Imagine our surprise when we found out that our forever friends, Lynn, Graham & Trina were going to be in Brussels the same day as us. We knew of course that they were in Europe and likewise they knew we were on this cruise but to meet up was very very special. To get to Brussels from Antwerp we chose a tour called "Brussels on your Own" that gave us 3.5 hours of free time to meet up with our friends. Our bus departed around 10am and we arrived a little before 11am. As it is a public holiday here today there was very little traffic to hold us up on the 45km drive to Brussels. Our guide pointed out interesting things and one was this magnificent structure that was erected to celebrate Expo '58. It has had a few facelifts over the years. There is a restaurant in the highest dome and the views from there would be amazing. Apparently on a clear day you can see Antwerp.
The tour guide suggested that we meet our friends outside the City Hall in the town square. We found it without difficulty but there were hundreds of people here and we wondered how we would spot each other. It wasn't difficult. We seemed to hone in on each other.
After all the hugs and greetings we decided to walk the outside perimeter of the square. I had seen on our map that there was a "Manneken Pis", that in English would be a Statue Pissing. Sounded like a bit of fun so off we headed. We knew we were in the right area because every shop had an imitation of the pissing statue.
Now, I thought we would be looking at a statue that was very large, as most statue's are, but when we came upon the "Mannekin Pis" we all burst out laughing. This is it. You have to look really really hard to see the little boy pissing into the fountain. Hahahahahah…...
We continued our walk, stopping here and there to purchase a few things but the men were starting to make noises about finding a beer, after all Belgium is the beer capital of the world!
It was the name of this place that decided where we would eat. I kid you not. It was called Drug Opera. How on earth did they come up with this name! Anyway the beer and wine were cold and the meal was delicious. Fish & Chips all around! Check the size of the beer glasses!
After lunch and before we started the walk back to our waiting bus we all needed to use the loo. Oh my goodness. We were sitting outside on this beautiful day but inside was a whole other world. I reckon they would have seated another 200 people inside on the three levels. It was gorgeous.
The Cathedral of St. Michael is where we would meet our guide and waiting bus so our friends decided to walk us back there. It wasn't far, maybe 500m. There was a lovely shaded area outside the Cathedral so while Trina, Lynn and I went inside for a sticky beak, the boys waited for us outside. It didn't take us girls very long to meet up with the boys. All Cathedrals start looking alike after awhile.
This is a day that I will never forget. It was just so lovely to catch up on each other's trips thus far. During the course of conversation it turns out that we might meet up again in Singapore on the 3rd October on our way home. Now wouldn't that be an amazing coincidence…….
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