I went to Belgium this weekend. BELGIUM. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I have about 10 thousand places on my "I haven't been everywhere but it's on my list" list and never in a million years did I think that I would ever have the opportunity to visit Belgium. In defense, though, trying to book travel tickets anywhere-including Europe-is probably the biggest pain in the rear & Belgium was (for lack of better word) settling because we weren't able to book a hostel room in Amsterdam. And that's only because there's apparently some massive international food festival there this weekend...oh well, Belgium, on the other hand was a m a z i n g.
In my (not-so) humble opinion, I think that Belgium may be one of the most underrated countries in Europe. Everybody has this vision of going to Paris (guilty), Rome (guilty again), Dublin, Amsterdam, Prague, Barcelona, etc. that Belgium just never seems to make it onto their travel list. But, let me tell you otherwise. Yesterday morning we picked up the metro line 4 as we usually do headed north, in a direct shot towards Paris Gare du Nord station. We got there early, ate croissants and coffee (or Coke Zero for me), and boarded a Thalys train headed towards Brussels. May I just say, it is definitely worth it to pay the little extra for a first class ticket: wi-fi included, unlimited coffee and snacks, and seats with electrical outlets and overhead bins. Excellent. The train left just after 9 and we got to Brussels around 10:30. Easy trip, short and nice, and we hopped on a tram (different type of metro system there) towards downtown Brussels, where we checked our luggage into 2GO4 Hostel. Cool place to stay, might I add. After dropping our stuff off in the luggage room, we headed for the city center, where we saw beautiful buildings (see above) and a whole village filled with shops, restaurants, and marked with monuments along the way. Little cobblestone streets laid the area out nicely, and we wandered around before getting. The famous. BELGIAN WAFFLE. Yes, my friends, waffles are indeed a thing in Brussels, and they are delicious. We went to this cute little place called The Waffle Factory, which I highly recommend if you are into watching them make food right in front of you. They have counter service both inside and out, which allows you multiple ways of getting to enjoy your Belgian waffle. I got a liege waffle-light, round and sweet, with sugar on the inside-topped with Belgian dark chocolate and strawberries. For a flat rate, I was able to get a waffle with a-you guessed it-Coke Zero, and we sat in the upstairs part of the restaurant overlooking the touristy Brussels village.
After lunch we meandered around for a little bit before taking our next big adventure. The one and only Brussels Chocolate Tour. We met up with our tour group at the oldest shopping mall in all of Brussels (and apparently Europe?) with some other abroad students, a married couple, and our guide Wanda. She took us to six different chocolatiers in Brussels, all known for different elements. We visited the tourist shops, traditional chocolatiers, and boutique chocolatiers, getting to experience a tasting in each shop of different chocolate. We even got a bite of the most expensive chocolate in the world: 400 Euros for 1 kilogram of the most beautiful, rich, delicious chocolate I have ever gotten to not only eat but experience in my life. It's the one below that looks like a marble...but in reality it's not!
After the chocolate tour, we headed back to the hostel where we were able to check in. My first experience in a hostel was nothing short of interesting, as there was this "eclectic" feeling throughout it. The hostel itself probably used to be an old house, as there were many stairwells throughout it and a living room on the first floor. We had the room at the very top of the house-some may call it an attic, others (a.k.a. me) the penthouse-with big windows that looked out over the city. After dropping off our bags and refreshing ourselves in the bathroom-which by the way could have fit 2 beds in there and had the best shower I've ever taken), we headed back out to the main city square for dinner. We ate at the Danish Tavern, a European restaurant with seating inside and on the patio. The streets were alive with dancers, artists, musicians alike all trying to get tips off the heavy American tourists. We ate outside as the sun set over the village before heading back to get a good night's rest. After waking up and having a failed attempt at instant coffee/hot cocoa, we checked out of the hostel and walked back towards the city center, where they had-wait for it-Starbucks. After downing our drinks, we met up with the New Brussels Tour Company, an organization that my mom hooked me up with, for our ~free~ tour of the city. Now let me warn you-nothing screams "I'm an American on vacation" more than holding a Starbucks while taking a tour of a beautiful European city ON A SUNDAY. Everybody for the most part knows that European culture is infamously slow on Sundays, as families go to church and spend time at home. So, the fact that we were in a tour group of about 50 people is really saying something. Our British tour guide took us to some of the most known monuments in the area, including the City Hall Building (first picture at the top, with misaligned architecture), the Mannekin Pis (a sculpture of a toddler doing...you guessed it into a fountain), churches, parks and more, stopping us for history and culture lessons along the way. He also filled us in on traditional Belgian cuisine and its origin, and I am happy to say I crossed all of them off my "Belgium in 36 Hours" list. The tour ended just after 2, giving us enough time to stop at a boutique restaurant where I ate the most incredible Belgian frites in my life. In case you were wondering, they do not call them "french fries" here and actually get quite offended when you do...so don't say that if when you visit Brussels. After lunch, we walked back through the shops on our way to the hostel, giving us enough time to take public transit back to the Brussels Midi Zuidstation for our 18:37 Thalys train back to Paris (in first class, of course).
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| Belgium is actually known for having the most comic writers per square mile, hence the comic art on the sides of buildings in the area! Brussels is also home to one of my favorites, the SMURFS! |
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| NOT the Notre Dame Cathedral! |
It's safe to say that it was a fantastic weekend in Brussels! Not only did I get to eat amazing chocolate, waffles and fries (my food checklist), but I got to see some pretty amazing sights in such a short amount of time. Like those gardens above, AREN'T THEY BEAUTIFUL! It's also given me a different perspective on being a tourist rather than a semi-local (like we are in Paris). I am happily back in Paris now for the next 4 days before packing up again for our next 2 weeks in Rome! This city has given me more than I ever could have imagined, and while I enjoyed our weekend getaway to Belgium, I plan to soak up every last second here.
Until then, it's unpacking and catching up on last minute reading for me, so au revoir!
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