An Italian Family in Dutch Wonderland : Brussels Part 2

It's official - I am in love with this city! It's spectacular and full of rich history!   Today was our museum day. We started off at the Brussels Museum of Natural Sciences. We are IN LOVE with the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philly (thanks to our fabulous neighbors) and had high expectations for this one.   It lived up to the high bar that the D'Eletto family set! Dinosaurs Galore so we had one happy little 5 year old! This museum is home to over 30 Iguanadons that were discovered...some of them are in still in the positions that they were found in! We also saw an exhibit on baby animals, gems, sea life, the Arctic, and whales.    It was a fantastic morning and we spent over 3 hours in the museum. We totally could have stayed there longer but we had more to see in the city!

Next up, we trotted across a few parks and arrived at the "Musée Royal de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire" (Military Museum). It was HUGE and it was FREE!   We saw war planes, tankers, zeppelins, suits of armor, cannons, swords, and military weaponry. The museum is in the midst of a renovation to include an entire section dedicated to World War II but there was still plenty to see and do. If we didn't have the two children running from one display to another, I am sure that Bill could have easily spent the entire day in this museum. One awesome part of this museum is that it is the only building that has access to the amazing Arc Cinquantenaire. This Arc was built in 1880 by King Leopold commemorating the 50th anniversary of the independence of Belgium. It is graceful yet very dominating!   We had no idea that this was even near the museum yet alone part of it! Walking through the park I told Bill that we "had to find it" and he came through with flying colors!

No matter what city we go to, the party seems to follow us! On Sunday, the king is abdicating the throne to give it to his son. Parties are throughout the city, helicopters are flying above, and rows and rows of chairs, stages, and sound system equipment line the street in front of the Royal Palace. http://www.21july.monarchie.be/   We left Nijmegen a day early so we could get out of the city before the 4 Day Walk made it down our street to the finish line.  Yesterday and today it was celebrating the new king of Belgium, and tomorrow the Tour De France will be making its way through Paris when we arrive.

It's early to bed tonight so we can get up at the crack of dawn to make our way to Paris! Stay tuned for another country!

Iguanadon Galore