Featured photo is probably my favorite thing about the Choco-Story chocolate museum in Brussels…

Monday morning, we woke up in our grand Brussels suite at Le Fleur de Ville, and headed down to breakfast. I thought we would be having it in the lounge again, but a kitchen worker overheard me tell Bill he’d hit the wrong button on the elevator and said that breakfast was back in the restaurant. I was glad for that, because not only was the restaurant logistically a better location for eating breakfast than the lounge was, it was also a very beautiful setting for our morning repast.

The same couple who had given us the side eye in the lounge on Sunday morning were there on Monday. I was enjoying the music that was playing, which was better than the dance music in the lobby. Below are some beautiful pastries from what appeared to be a very special bakery in Brussels. People were lining up around the corner for these freshly baked buns and meringues.

After breakfast, we headed into the narrow streets of Brussels and headed close to the beer museum. I thought maybe we’d visit the church there. Fate had different plans, as when we went to the door, we saw a sign that said visits were not allowed because of a “celebration”. I stepped to the side, and suddenly, the door to the church opened. I peeked inside, and saw pallbearers bringing a coffin down the center aisle. The pastor, in his purple robe, was leading the way. The mourners were clapping, which was something I had never seen at a funeral. Then Bill noticed the van parked in front of the church, and realized it was the hearse.

I didn’t know a single thing about the deceased, but as I stood there watching, tears sprang to my eyes. I realized that many of the people who were mourning were young. I was moved by their sadness, even as a drunk stood nearby and shouted at everyone. I wrote more about this surreal scene on my main blog, just after it happened. It was that special of an event that I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget anything about what I saw on that Monday morning.

As I wiped away tears for a person I never even knew, it occurred to me that I happened to be there to see them being sent off by friends and family. It seemed very poignant to me.

We decided we needed to chill out after taking in the funeral scene, so we walked to the famous Mannekin Pis sculpture. Bill and I had seen it before, back in 2008…

In 2026, Mannekin Pis was wearing a cute little outfit… I got a few shots from different angles.

Looking at Mannekin Pis doesn’t take much time at all, so we followed up our visit to see the famous peeing boy statue with a trip to the Friet Museum. I didn’t have especially high expectations for this potato focused museum, which is just across the street from the chocolate museum, Choco-Story Brussels. The Friet Museum and the Choco-Story Museum are affiliated, so we bought combination tickets for both attractions. Had we visited the previous day, we could have combined our tickets with the Belgian Beer Experience, too.

Let me just state upfront– the Friet Museum didn’t disappoint! It is a very cute museum, and the best part was at the end. There, once you turn in your audio guide, you get to try a sample of delicious Belgian fried potatoes, cooked in either beef tallow or vegetable oil. You also get to try the many different exotic sauces, all of which made ketchup and mayo seem positively boring in comparison. You do need the audio guide, by the way. It gives you information in 11 languages, but it also allows you to try the interactive exhibits. You only get one “go”, too, which was sad for me, because I wanted to try the pinball machine again. I guess that makes it fair when the museum is very crowded. Otherwise, people would play pinball all day and no one else would get a chance to play!

The Friet Museum has a great gift shop, and we were able to load up on lots of presents for Bill’s grandchildren. I also enjoyed the many games and interactive exhibits this museum offers. It’s wonderful and educational for kids, but it’s also a lot of fun for adults who are big kids, like I am. I learned everything from the origin of potatoes, diseases that affect them, legends about potatoes, and how “French Fries” got their name, to all about fry sauces, cooking methods, and consumption habits. It was a very entertaining attraction for me! I love potatoes! I did, however, feel a little like I was on the set of the old Nickelodeon kids’ game show, Double Dare.

Below are some photos:

After we visited the Friet Museum, we decided to cross the street and visit Choco-Story Brussels. This museum was much like the Friet Museum in many ways, although it was more crowded. I didn’t enjoy the chocolate museum as much, as it didn’t offer as many fun activities, humorous exhibits, or interactive displays. We were also there with a big group of Spanish high school students who weren’t the most considerate. The silver lining is that, again, there were samples given, and they had a good gift shop. I liked the sculpture of the kid peeing in the restroom, too. See the featured photo.

Below are photos from Choco-Story Brussels:

After we visited the museums, we decided to go have lunch. On the way there, I took a few more photos…

I kept noticing this big eatery called Drug Opera (and no, I don’t know why it’s called that– I would assume maybe it’s located in a former pharmacy). I was curious about it, so that’s where we had our lunch. It reminded me of themed US based restaurants in the 80s. The atmosphere was fun, and the place was huge. However, I didn’t really love my lunch much… I had cordon bleu, which wasn’t really prepared in the way I expected. Luckily, there was plenty of good beer and fun 70s era music. They were playing a lot of Bee Gees!

After a very leisurely and filling lunch, we went back to the hotel for a rest. My ankle was bothering me from my fall the previous day, and I wanted to blog about that funeral experience we had in the morning.

When it came time for dinner, we decided to head over the the Delirium Tremens “Village”. Delirium Tremens is a famous and delicious Belgian beer which, strangely enough, we didn’t drink any of on this visit to Brussels. When we visited Brussels in 2008, they just had the Delirium Cafe, which was a rather small place that boasted a huge selection of beers. It was showcased on Three Sheets, the US cable drinking show starring Zane Lamprey, that we used to watch on iTunes when we lived in Germany the first time… We even sat at the same seats where Zane Lamprey sat, when he was showcasing the Delirium Cafe bar.

Below are photos from our 2008 visit.

Since 2008, the Delirium “Village” has really expanded. They now have multiple bars and other venues featuring all sorts of different libations. We ended up at the huge Taproom, which offered a large selection of excellent beers on draft. They played good music, too. The only thing I didn’t enjoy about our visit was the restroom I visited, which was not very clean or well stocked, and it didn’t smell pleasant. It wasn’t until we were about done for the evening that I noticed there was one closer to where we were sitting. But at least I got a few pictures of Jeanneke Pis– a female version of the more famous male statue, located in the Delirium Village. And this time, she wasn’t “behind bars.”

I think we skipped eating dinner on that night, although we got plenty of calories from beer… and I got a few more photos before we turned in for the evening.

We decided to turn in, after a full day of visiting Brussels. The next day, which was Tuesday, our last full day in Brussels, we visited the famous Atomium. I’ll write about that experience in the next post!