The Ham Nomads

1 Oct 2015. <BE> Brussels —

Today we went into Brussels. Well, actually, we didn't. On the way in, we spotted the Atomium, the symbol of Brussels, and decided to find a park nearby and go exploring. This was a very good decision! The Atomium and the area around it is well worth a full day's exploration!

Bikes and mopeds are both acknowledged here

The Atomium was originally constructed in 1958, as the centre-piece of the first post-War World Fair held here in Brussels. It was only intended to last the duration of Expo 58, but here we are nearly sixty years later and it is still going strong. In fact, it is going stronger, as it has recently had a full renovation, and the aluminuim cladding has all been replaced with stainless steel. It looks magnificent. Originally, the Atomium weighed 2,400 tonnes, but after the 2003-2006 renovation, now with stainless steel, this increased to 2,500 tonnes.

The theme of the World Fair was "A world view - a new humanism", which was predicated on technical and scientific progress, with pure science being the salvation of humanity. With this in mind, the Atomium reproduces the atomic structure of a basic iron crystal, but magnified 165 billion times.

We went into the Atomium, and were whisked up to the top sphere in what was once the fastest elevator in Europe — 5 metres per second. The view from the top is amazing. From the top, you can look out onto a full panorama of Brussels, but also down onto Mini-Europe, a collection of models of landmarks from each of the European Union countries, which made us want to go visit it once we left the Atomium.

View down to the Art Deco Palais des Expositions
from the Brussels International Exposition (1935)

Then we went back down, and toured some of the lower spheres via stairs and escalators. Not all the spheres are open to the public, as there is a safety rule that no sphere without a true vertical support can be visited by the public. This still leaves a lot to be explored!

In the first sphere we visited, for example, was an exhibit dealing with the different ways various species see the world. There were examples of humans, dogs, fish, bees, snakes — and with each, a camera pointed at you, one which saw the world in the appropriate way for that species, fed the vision to a video screen so you could see what the other species saw. For the dog, they used the cutest Jack Russell Terrier, which sold the whole display to two ex-Jack-Russell people!

Within other spheres you see the history of the Atomium itself, with the various competing concepts for the project, blueprints of the original construction, and souvenirs of the 1958 World Fair. Fascinating.

One sphere is Kids' Space,
where school groups can spend the night in the Atomium,
and associated educational programmes

Anyway, we explored the spheres and tubes from the inside for a couple of hours. Once you've been up to the top sphere by lift, and come back down again, the subsequent movement through the lower spheres involves 3 escalators + 80 steps to go up, 167 steps + one escalator to come down again.

After this, as intimated, we went across to Mini-Europe. This proved to be an excercise in reminiscence about our trip so far, and anticipation of a few things yet to come.

The Calais-Dover ferry

Latvia. Riga. The Monument to Freedom

Belgium. Brussels, The Grand Place

Netherlands. Amsterdam

Netherlands. Amsterdam

Netherlands. Kinderdijk. — very like Zaanse Schans

Belguim. Flanders. War graves.

Belgium. Flanders.. The Christmas Truce 1914

UK. London. The Palace of Westminster

Ireland. The Rock of Cashel

Ireland. Glendalogh. Round tower and St Kevin's Church

UK. Bath. The Royal Crescent

France. Paris. The Pompidou Centre

France. Paris. The Arc de Triomphe

France. Paris. Montmartre

Portugal. The Algarve

Spain. La Mancha. Windmills

Yes, it was Don Quixote and Sancho Panza crossing the bridge!

Spain. Seville. Plaza de Toros

Spain. Santiago de Compostela. Cathedral

Spain. Barcelona. Monumento a Colón
(with the Santa Maria berthed beside it)

Slovenia. Ljubljana. The Triple Bridge

Croatia. Zagreb. The Church of St Mark

Slovakia. Bratislava. The Blue Church

Czech Republic. Prague. The Old Town Hall with its Astronomical Clock

Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Luxembourg. Pont Adolphe

Italy. Venice. The Doge's Palace and the Campanile

Italy. Pisa. Campo del Miracoli

UK. Dover. Dover Castle and the White Cliffs

After a full day at and near the Atomium, we got back in the van, and returned to Boom, the parking site we so enjoyed last night.

Distance driven — today, 36 miles ( 58 km ); to date, 29,240 miles ( 47,058 km )