Yesterday, Thursday April 11, was a travel day. I arrived at my hotel, the Dominican, a Marriott hotel, at 1:30 in the afternoon. The Dominican is a very nice hotel, located in the heart of Brussels. The hotel is a 10 minute walk from the train station and ten minutes from the Grand Place. The main square in Brussels.
After settling into my hotel room, I decided there was enough time to check out the main art museum and walk around the city.
The fine arts museum has a nice collection of classic art from the 15th and 16th century, It also has a large Magritte collection. I am familiar with Magritte because the Dali museum had a special showing of his art. He was a surrealist, like Dali, who has a strong following.
Brussels has many parks and is a wonderful city to walk around. However look out for the bikes.
I am not sure what the deal is with this little guy, but he is called Manneken Pis. He is quite the attraction, there are hundreds of people taking photos. On certain days they dress him up in special outfits. It is customary for officials from other countries to but him an outfit.
This morning (Friday, April 12) I started my morning at the local Starbucks with a good view of City Hall.
I visited three museums today. I spent an hour at the history of Belgium museum (BELvue Museum). I had high expectations for this museum and it was a disappointment. I also visited an archeological site called the Coudenberg Palace, which I thought was pretty cool. It was a tutorial on early Brussels with what remains of a 13th century palace.
I then went to a musical instruments museum. The best part of this museum was the art deco building it was located in. I will try and get a photo of the building and post it. On display were over 1100 musical instruments. If you are a musician, I can see where this museum might excite you. While the displays were well done, it was not my thing.
I walked two miles to visit the Belgium Royal Army and Military History Museum. This was a fantastic museum. There was an unbelievable amount of historical items to see. I spent two hours at this museum and I could easily have spent much more time.
For dinner I had to try the famous Belgian fries. Of course I had to specially request ketchup or else I would have gotten mayonnaise. In my opinio, the fries were only so-so. I have eaten better fries in Saint Petersburg.
