Brussels

Right, so. Staying and visiting with CISVers for 3 full days in Brussels means getting to know a bunch of the local stuff rather than all of the touristy stuff. Fun things I did/learned:

• Brussels is French; around the city is Dutch; and then there's a Flemish part of the country. Apparently there's a bunch of drama between the regions due to culture and language.
• The Grand Place aka main square is totally beautiful, inlaid with all kinds of gold. It looks super old, but, turns out that Napoleon burned the crap out of the main square in the 1800s. They rebuilt it, so this square is quite new. 
• Brussels' big claim to fame is Mannenkepis:
  
  A tiny little boy peeing into a fountain ... he's maybe 2 ft tall. They dress him up in various costumes (firefighter, soldier, businessman, geisha, etc.), and tons of people take a photo with him. One idea for this: the mentality of "We'll never be better than France, so let's be funny!" They've got a peeing boy, smurfs everywhere, tons of other cartoons, and are incredibly proud of all of their beer and chocolate. 
• The cure for everything is chocolate. Headache? Bad mood? Hurt your toe? Chocolate!
• There is a lot of gorgeous architecture in Brussels, especially the Museum of Musical Instruments
• Busy roads go under the city, through tunnels!
• I had such an awesome time meeting up with old friends Wouter, Joep, Frank, and Cam... and making lots of new ones! Exciting for future CISV weekends in the fall :)
• Cam cut my hair! 
  
• There's a HUGE cathedral that's supposed to look like Notre Dame, but doesn't resemble it at all.... Apparently the king at the time went to Paris for dalliances rather than to learn about the cathedral. 
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