A Quick tour of Belgium

12th March 2008

Today we started our tour with the Chinese tour operator in the Netherlands. The weather was really bad, raining and strong wind. Our first stop was Atomium, somewhere outskirt of Brussels. It was one of the original ideas for Expo '58 was to build an upside-down version of the Eiffel tower; however, Waterkeyn felt that an atomic structure would be more symbolic of the era. The monument was originally planned to remain standing only six months. However, it soon became a symbol not only of the World's Fair, but of modern architecture and Brussels. The monument stayed the same for almost 50 years.

Manneken Pis

I have lost count of the number of time I been to Brussels and visiting this little boy peeing at the corner of the street. Since it is part of the tour itinerary, we stopped by Brussels and of course pay a quick visit to this little boy. He was in his winter suit today due to the extremely cold and windy weather of the day.

Waterloo

After that, the tour took us to Waterloo. Waterloo's claim to fame is the famous Battle of Waterloo (June 18, 1815) between the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Alliance of the Seventh Coalition (the United Kingdom, Prussia, Austria and others. There is a memorial in the form of a statue of a lion (looking towards France on a hill with 226 stairs called La Butte du Lion.

This is my second visit; the first time was when Johannes and I took Vicky, Charles and Aumun to this place in a lovely May Spring weather. Due to the bad weather, no one actually wanted to go up to the top.