Brussels. Well, the main reason I wanted to go to Brussels was because of its association with Herge. Who is Herge, you ask? Good Grief!! Go look it up on Wikipedia. Now. That Saturday chanced to be my birthday. A word about birthdays. For starters, I'm not a birthday person. I get depressed on my birthday. I know, I know, I'm weird, freaky, blah, blah..But the truth is, birthdays remind me of how much time I've spent on the planet and how old I've become and how little time I have to do the things that I've always wanted to do. Last year was different, though. I was in Delft. I mean, I was in Europe. That was quite something. At least I wasn't griping. But that old feeling of uselessness and un-accomplishment was still present somewhere at the back of my head. So this year, I resolved, it was going to be different. And what better way to celebrate than in Brussels, comic city. Around twenty years ago (I'm old, lads, I'm old), I started my journey into the world of comics. Haven't looked back since and its been a blast thus far. The reason I bring this up is because my first Tintin comic (twenty years ago) was Explorers on the Moon. (I know, I know, I should have read Destination Moon first and then read Explorers on the Moon. But I was a kid and the cover of Explorers on the Moon was ..well, you remember, those cheesy Orange spacesuits and the even cheesier red and white checkered moon rocket in the background...How could I resist? For that matter, how could you?). And now here I was..in Herge's town.Well, anyway, we started from Leuven, the school chum and me. Leuven was where he stayed and that was the base of operations, so to speak. We breakfasted at small joint. Chocolate soaked pancakes and good coffee. I ask you, how can a day go bad when you start off like that? Eh?
A twenty minute train ride and we were there. A short walk and we were at the city center. The tourist office is situated at the city center and we needed to pick up the 'Comic Strip Trail'. The center itself is quite quaint.
The Comic Strip Trail leads you through Brussels showing you all the murals painted by famous Belgian cartoonists. There are about thirty murals in all, but I didn't need to see them all, just the ones belonging to the cartoonists whose comics I'd read. There was a beer festival at the center. "Best to try the exotic stuff", the school chum told me. Seemed like a good idea indeed, but unfortunately, we didn't try anything because by the time we got back it was too late. Drink the stuff in the morning? Then, lads, we would have been staggering through the Comic Strip Trail, and that, wouldn't have been very nice.
We did the Trail, and a darn good trail it was. The best murals were the Herge murals. Brought all those pleasant memories of bright colors and New-Comic-Book smell flooding back. That's right, I'm a book-sniffer. And a proud one too. Of the Herge murals the best one is in Brussels Zuid Station. You can't miss it. Its enormous.
We visited other spots as well. The flea market which featured in Secret of the Unicorn was exactly like I remembered from the comic, right down to the models of ships. Or, maybe these flea market chaps were keeping it that way.
We missed Herge's inspiration for the house in The Seven Crystal Balls and we also couldn't dine at the Tintin themed restuarant. Also missed the Herge mural at the underground station. Ah well, another time.
Another thing which you can give a miss in Brussels is the Mannekin Pis. But you'll feel compelled to see it anyway, because of all the legend surrounding it and because of everyone telling you that it represents the spirit of Belgium. Big hype, if you ask me.
The best stop was the Belgium Comic strip museum. I took a gazillion photographs. I also forced the hapless School Chum to take a bunch of pictures with me in them. Very uncharacteristic of me, but heck, I needed this. I posed with Herge's bust, with Herge's potrait, with the cheesy orange spacesuits, with the Moon Rocket, with my favourite characters, the whole works basically. There were replica's from some Tintin books. King Ottokars scepter was there, so was the fetish with the Broken Ear, and The Cigars of the Pharoah. Didn't find the Castafiore Emerald though. Heh heh heh.....
The souvenir shop attached to the museum had some delightful stuff as well. But expensive, lads, very expensive.
