Exchange in Sweden: Belgium - Liège, Brugges, and Brussels

Over the course of six days, I visited the cities of Liège, Bruges, Brussels, and Maastricht (Netherlands). Nick and I were fortunate to have a friend to stay with, which made the trip everything that it was.

The trip nearly was cancelled because of the distractions of the Copenhagen Airport. Side tracked by the discount alcohol, electronic stores, and ultimately a book store, we were called on the PA system and just barely made the flight before the gates closed. Great start!
For all of man's existence, up until recent history, people have been plagued with the question: "what is above the clouds?" Now flash forward to modern times, and a few hundred dollars puts you thousands of miles above land, and above the clouds. So the answer:

Simply more clouds.

Some other views from my bubble-window. It is weird to see our influence on this land in plain sight, namely the cubicles of land we've subdivided for cultivation.

As we approach the edge of land

Seems to go on forever

Cubicles to feed the cancer

I understand why it is said that mankind is a cancer upon this earth. The picture with the caption gives a good visual.

Liège
Anyway, we eventually arrived in Liège which has an amazing train station.

The glassed-over ceiling would be amazing to stand under and watch a thunderstorm

Finer details along the edge

And on the inside

Our host, Manon Pex, came to Canada on exchange at Nick's highschool for a year. She was very kind to accommodate us at her parents' house. We were treated to a very nice view out their backyard, as well as some of the best food I've ever had; second of course to my parents' cooking ;). I could not have asked for a better situation as Manon's parents own a bakery up the street, which catered our breakfast each day. One thing I quickly realized about the Belgians is that they are no amateurs in gourmet food.

Pex Family's backyard

View from Manon's Sister's house; one of the houses here is the Pex's

Wood Fire oven in the Pex Bakery (closed)

Again (open)

This oven is a small portion of the bakery, I was given a tour of the rest, but didn't take pictures.

Storefront with Manon posing

What's for breakfast?

Our last dinner with the Pex family (Mr. and Mrs. on the right hand side)

Desert; strawberry, raspberry, orange, and of course chocolate!

I realized now going through the pictures, that I have very few of the city of Liège. It was a beautiful place and not at all touristy. The night life is great, with all the popular bars in a network of walking streets. Great as you need not be concerned with stumbling into traffic. Like in all of Belgium, Liège has fantastic beer and makes drinking unavoidable and delicious.
On the final day in Liège, we all went for a walk in the woods. There is a state funded club that organizes these trips through the country once a week. Each week is a different location, and one can go for walks between 5 and 20 kilometers. We opted out for 10 km. The first section of which was within a forest, and the second in an around a local town.

View of countryside around Liège

Could not figure out why the trees were bare to a certain height

Which one would you most want to live in? With that view you can't go wrong.

Traditional Style of Belgian House

The pile of used Christmas trees is a tradition local to Belgium, although not exclusively. When the time comes to say goodbye to Winter and welcome the Spring these trees are set ablaze.

Driveway of this Mansion (1)

Side view of the same Mansion. To the right is a private tennis court and private lake. (2)

Can not make out what the monument reads, but it flies the European Union's flag so perhaps commemorating Belgium's joining.

Initial view of the creek (1)

Secondary view of the creek and tree (2)

After the walk we decided to take a detour and visit a castle. When the King had power and money he constructed numerous Castles around the nation. Many were destroyed during the World Wars, but some stand to this day.

Castle Courtyard

View from the steps in the last picture, water fountain is to the right

View from under the arc of the previous picture

View from within the Castle's walls (1)

again (2)

Brussels (Bruxelles)
The capital of Belgium, and home to some interesting tourist attractions: The Atomium, Le Grand Place, Manneken Pis and Janneken Pis, and the Basilique Nationale du Sacré-Coeur.
In 1958 Brussels was the home to the '58 Expo. Many countries around the world designed and built a construct to display during this year long attraction. Canada was among those countries, but the display model of the pavilion was not very impressive so it's only in my memory. Anyway, the expo took 60 million working hours to set up and was visited by over 41 million people. Five people died, and 8 babies were born at the 58' Expo. A record of 52 thousand beers were served in a café in one day. Among the exhibits was a giant building resembling the unit cell of an iron crystal; basically the structure that iron molecules form when they bond with each other. This monument, the Atomium, was representing of the huge success and integration of iron in construction of that era. Because of its symbolic meaning, it is the only building left standing after the deconstruction of the 58' Expo.

Atomium (1)

Atomium (2)

Unfortunately, the local weather did not allow for clear skies, otherwise the view from the top sphere would be more astounding.

