gesloten

The last night in Brussels. It went by so fast. Wasn't it yesterday that I was pondering if five days would be enough? Still sort of want to see Bruges though.

We slept in today. We didn't miss breakfast, but we did miss the chocolate filled pastries. The area downstairs was crowded. When we get there early it is normally about six other guests. Had the usual (minus the chocolate pastries).

The Wiertz Museum was closed from April through July.

The park nearby was lovely. Some kids were playing in the park, might have been recess at a nearby school. The girls joined in the game of kickball, no kids had iPods, PSP's, or other technology of that sort, and none of them were obese. Total contrast to the last time I saw kids in a park.

The area around us was where the European Union buildings is located. Very business centric with little lovely architecture. Jubelpark had some lovely sculptures but it was overly well kept and pristine. It has its own Arc de Triomphe.

The Armory Museum and Military Museum was huge. It just had wing after wing. There was a large blimp hanger sized room filled with planes, there were tanks outdoors, plane engines that dad got all worked up about, a long room filled with uniforms and equipment, and a level devoted to the history of Belgium during World War II. A grand mystery is why the marine, war, and uniform part of the museum closed down from 11:45 to 1:00. Just closed down. The rest of it stayed open. Lots of planes. Lots and lots of planes. Big ones, small ones, and a couple helicopters as well. The designs of the tanks intrigued me, as did the variations in uniforms from World War I and earlier. No offense, but the Belgium uniforms were sort of silly. We spent quite a few hours walking around looking at history. There was a little cafe in the museum and we had lunch there.

It needed more hands on things like pilot seats you can get into and go PEW PEW PEW.

You could climb up to the top of the Arc de Trimophe and look around. Great view, not 360 degrees, but amazing. We could see the Atomium from up there.

After the museum we decided to go to Sint Lukas and check that out. By this point in our trip our feet are quite dead so we decided that taking an adventure on the subway would be a good way to get up to the school. We boarded at Merode station at the end of Jubelpark, got off at Arts-Loi, transferred to the Orange line to Simons and left at Botanique. We cut across the Botanical Gardens and took a side road to the school.

Sint Lukas is an art school in Brussels. It has a program with PNCA where I could, potentially, study there for a semester during my junior year. I'm thinking about it and wanted to check it out. The area looks harmless but isn't really nice. I couldn't get a good look at the school because the guy who would show me around had a meeting he had to catch a train for. Also the school is setting up for final exhibitions (next week would have been a better time to show up)so I couldn't wander about. We have a meeting tomorrow morning so I hope I will get a better gander then.

We walked back to the hotel, got some drinks on the way there, propped our feet up, and pondered dinner. Dinner ended up being a gluttonous meal. We went to Grand Place, got some meaty substances with frites and mayo, then we got some free samples in a chocolate shop, then got some ice cream. Ohhhh maaan. So good. If it wasn't for all the walking, I'd feel guilty about stuffing my face like that.