From the beginning Carolyn wanted to do 2 things: eat mussels and visit the EU Parliament. RS suggest going to the government building on a weekday when there might be action in the parliament so we chose Monday.

We saw some people coming in and taking seats but we did not see any real legislative activity. However, the audio tour provided information new and interesting to us. I found it particularly interesting that while the representatives are elected proportionately within each member country, once they arrive they are seated by political party. The most left party sits on the far left and the most right wing on the – right! The Parlamentarium is nearby and full of stories of the history of member countries and individuals and their lives. It is an eclectic collection of photos, videos and letters and could occupy most of a day. But, hunger moved us on. The photo on the left is the actual venue in Brussels. The middle model color codes the different political parties and – if you zoom in you can see that the women have dresses. I think the narrative said that 40% of the parliamentarians are women. The building on the right is the parlamentarium.

After lunch we traveled across town to see the Maison Hannon House. Another beautiful Art Nouveau house. This one designed by Jules Brunfaut for the Hannon family. It was the only Art Nouveau house by Brunfaut and it is beautiful.

We had a cocktail at a nice neighborhood cafe and then headed home. We tried to buy some bread for the house but everything was closed. We made due for the night.