Hello, Yes I Am Still Here

A strange mannequin in the window

So I was thinking, well it’s been a week here in Brussels and I haven’t done too much yet.  And yet, I am wrong.  Aside from getting to the gym everyday, which by the way takes up a lot of time, I have been to 3 museums, strolled most of the old centre of Brussels in search of the hidden gems, watched a couple of soccer matches, hung out with Missy and done a little shopping.  Donal’s apartment, where I am staying, is in an excellent location.  Right in the centre and a hop skip and a jump from the Borse, or their stock market building, and the Grand Place which is always a bustle with activity.

The Halle Gate

Of course one of the first things that I do is search out the oldest existing ruins or buildings.  I should have been a historian or an archaeologist because this sort of stuff fascinates me forever.  So I went to Halle Gate which is the sole remaining medieval city gate of Brussels.  It houses a museum that tells of the life of that fortified city.  This gate is from the 14th century and it is pretty magnificent.  A couple of really cool things is that you can get to the top of the gate for a great panoramic view of Brussels, but there are also these two horses from the 15th century I believe that were preserved after they were killed as they were horses of royalty.

One of the preserved horses in its armour. The bullet hole can still be seen in its neck on the other side. Pretty freaky.

The staircase in the main tower which takes you up the five levels is in incredible shape and is so beautiful.  It was hard to capture it in pictures but it is a wide continuous spiral staircase with an inner open column where standing guard are various statues the whole way up.

The grand staircase

Looking down the centre of the stairs

The topmost sculpture in the stairs - a lion

Anyway, it was a really interesting museum and kept me captivated for awhile.  I don’t know why walled cities are so interesting to me, but I love looking at the old maps and trying to imagine what the city was like then.  So being able to be in some of the actual buildings really helps with the recreation.  And this was a pretty spectacular building.  It is good that they decided to save this one instead of destroying it like they did with the rest when they dismantled the wall.

The doors taking me through the different sides of the top of the tower/gate

This gate was actually part of the second wall that was build.  Originally Brussels was walled as a much smaller area but when it was clear that that would not provide enough room for the growing population, a second wall was built.  But there are some remaining ruins of the original first wall too which of course I had to seek out.

Part of the remaining original first wall around Brussels

From there I decided to walk towards the centre via Rue Haute.  So just one little piece of medieval Brussels and more interesting info to come.  Keep your socks on.

The other side of the Gate