "Descent from the Cross" painting



Han & I in front of the Renaissance Town Hall at the Market Square



Replica at Mini-Europe



Maritime Museum



This was a super long pedestrain tunnel under the river to link both sides-1572m!

So glad we went for Antwerp instead of dismissing it as just a diamond city

Belgium: Leuven

After the Oasis concert at Brussels, Han & I took the train to Leuven, which is another town about 1 hour from Brussels. Han's law friend, Alex, has kindly offered us accomodation at his studio room. :)

Leuven may be a small university town but it sure is 'happening'. We were there around 1am and the streets were filled with young people. No, not that sort of drunk, loud hooligans but just young students enjoying themselves to the dance music at the bars down the street.



Leuven's town hall totally stunned me when I chanced upon it. I was blown over by the intricate carvings on the statues covering the building from the bottom to the top



Leuven's town hall replica in MiniEurope, Brussels



This is the statue of the eternal student 'pouring science into his head'

After a good night's rest at Alex's studio, we wanted to go explore the rest of the Leuven the next morning but apparently there wasn't exactly much. Except probably the stella artois brewery. After all, stella artois is belgian beer brewed right here in Leuven. But the tourist info lady advised us agst it, so we headed to Antwerp city

Belgium: Brussels (Oasis Concert)

After Ghent, Han & I then took the train back to Brussels Central to join Yunchen & Malou. We were going to catch Oasis concert at Forest National. Yes, Oasis! Alright, I must admit. I'm not exactly a rockconcert-goer. But after much persuasion by Han, I relented. After all, it's the Oasis. And how many people has a chance to catch them in action?



They were solid, as expected. Dishing out crowd's favourites such as Champagne supernova, Don't look back in anger, the impt of being idle... I managed to tape two of them too: Wonderwall and Don't look back in Anger. Enjoy :)

Overall, the energy of the crowd was evident. Everyone was jumping around. That's why u see my camera shaking. Cos the floor was shaking. The energy of the audience was definitely not sth u can find in Singapore. However, personally I'd prefer to do away with the smoke and the super high volume of the music blasting into your ears. Ok, rock concert is supposed to be loud but there must be a limit to the decibels, isn't it? It sure was slightly over the comfort level for me. And the smoke... Given a choice, I will still prefer "BBC last night of the proms" or "Yanni Live at Acropolis" over a rock concert. That's just me. But dun get the wrong idea. I had a great time and Oasis truly rocks.

As we exited the concert hall after the oasis concert, we saw police cars surrounding the exits. No doubt looking out for trouble-makers amongst the oasis fans. We ran to catch the last train. The last train was delayed for 10min for some reason. It was then we started to see posters. Posters of someone missing who was last seen in this train station. Ermmm... We started to make our way towards the centre section where there were more decent-looking people. Haha.

Belgium: Ghent

After a good night's rest in Bruges, we went on to Ghent

Ghent may be a lot less 'touristic' than Bruges but it certainly feels more authentic.

Ghent has quite an interesting history. It uses a Noose as its symbol. Yes, the hangman's noose. The object that will seal a poor man's fate in a few weeks in Singapore. Anyway, the people of Ghent are known as the 'noose bearers'. This is the reason:

"In 1537, Emperor Charles V found the inhabitants of Ghent guilty of disobedience, forgery, popular uprising, rebellion and lese majesty. He sentenced them to public humiliation: they had to walk the streets barefoot, with only a shirt on and wearing a noose around their neck. Nowadays they re-enact the incident with their heads held high, as proof of their proud obstinancy"



This is the must-see view from St Michael's bridge (next to St Michael's Church)-a unique view of 3 towers: St Nicholas' church, Belfry & St Bavo's cathedral



St Bavo's Cathedral is filled with art treasures and has 22 altars! It even an underground altar below it. It is famous for the mystic lamb painting which has one of its panels stolen and which is still missing.



There is this bearded harpist who plays such heavenly harp music that I was seriously contemplating whether to buy his 20Euro Cd. I didn't in the end but I sure miss his music. He's so good that every 5 min, a person is buying his Cd... I can't find his music. Anyone can help?! His cd is called "Harp Meditation between Flowers" (Link)



Impressive Castle of the Counts showing who's the boss
There was a display room showcasing the medieval weapons. Looking at all the two-handed swords, pocket crossbow, morning star, I suddenly feel like playing Diablo 2 again. Anyway civilization 4 is out. And the review is awesome.



View of St Bavo, Belfry and St Nicholas from the top of the Castle of the Counts



The Guillotine next to the Chamber of torture. Can your head fit into the bag?

Somehow, the words "Count" & "Castle" reminds me of vampires. Maybe I should go Transylvania in Romania to see Castle Dracula. Hmmm...

Belgium: Bruges

Next morning we grudgingly dragged ourselves out of bed. Definitely feeling tired after a night of fitful sleep due to the unfortunate fact that we were woken up every now and then by the opening and closing door next to us. :( Alright, but at least the breakfast was filling.



