How (un)lucky can you be?
A free stay in the Metropole Hotel in Brussels on 3-4 June 2006
Well, depending how you interprete it, we (my wife and I) were lucky to win
a weekend for free in the Brussels Horta-styled Metropole
Hotel by simply replying to one simple question in the well known
touristic broadcast "Vlaanderen Vakantieland" on the VRT (Flemish
Television Channel).
Altough I could call it also UN-lucky, as usually most
winners get a free weekend wide away from home (like Barcelona, Athens,...you
name it..), and we "just" won a stay overnight in Belgiums capital,
the city of Brussels, where I spend already 5 days a week....as I work there..
:-)
DAY 1
The Hotel Lobby as well as the room we got, all breathe out the spirit of
Horta (see first 3 pictures below). The room had a view from a balcony into the famous
"Nieuwstraat / Rue Neuve", the main shopping street in that area of
the City.
On our first day of "city strolling" we took the subway until
"Park". From there it takes about 5-10 minutes walk to the nice
"Old England" house, where the Musical
Instrument Museum is located.
It is not only worth a visit because of its large instrument collection but
also because of the extremely exciting 360° panorama that is offered to
anyone who wants to get on the top roof level (picture below). If you only
visit the Restaurant you just have to mention this at the entrance, so you do
not need to buy a ticket. In summer you can enjoy the heat of the sun together
with the glass of wine accompagnying a high-quality lunch at a very reasonable
price.
From there it goes down towards the "Grand Place", taking the
peak of the City Hall as direction indicator.
Passing by the "Kleine Zavel / Petit-Sablon" and the "Grasmarkt
/ Marché aux Herbes" you can have a look into the typically glass-roof
covered Saint-Hubertus Gallery (Picture) and then continue the walk until you
end up at the world famous "Grand-Place" where the
"Broodhuis" (=Bread-House) (Picture) is really one of my upmost
favorite houses on the place.
"Noblesse Oblige": On the right of the City Hall, leave the
Grand-Place towards the "Stoofstraat / Rue de l' Étuve" for taking
the mandatory picture of "Manneken Pis".
One of the legends says they found this lost child in this status and his
desperate parents promised to raise a statue how and where he would be found.
Another legend states that he was using his male instrument for extinguishing
a starting fire (that could have burnt down the whole city !). When you
are lucky, you will find him dressed for a special occasion (Picture).
Later on the evening we had an exquisite dinner at Yoma's,
a small, cosy restaurant offering French Cuisine in a special, modern design
architecture.
Day 2
After a wealthy breakfast buffet, we checked out, left our luggage at the
hotel desk, took the underground (metro), or better, in this case it was
the "pre-metro" (just a normal tramway that goes underground) from
the Brouckère Place to "Lemonnier".
From there it takes just a 5-10 minutes walk to the famous "place
de Jeu de Balles" in the "Marolles" quarter of the city. Each
sunday morning the well-known Flee Market (Marché aux Puces / Vlooiemarkt)
exposes thousands of objects, things,....useless (for the one) or priceless
(for the other), while hundreds of people of all ages and races are crawling
all over the place in search of that one hidden treasure (see picture).
Leaving the Flee Market on the other side, to the Rue Haute
(Hoogstraat), you are passing by the one (real) antique shop after the
other, continuing into the direction of the Palace of Justice.
This giant building was created by the architect Joseph Poelaert and built between 1860 and
1880 in an eclectic style. Eclecticism means the combination of elements from different historical
styles in one single (here
architectural) work.
The Palace of Justice is situated on the top of a hill, making it even much
more imposant from the outside. It is believed to be the biggest building
constructed in the 19th century in the world.
It is 105 m high and covers a surface of about 24.000 square meters. It
functions as the supreme court of law for Belgium.
Nowadays an impressive elevator has been erected at the backside of the
Palace, mainly targetted to entertain the many tourists that happen to like
the free ride. The next 2 pictures show a view from below and from the top.
Then the stroll continues towards the Grand Sablon (Grote
Zavel) where the best Belgian "Pralines" from our most famous
Chocolatiers can be tasted (Marcolini, Neuhaus, Wittamer,....).
From there is goes downward to the Grand-Place again. When leaving the
"Sablon" via the Rue-Rollebeek-Straat, suddenly a cosy looking
restaurant with outside dining possibility, pops up at your right hand side;
it has been given a quite original name (See Picture), meaning "who is
going to take the dog out?"
Before reaching finally the Grand Place again, via the
"Dinant" street, I found a nice set of tables & chairs, as
mozaic of colours, on the "Place aux vieux halles aux Blés" (Oud
Korenhuisplein), worth of being taken a picture of.
Well, that was it almost. We walked further to the "Beurs" where
we had a typical Brussels lunch in the "Brasserie Falstaff" and
concluded here the nice weekend.
Unfortunately, there are too few of such weekends a year.....
