seekingmygreaterperhaps

Brussels, Belgium- home of Mannekin Pis. The pride of this city is literally the statue of a little boy taking a piss. Mannekin (little man) Pis (peeing). This is what makes this city so funky.

This was my last place to stay in a hostel, and I picked an awesome place. I’m glad it was my last stop, because I was living in LUXURY. Everything was new and nice, and the people in my room were friendly. It was the backpacker’s dream, and it would have definitely spoiled it for all the crappy places I stayed. So I’m glad I went out with a bang. The cherry on top, some more cliche than I would say. 😉

My first morning I went on a free walking tour (my fav obviously). This is THE Mannekin Pis. My guide said that since he has been around for hundreds of years, no one really knows the reason why he was put there for real. He says that back in the day leather makers needed urine to finish tanning their leather. So they made this area for people to come bring their pee. Their human pee. And to make sure that the townspeople knew which corral to put said pee, they put this fountain of a little boy peeing in the corner to mark it. Thus this beautiful work of art was born.

After the tour, I went to the Magritte Museum, which is cool because he is 1) really famous and 2) has some really awesome optical illusion paintings.

Making my way through Brussels’ awesome museums, next up was the Comic Book Museum! Did you know that TinTin aaaand the Smurfs were created in Belgium? Well, maybe if you’re a fan of comic books you might have known that because it’s a big deal, but I was happy to be made away of this fact. While most of these comics are in… French… I enjoyed the ones where they were just pictures doing funny things. Jumping the language barrier- art is special like that.

ATOMIUM- Brussels’ Eiffel Tower. This was built for a world exhibition, but they liked it (aka saw it could be a valuable tourist attraction) so they kept it. Now it’s permanent. Just like the Eiffel Tower- mind explosion. You can also go all the way up to the top in an elevator. Then you get to go up and down escalators and see exhibits about how the Atomium came to be. Fun fact- this is an iron molecule blown up to a bjillion sizes. (This is a dramatization- clearly.) The Atomium was a really neat part of Brussels, and I like heights, so this was a cool attraction.

Thanks for tuning in for my Belgium adventures. Make sure to try to stoemp. (It’s mashed potatoes, spinach, and a type of meat- filling and delicious.)