Atomium and Brussels!

[motodraconis]

I was still under the weather from a nasty cold, so didn't explore Brussels in huge detail, reserving my strength for the annual pilgrimage to Gala Nocturna. I'm gambling that we'll be back next year anyway, but one place I DID NOT WANT TO MISS was the Atomium.



From the Atomium website...The Atomium was the main pavilion and icon of the World Fair of Brussels (1958), commonly called Expo 58. It symbolised the democratic will to maintain peace among all the nations, faith in progress, both technical and scientific and, finally, an optimistic vision of the future of a modern, new, super-technological world for a better life for mankind.



The peaceful use of atomic energy for scientific purposes embodied these themes particularly well and, so, that is what determined the shape of the edifice. At 102 metres high, with its nine interconnected spheres, it represents an elementary iron crystal enlarged 165 billion (thousand million) times. It was dreamed up by the engineer André Waterkeyn (1917-2005). The spheres, though, were fitted out by the architects André and Jean Polak.



The Atomium was not intended to survive beyond the 1958 World Fair but its popularity and success soon made it a key landmark, first of Brussels then internationally.



It's recently been refurbished. (2004-2006) replacing the faded aluminium with stainless steel, hence the mirror shine! Now you can take a lift to the top sphere.



Queues for the lift are a bit tiresome, but ya gotta do it!



We stopped in the top ball cafe for beer...



And tasty waffle with hot choc and cream.



Returning to the ground floor, you can take an escalator to the upper ball, and explore.



After the queues for top ball, the rest of the Atomium was remarkably free of visitors, we practically had it to ourselves. Red Min and Sorgina resting in level 5...





I want a house like this...







One of the balls contained an "Orange Plastic" exhibition.







Want this desk and chair!



One of the highlights was the lightshow escalator down, though alas, my photos were not very good.







AAAAAAARRRGHH! IT WAS AMAZING. LOVED IT, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE!!! I've wanted to visit this place ever since I was a tiny child.

Oh... and we saw a bit of Brussels too, the Grotty Market...







The famous pissy boy...





And the less famous, equal opportunities pissy girl...



Who seems to have run out of steam as it t'were...



Still blown away by the Atomium!