BELGIUM - DAY 2

Set off this morning into the heart of Brussels for a tour of the city. We arrived with five minutes to spare. Nothing like leaving things to the last minute.

We started the tour with a stroll into Brussel's beautiful Grand Place. The guide gave us information about the unique city hall and splendid guild houses. Then it was onto the bus. We drove past Saint Michael's Cathedal towards the National Basilica of Koekelberg, which is one of the most imposing churches in Eurpoe (or according to the tour guide, it is).

Our next stop was the Atomium. This giant nine ball structure is suppose to represent the eight regions of Belgium plus the Congo, which use to be a Belgium colony. This thing was massive. There is even a restaurant in the top ball.

We climbed back onto the bus and drove past the Chinese Pavilion and the Japanese Tower. We then drove down past the Royal residence where we learnt that for several days each each they open the royal botanical gardens to the public. Then we saw the Royal St Mary's church before heading back into the city centre.

We continued on our merry way past the European district with the European Parliament, the European Commision and the Council of Ministers. It was all a lot of buildings and things started to merge together as we continued to drive around.

The Triumphal Arch was pretty impressive. It reminded me of the Arc de Triumphe in Paris. We were informed that it was planned for the world exhibition of 1880 and was meant to commentorate the fiftieth year of indepence for Belgium, however only the bases of the column were completed and the rest was made from wooden panels. In 1905 the arch as seen today was built to replace the wooden arcade.

After the tour we wandered around trying to find a public toilet. We've come to the conclusion that Belgium people obviously don't have to pee when out because there were none anywhere. Finally found some in the metro, and we had to pay 45 Euro each to use them. Good money in toilets if you don't mind the smell.

We sat in a park and munched on sandwiches for lunch. It was a beautiful spring day. The sun was shining, the temperature was almost hot and the place fascinating.

After lunch we slowly walked back to the appartment taking in the culture and atmosphere of Belgium.