Weird Brussels: A Day of Surprises

September 27-28, 2003

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Brussels has a reputation as a fairly dull city. I suppose the fact that our family has spent very little time there supports that image. Last spring we went to Brussels for a couple of hours and had the chance to see its most famous landmark - Mannekin Pis. Yes, this is a fountain statue of a little boy peeing. It is hundreds of years old and has a history of being taken and returned, taken and returned. Mannekin is so well loved that he has hundreds of outfits that he wears for various occasions. He's a little guy standing on a street corner surrounded by tourist shops selling little Mannekin Pis statues and corkscrews (with screw strategically located). You can also be Mannekin Pis for a photo (that's Will getting a good laugh!) The Japanese tourists love this!

So when I told the kids that I had seen a statue of a dog peeing (we've dubbed it Doggykin Pis), that was motivation to go in to Brussels. Forget the great art museums, EU headquarters or King's Palace, it was the "Pis" tour that had the kids cheerfully wandering the streets of Brussels.

Saturday in Brussels is a lot of fun, even in the off-season. On the right is a performance artist being a statue (no, he wasn't peeing - but he did have fake bird doo on his costume). Ellen always gives the performance artists some money and for this she got a "high 5" from the statue guy.

Below, to the left you can see a chocolate fountain at one of the many chocolate shops in Brussels. We enjoyed playing tourist for awhile.

Just when we thought things were getting normal, we got to the Grand Place where we found a caravan of camels with Belgian Scouts riding them. Apparently this was some sort of promotion for an airline. And of course, there was camel doo behind one of the camels. Turned out to be fake doo that some cheeky Belgian kids had placed there. They shocked us when they bent over to pick it up!!!

Behind these camels on the stone building is the relief seen below. You are supposed to touch the statue to have happiness in your life. We touched the salamandars and frogs on the relief under the Jesus figure. I don't know why salamandars and frogs - it's Belgium! For some reason the Japanese tour group loved this one too!

Ah, but what we were really looking for on this day was Janneka Pis. Thanks to some misguided feminists in the 1980s, there is also a statue of a little girl peeing. She's very difficult to find, hiding in a dark dead-end alley. I cropped the photo because it really is quite graphic. Below Ellen and I pose for what Kevin and Will decided was a girl moment.

The next day we went for a little walk in an arboretum in the forest in Brussels. Here you can find all kinds of surprises like a Giant Sequoia and a Japanese Cookie Tree. But the bunkers from one of the World Wars are a sobering reminder of why the Belgians are sometimes a little goofy and irreverant. I figure all the peeing is about marking their territory.

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