My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
Tuesday, January 7, 2025
I had finally figured out how to get in on the Shore excursions game. It had been cleared by the directors, so I went to visit the office after 9pm the night before to make arrangements. Did I want to go to Brussels the next day? Yes. Yes I did. I met the group early the next morning in the theater.
Brussels is further out from the port – over an hour – so while this tour usually ended up being a long day, but due to an earlier scheduled departure, I would be back with plenty of time before the evening. On the way we stopped to look at the Atomium, which was built for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair.
But in real life it wasn’t too bad (just much colder than it looks)!
The Atomium is perfectly proportionate (supposedly) to an atom. So we took pictures.
This is the palace where the Royal Family lives:
Here’s a church:
The bus wove through the bustling city traffic and dropped us off in the center:
I bought one praline for €5 and it was delicious.
Then we went to the square.
I just love it here. I love all the old buildings and the squares and the narrow cobblestone streets. Our guide led us down one of the streets to see this very famous statue:
This little boy is peeing 24/7 365 days a year. There are souvenirs of this statue all over Belgium, but this is the original. Looking at the picture, it was bigger in my memory.
After taking a moment to appreciate the statue, the guide let us go for some free time, so I cornered him. He had mentioned that muscles were in season on the bus. Where could I find the best muscles? He said he would show me the way.
He took me to this place just off the square and coached me on how to order – just get the plain muscles- they don’t need all that extra fancy stuff. He gave me the words to order in French and I repeated them over and over in my head.
I was seated right away at the restaurant, but first I had to use the bathroom. On the way there I found this:
It reminded me of Lin Manuel Miranda’s bookshop in New York.
By the time I returned to the table, the words I had memorized had morphed into sounds that the waiter did not understand, but with the help of pictures and pointing, he eventually he got the message.
The beer was amazing. The muscles were amazing. The fries (which are Belgian not French) were perfect and the bread was soft and flaky. I was in heaven. And then I realized that muscles rhymes with Brussels. This revelation delighted me well beyond the words. I was so tickled that I posted it all over social media.
Later I learned that Jean-Claude Van Damme was knicknamed ‘The Muscles from BrusselIs’ So apparently I wasn’t the first to have this epiphany.
Still proud, though.
After lunch I had a little bit of time to sweep through the streets, find some chocolate and souvenirs,
And touch this statue to make my wish come true.
With that, it was time to head back to the bus and return to the ship.
Mussels, pralines, peeing statues, and a wish? Brussels completely charmed me.