The Last Judgement

Sunday
The weather today was dreadful - cold, blowing a gale and raining all day, except for a couple of hours late afternoon. It was a pity we hadn't planned the museum for today, but it wasn't clear from the forecast that today would be so much worse. We started off with a guided tour of the Town Hall, which was very good - the guide being both informative and humorous. Then we crossed the square to the Brussels museum, housed in the ornate Maison du Roi, which was rebuilt in the 19th century, based on plans from 1515. After a sandwich and an éclair for lunch, we walked to St.Michaels cathedral, Laura and I battling with our umbrellas against the wind and rain - almost every waste bin we passed had discarded umbrellas dumped in them, presumably blown inside out by the wind and broken - fortunately ours survived, though presumably not improved! The cathedral was built over several periods, the chancel from the 13th century, the nave and side aisles from the 14th and 15th centuries, the towers from the 15th century. This magnificent stained glass window, depicting the Last Judgement, is located over the entrance, and dates from 1528. Then we went to the Église Notre Dame du Sablon. By this time it was late afternoon, so we went to a bar near the famous Mannekin Pis fountain, and sampled a few beers., before returning to the hotel for a rest before dinner. When we went out later to dinner, the rain, which had stopped for a couple of hours, began again worse than ever, and by the time we reached the restaurant, we were like three drowned rats!