Bruxelles: Comics & Figures & Toys Oh My!

One of the reasons I wanted to visit Belgium was because of it's a comic book friendly country. But not comic books like how we know there here, floppy 32 page monthly books that cost about $3.00. Belgium's comics are more like graphic novels. Over sized but thin hardcover books that line every square inch of their many, many comic books store.

Instead of Superman, they have Tin Tin and the Smurfs, and many, many more characters we have never heard of. Some have recently been translated into English but still are not commonly found here in the United States.

Here is a selection of comic related photos from our trip last March.

This is at the Tin Tin Boutique. One whole store devoted to all things Tin Tin.

Each of these mini figures costs about 50 US dollars. Each one is from a scene in a Tin Tin book.

This is a great display of kid friendly books at the Comics Cafe in Bruxelles.

See, it's a store and a cafe!

Here is a section of English books that have been translated into French.

They also have an adorable reading room.

Beloved Tin Tin, guarding the doors.

The front of the Comics Cafe.

These next section of photos are from the MOOF Museum, which is the Museum of Original Figurines. It is a huge collection of toys, statues, maquettes and figures based on comic book characters. It is a very beautiful and comprehensive museum with very stylized exhibits. Most of the characters were unknown to us but we really loved how they were displayed!

This is a character called Asterix.

A very detailed Smurf village!

A huge painted Smurf!

The wild west themed "Lucky Louie" display!

Tin Tin's Objects of Myth

Snowy, Tin Tin's sidekick, in his astronaut costume.

Snowy, as a mummy, from my favorite Tin Tin story The Cigars of the Pharaoh.

Snowy, and his good and bad consciences.

Items from the "Blue Lotus, " one of the most popular Tin Tin stories (and the most racist too!)

I have no idea who this guy is but he's HUGE (at least 10 feet tall) and he's in a dark room where the lights (and sounds) are motion activated. It totally scared me!

Characters from the Blacksad books, recently translated into English. The larger figure at the bottom is a 1:1 human scale bust.

An old timey machine used for making animated cartoons.

Just one of the dozens of public displays of comic book art.

Bruxelles: Buildings, Architecture and Pretty Stuff

Superfro and I recently returned from our 15 Year Anniversary Adventure. We went to Bruxelles, Belgium with day trips to both Paris, France and Amsterdam, Netherlands via train. Bruxelles is a great starting point for visiting Europe. It is incredibly historical, it is small with extensive train possibilities to England, France, Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg and it's very friendly to English speakers. We picked Bruxelles for all those reason but also because of Belgium's fondness for comic books, comic strips and comic characters. They love their comics (even though they are totally different than what we think of as "comics" - more on that later!)

Superfro and I took lots and lots of pictures. As I look at them now I don't even know what some of them are. I'm bad at remembering things and when everywhere you look you see beautiful, amazing things, it's hard to keep track of them all!

I have decided to divide upu my blogs into different themes. Right now, you're looking at the Bruxelles: Buildings, Architecture and Pretty Stuff blog. If you hate any of those things, you should move one, I will not be offended!

Our hotel, the Aloft Brussels Schuman, tried to set the tone for a very romantic stay.

This is the area just outside of the Central Station.

Bruxelles really is full of beautiful monuments and architecture. It was hard to walk on cobblestone streets when you're looking all over at every little thing. Also, that crane, that is just one of maybe 40 that we saw. Bruxelles is expanding and developing and building!

Near the very pretty "Place de Brockere," on Blvd. Anspach. The renowned Hotel Metropol is near here.

It's quite common to come to an intersection and have more then 4 directions to choose from.

Our first sight of the Grand Place. On the left is the Hotel de Ville (a civic building) and straight ahead is the Le Renard (formerly the haberdashers guild house) Le Cornet (the boatman's guild house) and Le Maison des Boulangers (the bakers guild house.) To the very right is Le Pigeon, the former home of Victor Hugo, now under renovation and covered by a tapestry with a photo of the building printed on it.