View of Brussels from the Atomium (1)

again (2)

Inside the Atomium was an exhibition discussing the 58' Expo, astronomy, and the Big Bang Theory.

The '58 Expo Ground Layout

Black sheet with a bright back-light and the white parts cut out to allow free passage of light. Very sharp in real life. Notice Space Invaders at the bottom.

Have a closer look for an interesting explanation of the beginning of the Universe

Neatly designed stairs

Le Grand Place was voted as the most beautiful square in Europe and is home to a magnificent display of a million flowers made into a carpet during the summer.

Could not capture the building in one picture with the tower (1)

So here's the tower (2)

Myself, Manon, and Nick

The previous ten pictures were all taken from within Le Grand Place.

In storefronts all around Brussels small versions of Manneken Pis are displayed. Manneken Pis translates to little man pee, which is literally represented. Why it's such a huge tourist attraction I'm not sure, but obviously we had to see it for ourselves.

Manneken Pis

Close up of Manneken Pis

Why have only one pissing statue when you can have two. Wander down a deserted alleyway and you will find Manneken Pis's gender equivalent: Janneken Pis.

Janneken Pis

Close up of Janneken Pis

The last day of our trip we returned to Brussels to see the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. We arrived a few hours before we must check in to our flight. It would only be fitting if we narrowly made the return flight, to parallel the original flight. Well that's just what happened, yet this time was out of our control, or so we tell ourselves. But first, pictures of the third largest basilica in the world.

Basilique du Sacré-Coeur; near the top where the white pillars meet the round green roof is the tourist lookout, but why stop there right?

Inside the basilica . . .

I found the architecture going up the center tower very stunning, so many pictures are inclusive

Amazingly detailed stain glass. Appears as if their is a complex and dramatic story to accompany the figures. It is worth it to take a closer look.

As I mentioned before, there is an outlook near the top of the basilica.

Unfortunately another foggy day

The elevator to the top

Nick and I took a tour around the top lookout position and noticed that there were more stairs going up, and the door was open. There were also signs pointing toward the stairs. What more motivation did we need? So we climbed. If you look at the center tower we made it just under the cross at the very top. In the highest room we saw a broken window and a laptop laying around, and got the feeling as if we may have stepped off the tourist's path.

View from the broken window

Alright, back down to the door and lets get out of here. We make our descent but now the original door is locked, and a key is needed to get in or out. Hmm, wasn't there another staircase along the other side? Let's check that out. Also locked. Plane leaves in 2 hours, we should be at the airport 2 hours before take-off. Shit. Go back to the original door, still locked, but there's a small 2x2 foot opening with a wooden covering. O.K. Bust that off and maybe we can squeeze through to the second door and pray that one isn't locked. What other decision do we have? Make it through the hole, twist the knob, success!

The small brown wooden panel behind me was the hole that saved us.

Get back into the elevator, and just as we leave the elevator door the owner's of the laptop come around the corner.

Guys in white overalls who locked us in

Oh and did I mention I had my luggage with me, up and down the stairs, yeah that was fun.

The rest of Belgium:

Front (1)

Side (2)

Inside/Outside shopping strip

Bruges (Brugge)

Bruges is likely the largest tourist attraction in Belgium. I base this opinion on the large amounts of flocking tourists, even in Febuary. Horse-drawn carriages roam the street, and boat cruisers take visitors through the city's canals. In all the city was quite beautiful, but the obvious frequency of tourists took away from its charm.

Top of this building (1)

and bottom (2)

Fountain (1)

Front statues of fountain (2)

Left side statues (3)

rear statues (4)

Right side statues (5)

Notice the gold statue on the top: an angel spearing some sort of devil hound (in Bruges)

Atop this tower is an angel spearing some sort of demon (in Brussels)

Author in the flesh ;)

Off the boat

On the boat

Architecture along the way

Neat painted shoes hung along the path of the canal

Hard to get pictures without heads at the bottom, ah well.

Notice the couple on the bridge? well on the building up and to the left of them is a small hole that used to be the position for spies. Be wary what you do in this bridge. . .

Under the building we go.

Beer in Brussels. There's the beer wall, and underground cellar. Choices, choices!

The Beer Wall

Along the carriage path; trying to find where to get onboard

Well done on the lights.

Maastricht (in the Netherlands)

Train ride to Maastricht 40 minutes from Liège to visit Caroline and Jake, totally worth it. Quite the contrast from Sweden and Belgium with a café on every other corner. These cafés don't sell coffee though . . .