Today's plan was a quick train trip up to Brussels to see what it was like and head back Brugge. The train ride is about an hour and from the Brussels Central station it is about a 10 minute walk (20 for us) to the Grand Place. Robyn primarily wanted to see the Grand Place and the Manneken Pis. If you have never heard of the Manneken Pis it is a statue of a small boy who is naked and holding his Jolly-******, wee-wee, Mr. Winkle, and taking the eternal ****. When we first got to the Grand Place we went to the Maison du Roi/Broodhuis or City Museum. The museum covers the history of Brussels but also contains the outfits that the Manneken Pis is dressed in several times a week. The outfits represent various countries or events, such as an astronaut costume, or an Elvis costume, and frankly they are bizarre. Also the two original statues are on display in the museum. The Manneken Pis dates to 1619, and there are multiple legends as to what the statue represents, but I am not going into those. The statue has been stolen several times, the first time being in the early 18th century. It was discovered in the canal decades later and is one of the statues on display in the museum. The last time it was stolen was 1965. The actual current statue is about two blocks off the Grand Place. We walked down there, and the statue was naked. Robyn took a couple of pictures. We stopped for crepes at a famous cafe. After we had enough of Brussels, we caught a train back to Brugge. Brussels is crowded with tourists (and pick-pockets) and the Grand Place and area around it caters to tourists. It is okay but not sure I would go back.













When we got back and were walking through the Brugge station I saw the couple from Liverpool that we had bonded with at the brewery the day before. I ran over and surprised them. They were heading back to Liverpool so we got to say goodbye and get a quick picture. After that we went to the Basilica of The Holy Blood built between 1134 and 1157. It contains a relic of Holy Blood that is said to have been collected by Joseph of Arimethea when he cleaned Christ's body after the crucifixion. The relic of blood was brought by Thierry of Alsace after it was presented to him in Jerusalem during the second crusade. The blood is sealed inside a phial made of rock crystal and then is inside a jeweled golden box. You cannot see the phial so I can't verify it exists. However, once a year on Ascension Day there is a Precession of The Holy Blood where it is taken out of the box and processed through the plaza back to the Basilica. This is a Catholic religious relic and I respect that; however,as a Presbyterian, I have my doubts as to whether it is truly Holy Blood.







One last thing about our hotel, the Crowne Plaza. It is built on the ruins of a 10th century basilica that was excavated in the 1950's It is open to the public to go down and explore it is pretty cool.



That was it for us for this day, a lot of travel and I still have no belt. Enjoy the pictures I am attaching. Tomorrow we are traveling to Ghent to see that city spend the night there and head on to Heidelberg on Saturday.