Manneken-Pis let go his bladder overnight as it was raining quite hard this morning. Luckily it stopped for the afternoon although remained heavily overcast. First wet day we have had on this trip so quite lucky so far.

Set off for the Musee Royaux des Beaux Arts, a building that houses no less than 3 museums/art galleries. We went to the Musee Fin-de-Siecle (End of Century). Most of the artists were Belgians which is one of the reasons why we went as we knew nothing about them. There are so many art galleries and museums in Brussels it would probably take all year to see them all properly. It was very interesting and worth the visit. Bruce was happy as there were no Madonna and Baby paintings which no doubt we will see at some stage of the trip.

We then went back down to the Grand-Place where we had booked a tour of the Town Hall. It was first constructed in the 15th century but has had numerous renovations, bombings, additons etc over the years. It is full of original tapestries and paintings dating back to the 16th century and of course is steeped in tradition. The guide mentioned that the Belgium monarchy had been voted in by the population in 1831 so was, and still is, a real constitutional monarchy. We had not heard of this 'voting in of any monarchy' before. One of the rooms we entered was where civil weddings were held. In Belgium only civil marriage ceremonies are legally recognised. The civil ceremony must take place in a registry office after which couples then often have their religious or secular ceremony as part of their other celebrations. Although the tour was an English speaking tour there was also a Japanese group of about 8 people and everything the guide said had to be repeated by the Japanese tour guide. Suspect we missed out on some information as a result as the tour ended at the prescribed time. It is what it is!

Back to the hotel to rest the weary muscles and then out to dinner at Le Roy D'Espagne. Avoiding all the hawkers trying to coerce us into their restaurant to eat we arrived at Jeanneke-Pis. Bruce almost felt embarrased taking the photo but got over it quickly. She was locked up behind bars so the photo was taken between the bars. If we have time tomorrow we will check to see if they unlock her chastity belt and then perhaps he can get a better photo.

Our next stop was a pub/restaurant that we had on our list to eat and it did not let us down. Anne had a flemish beef stew and Bruce had ribs. Both were delicious. Anne then chose to have a belgian waffle for desert while Bruce had another, but lighter, beer. Did she let him have a taste of the waffle - not on your life! Would he have had some - probably not as they do not seem to serve them with maple syrup!