Brussels Part II: Days 12-13

Day 12
Friday, June 28

After a late night out exploring Brussels, we had an early morning trip to the European Commission (EU) Headquarters.  Since I'm the one studying Political Science and not you, I will spare you the details of the inner workings of this multinational system.  Let's just say the visit was very informational.

Once we returned to our hotel, we went back out to explore Brussels by the Grand Place.  Belgium is the home of the famous comic Tintin, a favorite of mine when I was a kid.

Tintin and Snowy!

When walking around we found the famous peeing statue.  This statue is extremely popular and it is literally everywhere around Brussels.  Every souvenir shop sells mini statues, magnets, keychains, anything that they can put this peeing boy on.  It is also tradition to dress it up in a different outfit everyday.

Here's what it looks like sans costume:

I really don't see what the fuss is about....

Everyone was tired so we returned to our hotel early to catch up on sleep.

Day 13
Saturday, June 29

We had class in the morning in our hotel. Then afterwards we went back down to the Grand Plais.  We visited a chocolate museum complete with hats made out of chocolate.

Don't know if this would work very well as a sun hat....

This guy gave us a live demonstration on how chocolate was made.  I'm sure it was very informational and interesting, but it was in French so I didn't really catch all the details.  The chocolate looked/tasted good though.

Afterwards, I had an adventure with French Laundry.  No, not the restaurant, actual French laundry.  I went with a couple of friends to a laundromat to do laundry, but all the machines and the directions were in French.  Fortunately, after playing charades with a couple locals and wasting a couple of Euros, we got our laundry cleaned.  After dinner, we took a walk and watched a beautiful sunset on our last day in Brussels.