On the right is that photo tapestry and to the left of that is Maison du Roi. It formerly housed the Spanish monarch and is now a museum whose exhibits include the 800+ piece wardrobe of the Manneken Pis statue (more on that later!)

The final piece of the Grand Place, La Maison des ducs de Brabant, a collaboration of six guild houses.

Along Rue de Marche aux Herbes, near the Grand Place. Wouldn't you like to see 2 SUVs trying to pass one another on that street?

Part of Rue des Bouchers, full of restaurants. Each restaurant has some outdoor seating plus chalkboards and other signage full of their menus and prices. Some even have big displays of seafood.

Oh! Here he is, the Manneken Pis, sometimes known as "The Peeing Boy of Bruxelles!" Tucked into the corner of Rue de l'Etuve and Rue de Chene, he's only 2 feet high but he's probably the most photographed sight in Bruxelles.

Near the Grand Place is a luxury shopping center called the Galeries St-Hubert. It has a domed glass roof, very fancy!

Oh! Another of the most photographed sights, the Atomium! This is a magnified moddel of an iron atom (magnified only 165 billion times) and it was built for the 1958 World Fair. It still stands on the fairgrounds but was originally meant to be torn down. It was kept due to it's popularity (like the Eiffel Tower.) OK, some facts... Each sphere is 60 in diameter and 5 of them are open to the public. The very top one has a restaurant and the panoramic viewing room, 328 feet above the ground. The spheres are linked by stairs and very narrow escalators.

Looking north from the Atomium.

Some Atomium facts and figures.

Some facts and figures about the World Fair. My favorite is the last one "Five people died at the fair."

Here is one of the stairways. This one is not open to the public so we didn't have to climb it.

Here is one of the very narrow escalators. Very narrow. And steep.

I love this view from one of the "second floor" spheres.

This is the Palais Royal, the Royal Palace, not to be confused with the Place Royale, or the Royal Square (which is actually circular) and is located nearby, or the Place des Palais, which is the name of the road it is on or the Rue Royal, the other road it is on. This is the residence of the Belgian monarchy and construction was started in 1820 but mostly completed in the reign of Leopold II who ruled from 1835-1909.  

This stately looking gem is actually a church, the Eglise St-Jacques-sur-Coudenberg, dedicated to the apostle St. James. This current version was consecrated in 1787 but there has been a church on this site since the 1100s. It is located right next to the Palais Royal (seen above.)

This jewel of Art Nouveau architecture used to be a department store but now it is the Musee des Instruments Musique. It has over 6000 musical instruments in it's collection.

This fancy church is the Notre-Dame du Sablon.

Night time at the Grand Place, the Hotel de Ville.

It's really quite pretty at night, all lit up and people all over giddy on Belgian beer and waffles.

Near our hotel was Parc Leopold, which shares space with the European Parliment, where the committee meetings are held. This building was completed in 1997 and of course has as many critics as admirers.

This is the Parc du Cinquantenaire, built by Leopold II for the Golden Jubilee in 1880. Originally military training took place on these grounds. Now, it's an amazing green space with trails and gardens, and a roadway underpass called Avenue J F Kennedy (we seriously had no idea the underpass was there until we were at the top of that archway, looking down on the park!) The building on the left is the Musee Royal de l'Armee et d'History Militaire which is all about the Belgian army history from 1700 - present. It also features a fantastic exhibit on medevial armor and weapons. The building on the left is the Cinquantenaire Museum, part of the Royal Art & History Museum.

The archway was built in 1905. It's huge and it has a super sweet roof that offers panoramic views of the city.

In the background is the Basilique Nationale du Sacre-Coeur, another of King Leopold II's great ideas. This one was started in 1904 but was not finieshed until 1970. The green copper dome is 295 feet tall.

Another building near our hotel, this is the Berlaymont building. It is the headquarters of the European Commission and is cross shaped, so all the sides look exactly the same, making it annoying to get your bearings around it.

I hope that you have enjoyed the architecture and pretty buildings in and around Bruxelles!