We spent the rest of the day finding and admiring the other murals. The Bob and Bobette mural was good. Very typical of Willy Vandersteen and the comic, of course. Just flip to the first page of any Bob and Bobette comic. You'll know what I mean. The Lucky Luke mural was colossal. So was the Asterix mural, but the cruddy part of the Asterix mural was that it was inside a locked courtyard. I mean, why?? Jeez.....
After the trail was done, we headed back to the centre and picked up some Belgium chocolates. Belgium chocolates are exquisite. Absolutely fabulous stuff. Put 'em on your must-taste-before-I die list. And when the lass at the counter asks you what kind of chocolates you want, say you want pralines. Ok, ok, say what you want, but make sure you try a praline or two. At least. 
So t'was a memorable end to a memorable day. The tickets to the Belgium Comic Strip Museum make nice souvenirs. They're pinned up over my desk right next to the unused Italian stamps.
A twenty minute train ride and we were there. A short walk and we were at the city center. The tourist office is situated at the city center and we needed to pick up the 'Comic Strip Trail'. The center itself is quite quaint.
The Comic Strip Trail leads you through Brussels showing you all the murals painted by famous Belgian cartoonists. There are about thirty murals in all, but I didn't need to see them all, just the ones belonging to the cartoonists whose comics I'd read. There was a beer festival at the center. "Best to try the exotic stuff", the school chum told me. Seemed like a good idea indeed, but unfortunately, we didn't try anything because by the time we got back it was too late. Drink the stuff in the morning? Then, lads, we would have been staggering through the Comic Strip Trail, and that, wouldn't have been very nice.
We did the Trail, and a darn good trail it was. The best murals were the Herge murals. Brought all those pleasant memories of bright colors and New-Comic-Book smell flooding back. That's right, I'm a book-sniffer. And a proud one too. Of the Herge murals the best one is in Brussels Zuid Station. You can't miss it. Its enormous.
We visited other spots as well. The flea market which featured in Secret of the Unicorn was exactly like I remembered from the comic, right down to the models of ships. Or, maybe these flea market chaps were keeping it that way.
We missed Herge's inspiration for the house in The Seven Crystal Balls and we also couldn't dine at the Tintin themed restuarant. Also missed the Herge mural at the underground station. Ah well, another time.Another thing which you can give a miss in Brussels is the Mannekin Pis. But you'll feel compelled to see it anyway, because of all the legend surrounding it and because of everyone telling you that it represents the spirit of Belgium. Big hype, if you ask me.
The best stop was the Belgium Comic strip museum. I took a gazillion photographs. I also forced the hapless School Chum to take a bunch of pictures with me in them. Very uncharacteristic of me, but heck, I needed this. I posed with Herge's bust, with Herge's potrait, with the cheesy orange spacesuits, with the Moon Rocket, with my favourite characters, the whole works basically. There were replica's from some Tintin books. King Ottokars scepter was there, so was the fetish with the Broken Ear, and The Cigars of the Pharoah. Didn't find the Castafiore Emerald though. Heh heh heh.....
The souvenir shop attached to the museum had some delightful stuff as well. But expensive, lads, very expensive.
We spent the rest of the day finding and admiring the other murals. The Bob and Bobette mural was good. Very typical of Willy Vandersteen and the comic, of course. Just flip to the first page of any Bob and Bobette comic. You'll know what I mean. The Lucky Luke mural was colossal. So was the Asterix mural, but the cruddy part of the Asterix mural was that it was inside a locked courtyard. I mean, why?? Jeez.....
After the trail was done, we headed back to the centre and picked up some Belgium chocolates. Belgium chocolates are exquisite. Absolutely fabulous stuff. Put 'em on your must-taste-before-I die list. And when the lass at the counter asks you what kind of chocolates you want, say you want pralines. Ok, ok, say what you want, but make sure you try a praline or two. At least. 
So t'was a memorable end to a memorable day. The tickets to the Belgium Comic Strip Museum make nice souvenirs. They're pinned up over my desk right next to the unused Italian stamps.
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