The only way I can reach city from Evere is by bus. I took route 63 around 11, and got down at De Brookeré, its last stop around 11:30. I had no plans other than wandering around for the first 2 hours just following the pointers and then see how far I have covered. I saw a couple of Pizza huts on the way, and that relieved me of my tension for lunch.
I was following pointers for Grand Place, which is a sort of old Brussels Centre place. The pointers seem to vanish when I reach one point and then I go in another direction looking for the same pointers! Again I will come around the same area and the pointers for Grand Place vanish!
In that looping, I walked through some of the shopping streets with chocolate making shops, Fresh Waffle shops, etc. The same waffle piece if I buy in packed form from a supermarket will cost less than 25 cents; here it costs € 1,60 – more than 6 times! I decided to try it once, to taste the hot Belgian waffle and I think I fell in love with it! Fro, that moment, if for any reason, I happen to pass a fresh waffle shop, and I get the smell, I loose €1,60!
Another surprise I got during the walk through the shopping areas was a lot of beggars, Turkish girls, roaming around with an empty Coke can begging for money. I also got a painful site of a fair lady sitting with his about 7-year old son in the middle of the street, with an empty can in front of her !
I couldn’t really believe it! You can see them and say they had been thrown out to the streets from a far better condition and her face says she is not yet adjusted to this state! The other Turkish girls – sometimes women with infants – have no hesitation in begging! I am not sure what reason, but they would have to flee from their homeland and end up as refugees here. Anyway, I made up my mind saying why not I sympathise to any beggars in India who is in a worser situation.I decided that one of those funny junctions is what is Grand Place, and even convinced that Brussels’ best glory is that small junction :)!
Then followed the rest of the pointers to see the symbol of Brussels – Mannekens Pis. It was a statue of a little boy doing what the name says. The statue is been there for centuries and there are many stories behind the making of this status. The story I liked is : ‘a man had lost his little son. He found the child after two days near the place where now the fountain of manneken-pis can be seen. When the father spotted his child, the latter was peeing. As a token of gratitude the father had the fountain with a statue of a peeing boy constructed.’
There was a huge crowd taking snaps in front of it, and they led me to the real Grand Place! I had no way to photograph its full glory in one shot! I miss my 28mm lens of my SLR :(. I enjoyed the place and stood there for more than an hour!
I was actually always coming very near to this place, so near that I could see this through a narrow street entry. Being built and preserved for more than a couple of centuries, its entry roads are all narrow.
Had my lunch in Pizza hut, it cost me around €10 for a medium pizza with coke. Now, I had one more thing to be finished for sure today – the atomium. I could see it from our apartment (as we live in 8th floor) far away. So just tried to find out what it is, and found its name is Atomium - that is all I know about atomium J!
* * * * * * *
I have seen all cities build a tall structure for people go up and have a look at the whole city. I think, this is Brussel’s version of the same. The only difference is that it is outside the ‘downtown’. Also known as the ‘Eiffel Tower of Brussel for the fact that this was also planned to originally last for only 6 months, below is what Wiki says about Atomium:
“Built for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo '58), the 103-metre (335-foot) tall Atomium monument represents a unit cell of an iron crystal (body-centred cubic), magnified 165 billion times, with vertical body diagonal, with tubes along the 12 edges of the cube and from all 8 vertices to the centre.
Nine steel spheres 18 metres in diameter connect via tubes with escalators as long as 35 m, among the longest in Europe. Windows in the top sphere provide a panoramic view of Brussels. Other spheres have 1950s exhibitions. Three upper spheres lacking vertical support are not open to the public for safety reasons”
* * * * * * *
This was the first time I ever got in to the metro train and tram (which sometimes go underground on layer above the trains), my jump card could be used anywhere.
I had almost concluded that the trains are pretty slow here, before trying this metro train. Though Evere is only 10kms from the city centre, it is outside the metro network and the only way to reach the city, is by bus.
I tried to see the dutch map and made out the station where I can get a direct train to Atomium, and took a tram to the station. The train was going fast enough to my concept of European standard. It dropped me in Atomium’s nearest station……. in 10 minutes! This train also changed its direction in between, as my Evere-Halle local train.
