On our last trip to Brussels we drove around for a while and naturally ended up on the bad side of town. It's a rule that when you drive around a city long enough you will eventually cross the tracks. And we did.
As luck would have it though, there was a really beautiful church being restored so we stopped to check it out.
Church of Our Lady of Laeken
Beliris is a collaboration between the federal government of Belgium
and the city of Brussels for improvements to Brussels as the capital of Europe.
It isn't even that old by European standards, but this thing even has trees growing out of it.
They obviously restored the front first.
As interesting as the church was the cemetery behind it.
The gravesites were elaborate and beautiful and also in terrible condition.
The site was huge and it went on forever,
but it looked like one day everyone just quit caring for it.
Many of the stones had dates around this time period.
Not that old, really.
I must give Ross credit for noticing this statue.
It is a cast of "The Thinker" by Rodin.
The original is in Paris, but there are several casts around the world.
This is the only one in Belgium.
How many Cathedrals are within four hours driving distance from you all? I also wonder how many parishioners they have in attendence on Sundays, or if they are just landmarks.
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