Hi Friends, here I am with bunch of memories and experiences of most awaited trip ‘THE EUROPE TRIP’. Like everyone, even I wished a Europe trip, which was finally striked out from my wish list. The trip was organized through travel agents ‘STAR TOURS’. So when it comes to accommodation and transportation it was taken care by the travel agents in a very organized way.

Experience of Euro-tunnel

We started from East ham in Coach to Folkstone terminal located on the south-east coast of England to Calais terminal in North France via Euro tunnel. My imagination of Euro-tunnel was something like underground tube station with its triple speed. But in the real scenario, it is a tunnel under the English Channel, where trains carry passengers, cars, motorbikes, coaches etc. through the Channel Tunnel. This Channel Tunnel is linking London and Paris beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is 250 feet deep and at 23.5 miles long.

Our Coach was taken into tunnel rail and we were allowed to have tour within Euro tunnel rail. It was just like a locked room. We couldn’t even sense that we were 40m below sea bed.

Information: The Channel Tunnel is the longest undersea tunnel in the world. The section under the sea is 38km long. The three tunnels, each 50km long, were bored at an average 40m below the sea bed, and link Folkestone in Kent to Coquelles in Pas-de-Calais.

 

 

 

After reaching Calais we headed towards Capital of Belgium, Brussels to view the Grand Place & Manneken Pis Statue. We did have an option and time to tour around by walk. The visit was at the right time as the city was all set to celebrate the Christmas. The streets were decorated with Christmas trees and Christmas cribs. The time of visit was a perfect visual treat.

Grand Place Brussels

The Grand-Place is the central square of the City of Brussels. All over the world it is known for its decorative and artistic wealth. The square is the most important tourist destination and most memorable landmark in Brussels.

City is known for its decorative and aesthetic wealth. The building in square with its beautiful architecture just stole my heart. It’s one of the most beautiful medieval squares in Europe, the Grand Place is the center of Brussels, where many historic buildings dating from the 17th century are located.

Besides odd-ball statues, Brussels also has a large collection comic strip street art. The walls of Brussels’ buildings, showcasing Belgium’s most famous comics.

Manneken Pis: Brussels’s famous peeing statue

Manneken Pis is a landmark small bronze sculpture, portraying a naked little boy urinating into a fountain’s basin. It was  put in place in 1619 by Hieronymus Duquesnoy the Elder .

The little statue can be found just metres away from the Grand-Place. It’s said that he plays a full part in the city’s yearly calendar and even has an outfit for every occasion.

Was just curious to know why was The 61-centimetre (24 in) tall bronze statue made and what do it symbolizes? I could find various answers and my favorite one among them mentioned below:

In the 14th century, Brussels was under siege by a foreign power. The city had held its ground for some time, so the attackers conceived of a plan to place explosive charges at the city walls. A little boy named Julianske happened to be spying on them as they were preparing. He urinated on the burning fuse and thus saved the city. There was at the time (middle of the 15th century, perhaps as early as 1388) a similar statue made of stone. The statue was stolen several times.

For more legends behind this statue checkout the link : Legends behind the statue

The first thing that strikes my mind when I hear Belgium is ‘CHOCOLATE’. Belgium is not only known for its art and culture but also known for the excellent art of chocolate making. Belgian chocolate is currently one of the most sought after types of chocolate in the world.

The best Belgian chocolate pralines and truffles are still made by hand. This should be one of the reason why Belgium is well-known around the world as one of the top manufacturers of finely shaped chocolate. Therefore, the Belgian chocolates have a unique art of manufacturing and are loved throughout the world.

We walked around the street of Grand place of Brussels, going from one chocolate shop to another –We really enjoyed tasting all of the chocolate and in Brussels we went on a search for the best waffles. It was so surprising to see so many different types, flavors and toppings for waffles – they’re like a meal in themselves. According to me It’s absolutely the best place to explore waffles with different types of flavors and toppings.

With bundle of chocolate memories from the streets of grand Place we headed towards our next spot, the Atomium Building.

Atomium Building

 

Brussels’ Atomium is on a list of the world’s top 10 most astonishing buildings. It was originally constructed for Expo 58, the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair.

Designed by the engineer André Waterkeyn and architects André and Jean Polak,it stands 102 m (335 ft) tall. It is now a museum. It’s nine large spheres are linked with tubes to form the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal, magnified of course, to 165 billion times. This 335 ft tall atom has become an icon of the city of Brussels.

Check out the link to know more about Atomium

Winded up the day by wandering around streets of Brussels, seeing all the unusual statues, tasting the yummiest waffles and chocolates. Last but not the least with the excitement for the next day travel.

See you soon with new experience and new memories, until then Happy Blogging 🙂 🙂