Tag: April 24th 2019

Today’s first attraction was The Atomium, a museum built in the shape of an iron crystal which was apparently created as a folly for the city’s world fair in 1958 and converted into a museum soon after.

Each “atom“ forms a separate room. The bottom few displaying a variety of Belgian memorabilia from the 50s and 60s.

 

The upper floors housed a temporary exhibition which I immediately dubbed “The Nucleusium” on account of the fact that the main feature was a model of the nucleus of an iron atom with safelights and strobe lights all around it. As with a lot of art, it was something that I found quite difficult to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a viewing deck inside the top atom, however it was rather difficult to find the way up. There initially appeared to be a lift which went up there, but it didn’t go from the atom below. A member of staff explained to us that the lift actually went from the ground floor, so we had to go all the way back down to go all the way back off again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My first impression of the viewing deck was that at some point, the designers in charge of The Atomium and The Empire State Building had shared notes at one point or another, on account of it looking almost identical to the 102nd floor of New York’s iconic landmark, right down to both rooms having old photographs on the wall showing the construction of the building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was an excellent view down into Mini Europe, a miniature village made up of iconic European landmarks. One of the first thing I noticed was that the Elizabeth Tower was still a part of the park and that The Union Flag was flying amongst the other 27. It’s always good to see that there are some Europeans who still have faith in our country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After The Atomium we headed back into town.

We made a brief stop at The Pagodas, a pavilion and a tower from China and Japan respectively which had apparently been disassembled, shipped to Belgium, and then reassembled in Brussels.

 

Dad and I were basically just milling around the city centre for the rest of the day. 

 

We managed to see Manneken Pis and The Grand Palace, both of which were high on my list of things to see.

 

I also had quite a culinary experience. I got some Belgian chocolate from a shop near Centraal Station (of course) and a Belgian waffle from a shop on one of the main High Street ( which funnily enough, was marketing it’s waffles as “Australian waffles “) 

 

I also gave Belgian beer a try at a bar just outside The Grand Palace. This was my first time drinking beer, aside from the old sip here and there.