Belgian Palace

Every summer, Belgium's Royal Palace opens up for visitors with free tours. On Friday, I went over there for a tour and took a lot of pictures. I put the pictures on Flickr, so head over there to see all of them.

While waiting for the bus to bring me into town, I snapped some pictures of the newer trams in Brussels.

Tram in the opposite direction

Busses in this direction share the stop with trams

Closeup of the tram

The palace is very much what one would expect from a palace. They also had information about the history of the monarchy, mainly focused around WW1 and WW2.

Fancy shit

One room (the "Mirror Room" with the famous jewel beetle decoration) was devoted to the sciences in Belgium, with the famous Solvay Conference picture posted there.

That's Planck, Curie, and Lorentz visible there in the front row

They also had exhibits for the different Belgian scientists.

Englert, known for co-discovering the Higgs Mechanism

After the tour I walked a bit around the park and then made my way to the Sablon area. I went to this little place called "Pistolet Original" for lunch, and it was very good! I had one with Gouda and Belgian endives. For those unfamiliar with a "pistolet", it's a bread roll that has a crunchy crust but is soft inside and is traditional to Belgium.

Lunch

Afterwards I walked over to the Jewish Museum. Just 2 months before it was the site of a shooting where 4 people died. Armed police guard the site and nearby synagogue, but the museum remains closed. It's very tragic because the area is quite nice and peaceful.

From the Sablon I walked over towards the Palace of Justice (awesome name, by the way). I took some more side streets that were quite relaxed, very much your typical European street. The square in front of the Palace of Justice has great views of the city. I took a panoramic picture from my phone (360 degrees!)

Great 360 degree view

After that I walked over to Avenue Louise, known for its high-end shops. I stopped in the Tesla store with my dream car. 

So beautiful

In the car

Tesla...

I also stopped in my parents' favorite hotel: The Hotel. It's currently set up for Tomorrowland, and was completely booked for the occasion. Later that night I returned to the area to go to the movie theater and saw a French movie called "Qu'est-ce qu'on a fait au Bon Dieu?". It was funny, well done comedy.

Today I'm going to take it easy. I need to pack and prepare for my departure to Berlin tomorrow. Because I have to change trains in Cologne (Köln), I'm planning on spending a few hours there before boarding the train to Berlin. Lockers are available so I don't have to bring my bags through the city. Look for that in the next update!