Les Schtroumpfs

You know how sometimes you just pull it all together? A great plan, nice balance, happiness, fun and learning, relaxation and activity? I managed to do it twice within two days; I'm mighty proud. I'll cover Saturday separately since Friday will fill up this one. After a morning spent relaxing and working diligently on our journals in the apartment, we took the bus to the Royal Palace. Julia displays her new smile in front of the palace, courtesy of losing a tooth that morning. Love that. The green shimmery stuff on the ceilings and that chandelier, not so much; they look cool but are thousands of green beetle wings.

I'm more a fan of the gold paint and the multiple gigantic crystal chandeliers in the other rooms. We also liked the many huge paintings of members of the royal family of Belgium plus the marble, granite, fireplaces, and musical instruments. All free and completed in about 45 minutes.

A planned stroll through Brussels Park as our path to the next activity was lovely. I pushed my luck a bit with another stopover at the Congres Column, but it was right on the way (even Lucy admitted it later). Bonus: learning about members of Belgium's first government and noticing how many transit stops are named after them.

Now the real fun began. I had no idea that Belgium was a hub of comic strip creativity and innovation. Now I have a greater appreciation for the history, talent and sheer volume of work from Belgian artists thanks to the Belgian Comic Strip Center. Housed in a stunning Art Nouveau building designed by Victor Horta (see how it all comes together?), we learned about how comic strips are produced and read the history and successes of some of the most famous Belgian artists. Even the restaurant was cool (cafe for Mommy; frites for Lucy; crepes for Julia).

I fell in love with Tintin and Snowy (Milou in French). We saw the genesis of the Smurfs in 1958 as rough sketches practically on the back of a paper place mat which someone almost threw away (be sure to click on the photo to the right to see the details). Or as they were called in the original French, Les Schtroumpfs. Our adventure ended in the reading room sketching our favorite characters into our journals and reading through some English comics they had in their library. We were about one and a half hours late for meeting Brian at home for dinner because we had such fun.