Leonardo Hotel Charleroi City

... by both the exhibitions and the building itself. Probably the most interesting exhibit was the clothes of the Mannequin Pis, which is a famous statue of a little boy peeing. No joke, this is a well-known attraction in Brussels. The costumes made me think of Barbie: the Mannequin Pis has outfits from all over the world and almost every profession, all made with a "strategically placed hole," as
the guide book delicately puts it.

We then went ...

So remember Patrimoine, that glorious sequence of errors? We had a great plan, then everything went south, only to rally spectacularly later in the day. Our trip to Brussels basically followed the same pattern. My tale begins on about Monday, when we realized that we only had a morning class on Friday and not a lot of work to do for the weekend – the perfect combination for a trip! So last minute, a group of ...

... everything they could cobble together at the Germans to try to stop the advance. In Belleau Wood, at the start of June the Germans met newly arrived American troops from the 2nd [Marine] Division and elements of the 7th IR of the 3rd Division, who stopped them, and then gradually pushed them back. This came at a crucial time since after four years of the horrible trench warfare and astronomical losses; French and British morale ...

... dinner until fairly late. We sampled a mild Belgian beer (Belgium is the true beer country in Europe - with a much greater variety of brews and choices that Germany for example). Some of the Belgian beers have very high alcohol content, the same as some wines! We had a mild one with dinner and a stronger one just before retiring - between the short night and the strong beer we should sleep very well.

... and all in the space of a three and half hour drive. I had a 2 hour visit with some members for whom I served as pastor for 5 years in the 1980s and 90s. We had lost touch and it was very good to see them again and revisit old times and get caught up on events of the last 15 years or so. We talked about the hard days of 1993-4 when our church was going through so much upheaval. Our children are now grown; time flies. After that very positive visit, I turned back to ...

... refund at the end of the week, because all memberships come with one trial week, where if they don't like it can get a full refund...sneaky sneaky. So I said okay, but that doesn't really help us because Rob already bought a day pass yesterday. The guy then said "well in that case {as he reaches into the drawer and grabs a day pass} it is as easy as this {hands rob the day pass}, just don't tell anyone I gave you this and make ...

... until all results are in... Other than that, today was a normal day. Studio work keeps piling up because our professor is pushing us really hard in an effort to get more quality work from us. I definitely will be glad when this is all over - Not the trip...just the class work. I believe that I am going to go treat myself to a Stella Artois & then it is back to work for Mr. Aaron...

... a crazy rally driver in the middle of the night. I reached home late, slept and the next day I decided that I couldnt anyway take it to loose everything and head back to Charleroi to pay a high penalty of 60 euros to finally get able to manage a seat on the plane of that evening. It was nevermind the money just go change your idea and I kicked away all this bad memory away and started freshly with a smile when I landed in Skavsta.

So Brussels seems like a cool town, but we've only been here for less than 24 hours. Bad thing is, I think we are done. We got in late last night, checked in, and went to bed. This morning we woke up, saw the Grand Place square, saw the Mannekin Pis, and wandered for a bit. We plan on going out tonight, getting dinner, and heading ...

After 3 days in Brugge, having walked to every corner of the town, we decided to move somewhere else. So, to be able to use our return train ticket, we went back to Charleroi. Charleroi was not this great place as tourist offices says. Compared to Brugge, it's bigger and much more modern, more dirty and less safe: it's an ordinary city. We stayed at Hotel Buisset, an ...