Mini-Europe

Yesterday, we (Naomi and I, the girls, and my visiting friend Mike) went to Mini-Europe. This tourist attraction is outdoors, with the Atomium looming nearby in the background, and it comprises 1:25 scale models of numerous famous European buildings and sites. I only knew a few of the models, but I imagine a better-traveled person would know a lot of them. Most of the models were much shorter than a person, a bunch were around the height of a person, and a single one was much taller than a person: the Eiffel Tower. A lot of the scenes had a button to press, which played music, or moved boats or planes, or circled a bull to move around a bullfighting ring (with the crowd shouting "¡Olé!"), or made a nude Scandinavian jump into cold water or run into a sauna. There was also a crank that turned Dutch windmills, and there were trains that continuously ran on their tracks, and Mt. Vesuvius regularly rumbled (although no lava flowed). Somewhat dramatically, fireboats put out a burning offshore oil tank. Mini-Europe was one part entertainment, one part cultural, and one part cheese.

Mini-Europe is part of Brupark, which also includes a movie theater, a water park, and a bunch of restaurants situated around a nice playground and carousel. After touring Mini-Europe, we had a nice lunch. JoJo rode the carousel, and Amelia whined about wanting to ride the carousel (but we know from experience that that is not a scenario that ends well—maybe when she's older).