My European trip is coming to an end here in Belgium and on my last free day I spend it at the newly opened Musée Magritte Museum in Brussels. Located at the Place Royale, you can reach it via a pleasant walk from the Bourse metro stop…

 

up the Mont des Arts.  Upon arrival, you have some of the best views of the city…

 

From here, you have a choice of numerous museums. But if you’ve read some of my earlier posts, you’d know there’s only one true Belgian love for me–and I don’t mean the chocolat or the ever present gaufre

but René François Ghislain Magritte:

 

I’ve probably been to as many Magritte exhibits as humanly possible,

 

and there’s no rhyme or reason as to why I find such kinship in his art.  Especially considering that I studied Renaissance art history in college.  The really old stuff. Perhaps it’s just the fact that in many of his paintings, he gives you just a glimpse into what could be. The world is never as it seems, and yet all so familiar.  At least that’s my interpretation of surrealism.  I’m not allowed to take any pictures here so the above are just some pics of posters in the basement rest area.  And if this is as close as I’ll ever get to Magritte, then so be it…

 

BTW, is my purse too big??

 

Anyway, my last lunch in Brussels is at a Japanese place and this is what’s inside my bentō box:

 

The restaurant is near the Grand Place  or Grote Markt, which I walk through again because I find it to be one of the most vibrant squares in all of Europe:

 

I have a feeling this is not my last walk through this square.  But for now, I’m getting back on the metro to hit one last tourist trap.

 

See you there tomorrow.