Today we had a bit of a lie in and left the hotel close to midday. We wanted to go and see the 'Atomium', a famous sculpture/building in Belgium. Because it was quite far away we had to get the metro. On the way we passed a Carrefour express, and we needed to get some drinks for the day as it was hot. They had a freshly squeezed orange juice machine where it squeezed the oranges in front of you - so delicious! The metro was relatively straightforward, clean and it wasn't busy. As we arrived we had to go through an attraction park full of restaurants. There was a separate section you had to buy tickets for called 'Mini Europe'. We decided to get a combi ticket for the Atomium and mini Europe. Mini Europe was amazing!! They had built smaller scale structures of famous landmarks in every country in the EU. For England they had a massive P&O ferry, the Houses of Parliament, Shakespeare's birthplace, a typical village and the white cliffs of Dover. It was really interesting and nice to be outside in the sun. It was 26 degrees today and I'm burned!
We weren't really sure what to expect with the Atomium, but we went in a lift straight up to the top and you could see for miles and miles, a bit like the shard. We decided to go back to the hotel for a bit as we were both sweaty and tired. It was about 4pm and we hadn't eaten so we went back to the Carrefour and I got a chicken wrap and Paul got a sandwich. We ate them in our room and relaxed on the wifi, booking hotels for the next few stops on our trip.
At 9:30 we decided to go and see the Mannekin Pis and the Grand Place, and we walked about a mile and a half to see them. The Mannekin pis is a famous statue of a boy doing a wee, it was absolutely tiny though! (The statue was anyway!!). The streets were small, winding and full of life as people were sitting down to eat their dinner. We arrived at the Grand Place - a large square/plaza surrounded by tall and grand buildings. We sat in the middle and looked at all the great architecture.
We decided to return to the square we went to the night before to get some food, as it was gone 10 and we'd hardly eaten. We chose a nice restaurant and ordered our food while we were sat outside (at 11pm it was 25 degrees). I had a Caesar salad (see photos) and Paul had a beef burger (when in Rome!!). We also had a large bottle of water and some drinks. I told Paul to get l'addition and 4/5 minutes later he came busting out saying "let's go now". I ran after him and he showed me the receipt - they'd only charged us 5,60€!! The meal was over 40€ and we hadn't really budgeted it, so we left in a hurry. It was a lovely meal though and we will leave a good review on trip advisor - promise!
Now back at the hotel and its cooled down a bit. Tomorrow we are going to Bruges, can't wait!