Solo Travel Brussels: Pissing Statues, Brussels City Museum, Museum of Medicine & Grand Place 2024

Solo Travel Brussels: Pissing Statues, Brussels City Museum, Museum of Medicine & Grand Place 2024

Saturday, June 29, 2024. I am here in Brussels, and today is my last day here in the city. The places I visited are as follows. Number 1, Three pissing statues of Brussels, a girl, a dog, and the world-famous cupid, known as the Manneken Pis. Number 2, Museum with Outfits Worn by Manneken Pis. There were costumes, some from the 1700s and the 1800s. Number 3, Brussels City Museum. The Manneken Pis everybody visits here in the city is not the original, it was replaced 50 years ago. The original is over 400 years old and is found at this museum. Number 4, Museum of Medicine. It is a museum about anatomy that is within a hospital. It is mostly about the history of medicine, how we introduced surgery, the antique tools used, and wax figures of surgeries. Number 5, Grand Place. It started as the town square and is now the central part of the city. Number 6, Black Tower. It was an old tower from the 1400s with a long and varied history. Enjoy the video. Good morning from Brussels. The United States is 200 times bigger than Belgium and does not have an official language while Belgium has three. Dutch in the north, French in the south, and a smattering of German speakers in the east. Statue of a pissing girl. The owner of a few restaurants in the alley noticed a decrease in the number of visitors. To attract more visitors, he had the statue built in 1987. Statue of a pissing dog. Erected in 1998, this statue honors the stray dogs of Brussels. Dogs used to be common on the streets until the end of the 1800s. I like dogs, only the big ones, not the little ones. The pissing statue of Brussels, Manneken Pis. I have seen it about four times and it’s the first time I saw it without a costume. The Brussels City Museum houses the 1619 original, and I will be there later today. Outfits worn by Manneken Pis. This museum has over a thousand costumes worn by the statue, although around 150 are currently on display. This one is the replica from the French king in 1747 to atone for his drunken soldiers kidnapping the statue and parading it around the city, causing a revolt. The French king even threw in the exalted Knight of the Order of Saint Louis medal. Brussels City Museum. The Dutch-speaking Belgians call it the Bread House because the area where the museum stands was a bread market in the 1200s. The French-speaking Belgians call it the King’s House because the King’s house replaced the bread market sometimes in the 1500s. The German-speaking Belgians do not live around here so it is more likely they don’t have a name for it. Around the 1800s, it was neglected and eventually rented out or leased for various uses. A court, a temporary prison, a storage space for the British cavalry, a rehearsal room for a dance school, and a library. The Brussels City Museum was built in the late 1800s and designed in Gothic style to resemble the previous King’s house. This is the original Manneken Pis from 1619. The first recorded theft was by the English soldiers in 1745, and it was found in a city ten miles away. The theft by the French soldiers occurred two years later in 1747. And this is the original costume from the French king to apologize for his soldiers. Museum of Medicine. Situated in a hospital, this museum holds an amazing and somewhat macabre collection of various wax figures as well as mummified bodies. It is intended to be educational, not recreational. That said, it has many bones, mostly human although some came from animals. The comparison of the human and monkey bones was pretty interesting. It also had an exhibit of dinosaur bones and bones of our ancestors. Not Adam and Eve, I mean the monkeys we came from. Siamese twins. We call conjoined twins Siamese because the first one in the world came from Siam. Siam is now called Thailand. The Elephant Man. I saw that movie and it gave me nightmares for weeks. The kid in me likes pinball machines. I only came in to see if there were pinball machines. Sure enough, there were a few. I returned to my hotel to rest a bit and pay a visit to the Executive Lounge at the hotel. Diamond and Gold members of the Hilton Honors program enjoy access. It is also open to guests who opted for the rooms that come with lounge access. It’s a nice place to relax with a view. One could have a glass of beer or wine. All complimentary. Grand Place. The central square of the city was created around the 11th century, catering to the rising importance of local merchants and tradesmen. In 1523, two Protestants were burned here by the Inquisition. It was backed by the Catholic church in a misguided attempt to combat heresy. Black Tower. It was built in the early 1200s as a part of the city’s defense. When the city built newer defenses, the tower was sold, and records show it was at one point a pub aptly named The Tower in the 16th century. Plans for tomorrow are as follows: Autoworld in Brussels. Mahymobiles in Leuze-en-Hainaut. Basilica of Sacré-Cœur in Paris. Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Oldest Bakery in Paris, Stohrer. Paris Catacombs. This video is the tenth of my 20-day vacation in Europe. Feel free to subscribe for the daily updates while I travel.

Saturday, June 29, 2024.

I am here in Brussels, and today is my last day here in the city.

The places I visited are as follows.

Number 1, Three pissing statues of Brussels, a girl, a dog, and the world-famous cupid, known as the Manneken Pis.

Number 2, Museum with Outfits Worn by Manneken Pis. There were costumes, some from the 1700s and the 1800s.

Number 3, Brussels City Museum. The Manneken Pis everybody visits here in the city is not the original, it was replaced 50 years ago. The original is over 400 years old and is found at this museum.

Number 4, Museum of Medicine. It is a museum about anatomy that is within a hospital. It is mostly about the history of medicine, how we introduced surgery, the antique tools used, and wax figures of surgeries.

Number 5, Grand Place. It started as the town square and is now the central part of the city.

Number 6, Black Tower. It was an old tower from the 1400s with a long and varied history.

Enjoy the video.

00:12 Summary of Today’s Travel in Video
01:39 Jenneke Pis, Brussels, Belgium
02:01 Zinneke Pis, Brussels, Belgium
02:25 Manneken Pis, Brussels, Belgium
02:45 Museum with Outfits Worn by Manneken Pis, Brussels, Belgium
03:31 Brussels City Museum, Brussels, Belgium
05:13 Museum of Medicine, Brussels, Belgium
07:43 Grand Place, Brussels, Belgium
08:11 Black Tower, Brussels, Belgium
08:34 Plans for Tomorrow