July 30th - August 1st, Brussels and Waterloo

Bill's parents came to visit us for a few weeks this summer. They did a bunch of traveling themselves in between weekends packed with game playing with the kids. On the last weekend, they watched the kids so Bill and I could get a quick trip in to Belgium. It was a nice trip and we did a lot of sightseeing and walking that the kids would not have been happy about.

Brussels is full of small gardens with lots of sculptures. This is at the Place du Petit Sablon.

Also in the Place du Petit Sablon, a statue of Mercator, the Belgian mapmaker.

A fab. little flea market in the older part of town.

This is a gorgeous Art Nouveau building renovated to now hold the Museum of Musical Instruments.

A beautiful garden.

Another "local legend" statue everyone rubs for good luck, so "when in Brussels.......

Mannekin Pis, basically the city mascot. this little statue has been dressed in over 700 different costumes which are housed at, (yes really) a museum. Manneken was made in 1619 to provide drinking water. There are a number of legends as to why it is a little boy peeing, who knows which one is true??

Our last stop in brussels, the Cinquantenaire Park which holds Brussels Arc de Triomphe. Completed in 1905, just in time for the 75th anniversary of the Belgian independence. The park is beautiful!

Waterloo!!!! We did the battlefield tour which was great. We got a real feel for what each side went through in this war at this location. Bill was adamant about seeing the place where Napoleon was defeated. It was very cool.

Inside the museum where a 360 degree mural shows what the fields looked like during the battle. It is well done.

Up to see the Lion of Waterloo.

How cute are these Belgian pseudo-soldiers???