Day 26 Brusels by metro, tram and shank's pony

With a day to discover the delights of Brussels we decided to explore on our own rather than taking an organized tour. In the morning we walked down to the town and discovered the classic tourist places starting with the Grote Market described as the finest main square in Europe (a big call). The 14th century architecture was very impressive but the tourist groups with their flags and school excursions dominated the landscape. Around the corner another huge crowd had gathered to witness a small fountain in the form of a dressed up boy urinating. Apparently this famous statue has his clothes changed regularly and to be honest this is just the sort of tourist gimmick that we really do not enjoy. On foot we discovered the much more impressive Royal Palace and Park, and Central Station. After figuring out the Metro we arrived home for lunch and a delightful afternoon nap. However with the weather a balmy 26 degrees we again ventured out about 4pm on the tram to discover the real Brussels. Around the city the local tram took us through beautiful historic districts and a diversity of ethnic and cultural neighborhoods; Turkish, Moroccan, French speaking, Dutch speaking and who knows what else. By 7pm we found the incredibly impressive War Museum, a huge 19th century building probably financed by Belgium’s colonial plunder from Africa. It was astounding to see the locals in the scenic park in the front of the museum picnicking in beach gear at 7.30pm at night enjoying weather we would be proud of in Sydney. Just around the corner we discovered the European Parliament buildings, which reminded us of Brussels’ significance as the centre of the EU. In a nearby street we came across three local Irish pubs spilling onto the streets with probably 1000 or more, young professionals enjoying Friday night drinks. By 8.30pm we were starting to feel hungry and discovered a local restaurant serving authentic Belgium cuisine- in a rather unimpressive backstreet. With the help of the metro we headed home about 10.30pm only to get a deep desire for some Belgium chocolate. A walk to town uncovered hundreds if not thousands of tourists ( the same ones we saw earlier at the square ) dining in overcrowded overpriced restaurants still going strong now at 11pm. Finally we arrived back at our hostel with our chocolates at about 11.30pm. It had been an incredible day where, according to our pedometer we had broken our trip record… we had covered 26.5 kms on foot!