A few minutes walk to the bottom of the structure, and a queue to get the ticket costing € 9, and another queue for the lift to the top. Had a view of the Brussels city, came down and tried to go in to the other molecules climbing the steps. After coming out, I just had a walk around the peaceful greenery. Took a train back to the city, continued walking seeing the Palace, and some more of the old structures in the downtown.
Had another waffle before taking 63 back to Evere.
There was a huge crowd taking snaps in front of it, and they led me to the real Grand Place! I had no way to photograph its full glory in one shot! I miss my 28mm lens of my SLR :(. I enjoyed the place and stood there for more than an hour!
I was actually always coming very near to this place, so near that I could see this through a narrow street entry. Being built and preserved for more than a couple of centuries, its entry roads are all narrow.
Had my lunch in Pizza hut, it cost me around €10 for a medium pizza with coke. Now, I had one more thing to be finished for sure today – the atomium. I could see it from our apartment (as we live in 8th floor) far away. So just tried to find out what it is, and found its name is Atomium - that is all I know about atomium J!
* * * * * * *
I have seen all cities build a tall structure for people go up and have a look at the whole city. I think, this is Brussel’s version of the same. The only difference is that it is outside the ‘downtown’. Also known as the ‘Eiffel Tower of Brussel for the fact that this was also planned to originally last for only 6 months, below is what Wiki says about Atomium:
“Built for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo '58), the 103-metre (335-foot) tall Atomium monument represents a unit cell of an iron crystal (body-centred cubic), magnified 165 billion times, with vertical body diagonal, with tubes along the 12 edges of the cube and from all 8 vertices to the centre.Nine steel spheres 18 metres in diameter connect via tubes with escalators as long as 35 m, among the longest in Europe. Windows in the top sphere provide a panoramic view of Brussels. Other spheres have 1950s exhibitions. Three upper spheres lacking vertical support are not open to the public for safety reasons”
* * * * * * *
This was the first time I ever got in to the metro train and tram (which sometimes go underground on layer above the trains), my jump card could be used anywhere.
I had almost concluded that the trains are pretty slow here, before trying this metro train. Though Evere is only 10kms from the city centre, it is outside the metro network and the only way to reach the city, is by bus.
I tried to see the dutch map and made out the station where I can get a direct train to Atomium, and took a tram to the station. The train was going fast enough to my concept of European standard. It dropped me in Atomium’s nearest station……. in 10 minutes! This train also changed its direction in between, as my Evere-Halle local train.
A few minutes walk to the bottom of the structure, and a queue to get the ticket costing € 9, and another queue for the lift to the top. Had a view of the Brussels city, came down and tried to go in to the other molecules climbing the steps. After coming out, I just had a walk around the peaceful greenery. Took a train back to the city, continued walking seeing the Palace, and some more of the old structures in the downtown.
Had another waffle before taking 63 back to Evere.
Tailpiece: The electric female plug sockets are of this configuration:
That means male pin will look like our Indian one with no earth pin, and will have a hole for Earth. The shaded dot is a pin in the female part, which really looks funny! They had just intentionally done this to make it unique. And it is all in a small projection inwards and none of our plug with Earth will get in there (that makes it not follow the standard usage of electricians – male and female pin :D). I got a European adapter, which won’t work here!
Then had only one way of getting out of the dependency for using others’ pins – trim one of the Indian multi pins I have to fit in to this; It all went fine, and the first testing, unexpectedly the metal parts touch each other in between and it dripped! No power! We tried to reset our internal drip boards; and it is not working. After a little bit of panic, we found there is another main board in the basement and reset it!
That means male pin will look like our Indian one with no earth pin, and will have a hole for Earth. The shaded dot is a pin in the female part, which really looks funny! They had just intentionally done this to make it unique. And it is all in a small projection inwards and none of our plug with Earth will get in there (that makes it not follow the standard usage of electricians – male and female pin :D). I got a European adapter, which won’t work here!Then had only one way of getting out of the dependency for using others’ pins – trim one of the Indian multi pins I have to fit in to this; It all went fine, and the first testing, unexpectedly the metal parts touch each other in between and it dripped! No power! We tried to reset our internal drip boards; and it is not working. After a little bit of panic, we found there is another main board in the basement and reset it!
