116!

yesterday was day 116 but i was too tired to write about it until today. we woke up, ate some hostel breakfast, then checked out and walked around a little more, had some lunch, then took the trains home. but i must admit something to you all, i intentionally left out one of the better highlights of my brussels trip yesterday..why you ask? because i feel it deserves a blog of its own. so that is what i will tell you about now. before i came here my family and i always talked about the little information we knew over belgium. my dad knew about flanders field, my mom knew about waffles or something, but it was my grandma that knew the most. she loved talking about the "pissing boy" in brussels..so naturally, i was really excited to come and see it! once i got here i found out he actually has a name.."manneken pis"which is something like little boy peeing..so funny! well this was my third or fourth trip to brussels and i FINALLY got to see it.

i had to almost physically push my friends to see this little guy after all the walking we had already done. and when i say little i mean REALLY LITTLE! he was so small and so cute! sadly he wasn't in a costume (apparently that is common) and he wasn't peeing either..too cold, maybe? but nonetheless i was really happy to see him! almost as excited as i was to go to Ypres on remembrance day. earlier this year i sent my grandparents a postcard with him on it, and apparently my cousins just love it and always giggle about the naked boy on the post card. just wait till they see their christmas presents! he's such a popular brussels icon; every tee shirt, shot glass, magnet, figurine, and even chocolate is shaped like him!

its actually quite funny to see the little naked peeing boy everywhere. anyways, that was my major excitement with my brussels trip, and i hope if any of you are ever in tiny belgium that you have the opportunity to see the also tiny pissing boy. small but powerful seems to bee this country's motto. if you're curious to know more about why this little naked kid is so popular, heres a link to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manneken_Pis ..enjoy! :)