Early on a Sunday morning, Brussels city 'North' seems quite dead to us. Prob everyone went partying the previous night. It seems that this part of the city is undergoing some major development project as shown by the dozens of half-completed skyscrapers.

So we bought a 'Gold Pass' for 10 train trips, which we were 'supposed' to fill in whenever we took trains. Point is-the train conductor doesn't always check. :)



I must say that the subway is a bit tourist-unfriendly because it was quite hard to figure out which train to take. with so many trains running everywhere, even to UK, Germany, France from Blegium. Also, the spellings of the places where we were going were sometimes different from the one we know. Anyway, even the exteriors of some trains have huge graffiti pictures on it..

Bruges (Dutch: Brugge), a UNESCO city, is one of Belgium's chief tourist attractions. Medieval streets, winding canals. It is sometimes referred to as "Venice of the North". Seems like there are many cities contesting that name: Stockholm, St Petersburg....



Concertgebouw(concert building) which also houses the coolest Tourist info centre I've ever seen



St Saviour's cathedral in the background



Tintin!



Borough, aka Acropolis of the town. It is located at the Marked Place, ie the town square where there many people queuing for horse rides.



Belfry-the city's most remarkable landmark



Belfry replica in Mini-Europe, Brussels



After climbing 366 steps up, this is the panoramic view of Bruges. The tall building is Church of Our Lady which contains the white marble Madonna with Child by Michelangelo.



'Flanders Lace' Bruges is known for



Took a boat cruise along the canals



City Hall built in the Gothic style. Nearby was the Basilica of the Holy Blood



Even has some windmills on the outskirts of the town



Alright, Bruges definitely has streets of charming historic houses Surrounded by canals but it seems little too touristic, overcrowded and a little 'fake'. "In recent years, the city has turned so much towards tourism the locals sometimes complain they are living in Disney-land."



Well, but at least the Europa youth hostel was awesome!

Belgium: Brussels (Arrival)

Going to Belgium for 4 days, 5 nights with Han, Yunchen, and 2 filipinos, Malou & Daisy
Ok, as usual, some background knowledge 1st

Belgium:
-host to many prominent international organisations, notably NATO and EU
-'Cockpit of Europe' cos centre of many past battles in Europe
-Origin of waffles & French fries(disputed)
-Land of comics(Tintin, Smurf), architecture, beer, food(best food in Europe according to gourmets) and Chocolate!!



My virgin Ryanair trip!
It was the Ryanair flight crew's 1st day at work. Han commented that he hoped that 'crew' doesn't include the pilot. Fortunately, all went well. The plane didn't crash-landed onto the runway, unlike the filipinos' previous trip. And it wasn't as far from the city centre as expected for such ridiculously low prices. I only had to take a 1.5h bus from T-centralen to Stockholm Skavsta Airport and upon arrival in Belgium, had to take another 1h bus from Chaleroi Airport to Brussels Zuistation Midi.



Feeling adventurous, Han & I walked from Midi station to our hostel in the drizzle. Well, my theory is that while travelling, I must try to walk whenever possible to take in the different sights of the city. Turns out to be true. We walked along streets smelling of pee, under highways and through quiet, dark corners. I must admit my senses were heightened at that point of time, cos of all the bored-looking youngsters and men loitering around aimlessly. Not a single female or small child was in sight. I was mentally preparing myself how to react if anyone jumps at us. We 'fast marched' and avoided eye contact with anyone till we reached the city central where it was brightly-lit. Phew... (In retrospect, I still can't conclude whether it's dangerous there since nobody really approached us or stared at us Asians . But then again, they were all standing around in small groups around the dark, quiet streets...)

Anyway, the migrant Turkish community is quite apparent during our walk. There were many Turks and Kebab stores around. The youth hostel we checked into -Jacques Brel YMCA- was a disappointment. Actually it was more like a pensioner place with more old people than youths. The toilet stinks, the room was cramped and the facilities suck. Overall, the most horrible youth hostel I've been to so far.

Do you know?
Belgium is divided into 3 regions:
-Flemish Region(more Dutch-speaking)
-Walloon Region(more French-speaking)[contains the German-speaking community]
-Brussels-Capital Region (bilingual: Brussels-Dutch; Bruxelles-French)

(Most of the places I will be going to are in the Flemish Region)

Stockholm: (Royal Palace Visit II)

Royal Guards



Riksdagshuset(Swedish Parliament building). Notice how the new portion of the building fits into the old building



State Regalia



Swedish Chivalry





Swedish Carriage





Gorgeous ceiling paintings inside the Royal Palace





Super long table in the State Apartment where gala banquets are held during state visits



Can't understand how these were done with spray cans



well, I just can't overemphasize that Stockholm has fancy cars. Such cars are just parked beside the road. And it wasn't a car exhibition.



Anyway, this is the Stadshuset replica in Mini Europ, Brussels. The city hall is used for the annual Nobel Banquet.