Brussels Day Four

Sunday Dec. 11, 2016

We spent a good deal of the morning on a treasure hunt of the various Comic Murals that are painted on buildings throughout Brussels.  We must have located at least 6 this morning.  Some we happened to find because we were nearby.  Others we would have been able to locate much more quickly if we had GPS that we could use on a phone.  Either way we had a good time finding them.  We circled around the Christmas Market area once again as well as the Mannekin Pis.  This time the little character was dressed as a Mountain Climber.  The comic murals were done to honor the various comic artists that prevailed in Begium.

These comic murals varied in size and number of characters and they were all well done.  Some extra graffiti has been added but by and large they are in good condition.

The afternoon was spent boarding Tram 92 to head south.  First was the Horta Museum.  This home/museum was the home of Victor Horta who was very prominent in the Art Nouveau movement here in Brussels.  He designed some beautiful buildings throughout his lifetime and his own home was magnificent.  There were lots of details as far as curves, marble, wood and steel and glass.  The home was large as well as homey.  The large windows let in lots of light even though the day was dreary.  We walked from room to room and from level to level.  Each room was warm and inviting with unique types of wood,marble, metal and glass.  You would think some of those items would be too industrial.  They were curved and smoothed and filled with colorful glass to feel cheerful and warm.The kitchen in the lower level also felt very homey.  We could not take photos inside to share.☹️

The outside of the home does not really reflect the inner beauty that Horta created.

We got on Tram 92 once agin and headed farther south to visit an Art Deco home.  We were disappointed since it had numerous sections with the doors closed.  The rooms appeared dark and the little tour booklet spent more time on various pieces of art that the family had collected.  The office area was a neat room with a huge somewhat rounded desk with a blotter made from shark skins.  That was pretty unique.  The house looked like a Frank Lloyd Wright home that did not make the cut. We couldn't take photos inside to share, but not a big loss.

  

Then on to catch Tram 92 once again to make our way back to the hotel.