Tinker's photos

Brussels Stadhuis (Hôtel de Ville) - Town Hall. "The facade is decorated with numerous statues representing nobles, saints, and allegorical figures. The present sculptures are reproductions; the older ones are in the city museum in the King's House across the Grand Place."

Back to the Grote Markt (Grand Place) on my way to Central Station to meet Emilie. Once again, sooooo many tourists (including me)

Chocolate and sweets shop with giant meringues. The area around the Grote Markt (Grand Place) is pretty much only shops selling chocolate, beer, Belgian lace and souvenirs, and eateries

Two chocolate shops and a beer shop of 250 Belgian beers sandwiched in between. The area around the Grote Markt (Grand Place) is pretty much only shops selling chocolate, beer, Belgian lace and souvenirs, and eateries

Shop selling speculaas (speculoos) - the spiced biscuit. The area around the Grote Markt (Grand Place) is pretty much only shops selling chocolate, beer, Belgian lace and souvenirs, and eateries

Road worker. In a lot of European cities they still have cobblestones on the streets. It slows down traffic (because it is bumpy and loud), looks pretty, and is easy to open up the street for work on pipes etc. They remove them, dig, then replace them. They are often laid in patterns

Inside Sint-Niklaaskerk (Eglise St-Nicolas) - Church of St. Nicholas.

Entrance to Sint-Niklaaskerk (Eglise St-Nicolas) - Church of St. Nicholas.

Churches in Europe often have shops built around them. This is one of many built on the side of Sint-Niklaaskerk (Eglise St-Nicolas) - Church of St. Nicholas.

Beside the Beurs (Bourse) - Brussels Stock Exchange - were these ruins (behind glass). "In 1238, a Franciscan convent is set up on the banks of the Senne river, right next to Saint Nicolas church. The discovery of the ruins was in 1988 when the Bourse was being renovated. Notably, this archeological site was the location of Duke Jean the First of Brabant’s tomb, who died in 1294"

Lunch at the Grand Cafe, a Belgian rabbit casserole with frites, and a bottle of St Louis Framboise (raspberry) Lambic beer. I chose this place because the waiter outside was really nice to me, whereas when I spoke to almost everybody else in Brussels they seemed to think I was offering to buy their daughter

Despite my good intentions to drink a different Belgian beer each time (which could take years) my current favourite lighter beer is Hoegaarden Rosée, which is a wheat beer with raspberry. This time it was in the correct glass. Every beer is served in its own glass here.

buildings along Anspachlaan (Boulevard Anspach)

Drug Opera - WTF?! (It's a restaurant)

So hot waffles are a Belgian speciality but... "Australian"? I saw these in two locations around the Grand Palace. Seriously weird. But also very tasty. This is a Gaufre de Bruxelles (Brussels Waffle) "prepared with an egg-white-leavened or yeast-leavened batter, traditionally an ale yeast; occasionally both types of leavening are used together. They are lighter, crisper and have larger pockets compared to other European waffle varieties, and are easy to differentiate from Liège Waffles by their rectangular sides"

Rear of the Beurs van Brussel (La Bourse de Bruxelles) - Brussels Stock Exchange. It is due to become a beer museum

Churches in Europe often have shops built around them. This is one of many built on the side of Sint-Niklaaskerk (Eglise St-Nicolas) - Church of St. Nicholas.

Grote Markt (Grand Place), with the Broodhuis (Maison du Roi) on the left