Day 18     Wednesday, Sept 17, 2025

We have fairly relaxing morning. We call our bank and sort out an issue with our debit card and last night we had to call one of our Mastercards because it got blocked…because we are in Belgium.  Yet they don’t want to know that we are travelling anymore!  So it caused problems when we tried to add it to our Apple Wallet.  Same thing has happened to our other Mastercard, so we still have that to sort out tonight. I guess we should have done some things before we left home…like putting our email address as the contact to verify our cards when we  use them online instead of it being our home land line!  But who knew?

Once we sorted that out I worked on my paper journal, drawing some animals at the Lille Zoo from photo reference.  Not as much fun as drawing at the zoo but it was cold and windy and we didn’t have a lot of time there.  Drawing from reference photos is a good way to familiarize myself with the shapes and anatomy of animals and birds. This helps when I am able to draw at zoos in person. I set a time limit for a page so that I don’t spend too long. It is more like drawing live that way.

We catch the train into downtown Brussels which involved a 20 minute walk because in order to use Brussel’s busses or trolley cars you need to have a contactless debit card or use Apple Wallet. Our problem is our Debit cards should work after we called the bank last night to sort out the problem, but they still don’t, so we can’t use them. My MC won’t load onto Apple Wallet because of problems trying to verify it! So we walk to a train station were we can buy a paper ticket. Unfortuntely there doesn’t seem to be any place near us to purchase paper tickets for the bus or trolley cars.  

A half hour later after a very smooth rain ride we arrive in Brussels.  First stop is to see the Mannekin Pis Fountain.  It is the most famous fountain in Brussels.  The last time we visited this little statue was 46 years ago on our first trip to Europe. 

I used to have the cutest little wooden plaque with sculpture of the Mannekin Pis but somehow lost it. I wanted to buy a new one…well that sure didn’t happen! All the souvenirs were incredibly tacky, and ridiculously expensive as you can see in this photo.  So no souvenir for me.  We did buy two postcards to send to our grandchildren and after we left the store the owner chased me down about a block away from the store.  He insisted that I had stolen one of the key chains that we had been looking at. He said he had it on camera, so we went back to the store and I told him, in French, to look at his camera. I said that I am not a thief and that I didn’t even touch the key chain he was accusing me of stealing. I am sure I looked guilty, I felt hot and I am sure my face was red. After a few minutes of conversation and looking at his security footage he admitted that he made a mistake and apologized. We chatted a bit more, and all was well. I shook his hand and said I understood how hard it must be when he does have people steal from him almost every day.  

We see one of the big pink sculptures that we saw all over Paris two years ago. The enormous  candy-pink sculptures created by Philippe Katerine are now on display in Brussels.

The Grand Palace Plaza is surrounded on all sides with very ornate buildings…

….including the City Hall…

…and the Brussels City Museum.  I am done in and need some tea and pastries. I think being accused of stealing was rather emotionally exhausting. It wasn’t easy to find a coffee shop. We had to walk several blocks but found one with a quiet table away from all the smokers.  We had a pot of mint tea with real mint leaves and the most delicious croissant and Portuguese tart.  

We pass a shop with these ‘toy’ cars in the window. The white and red car are €219.90 each, and the green and orange ones are ‘only’ €579.05 each!  This is $941.61 Canadian! I wonder who buys these expensive model cars.

The Cathedral Saints-Michel-et-Gudule is another enormous cathedral. 

The Nave stretches into the distance. The statues on the pillars are the Twelve Apostles. There are many stunning stained glass windows surrounding the ornate altar.

This sculpted scene called ‘Entombment’ is beautiful. Cathedrals often have amazing art work.

The pulpit is an intricately carved wooden masterpiece.

We are hungry and head back to this little square to buy some of Brussels famous frites with mayonnaise.  No photo, we were hungry and they were gone in no time. Bob is walking towards the train station.

We took a wrong turn on our way to the train station and discovered this enormous white Smurf. Of course we needed a photo!

I had a little rest beside several of these beautiful flower towers.

On our walk from the train station back to our apartment I see another sign that Autumn is coming.  It is still unseasonably cool for this time of the year. 16 Celsius and windy.

There are many very large houses along the walk home.  This one has its own magnificent tree.

We have never stayed in a neighbourhood with so many large houses…maybe mansions would be a better term?

There is such a variety of styles. Some traditional and some more modern looking.

This is the lane behind our bnb, which has a huge corner lot. This black cat was determined to cross my path as we returned from getting groceries, but I figured we had enough challenges for the day so I managed to avoid him!

Our bnb has its very own little robot lawn mower…it the cutest thing as it maneuvers itself about the yard cutting the grass.