February 28th-March 2nd, 2011
Brussels, Belgium
Anna and I successfully met up with Emma just as we were boarding the train from Paris to Brussels, and the three of us enjoyed a relaxing train journey munching leftover pringles and listening to the announcements made in Dutch, German, French, and English. In Brussels, we struggled with long lines and a new metro system, but finally purchased 3-day passes and hopped on what we hoped was the metro to our hotel. Easier said than done. Between Anna's out-dated map, the multi-lingual maps posted in the metro, and the friendly passengers who tried to help us but couldn't quite hear us clearly, it took a while. Thanks to the confusing street system and inadequately close-range maps, our hotel itself was equally difficult, but when we found it, it was well worth it.
The group of us had split the cost of a 4-person hotel, which ended up being cheaper than a hostel, and MUCH nicer. Real beds, a real private shower, and actual space to move around, not to mention peace and quiet.
That's when the bad news came in from Dublin-- Maggie, who was supposed to meet us in Brussels, was down and out with food poisoning. Poor thing! Kathryn, our other travel companion, was still on her way though, and we met up with her and headed in to the city center to explore while we still had some light left.
The main building on Grand Place, a large cobblestoned square of very unique old architecture.
More of Grand Place-- the architectural style is very ornate, including lots of gold leaf and sculpture. This area of town was very different from the area our hotel was in, which was more of a business district.
Some of the streets were very narrow. This one was mostly restaurants, all with the strange habit of soliciting you to come eat there by having someone stand out front and get very in your face with the nightly specials.
An arcaded street, meaning the street is covered with glass arching over between the shops. It made it just a little bit warmer inside.
Manneken pis, the statue of the little boy peeing. It is a major symbol of Brussels, supposedly because of the youth and playfulness it embodies. The statue itself is much smaller than I expected, perhaps only a foot high. While in Brussels, we saw versions of Manneken Pis that involved it made of chocolate, peeing chocolate, peeing beer, and peeing champaign. It was a little odd...
You can't quite see it, but this picture captures the Belgium trifecta, all in a row: waffles, chocolate, and beer. Don't worry, we experienced all three. So healthy.
After our explorations, which included dinner and our first Belgian waffle along the way (delicious!), we rallied at the motel room and met up with some of Kathryn's friends studying in Brussels to go to the Delirium Cafe. A classic for visitors, the Delirium brews its own beers and has more than 2,500 beers in house. Yeah. I didn't know that many even existed. I started with the Delirium Dark, then had Trapist Chimay, a beer made by monks and very rare and expensive most places. Both were delicious, and in the Belgian style, unusually alcoholic. There is a reason they serve glasses instead of pints in Belgium-- most of there beers are 10-12% alcohol instead of the say 6% that would be strong in Ireland. A little goes a long way.
The next morning, we woke up bright and early to hop the metro out the the Atomium. But first, quick breakfast at the Carrefour, including fresh squeezed orange juice.
These machines were really common here-- just pull the tap, and the oranges move their way through, split, and juice into your jug. My little jug was actually cheaper than a tropicana of the same size, and it was so much more fun!
The Atomium was made for the World's Fair that was held in Brussels, and now houses various exhibits (yes, you can go inside it). But mostly, it just looks gigantic and absurd, and like it shouldn't be able to stand. We didn't go inside, since we'd heard it was cooler to look at from outside and we were on a budget. But it made for some good pictures.
The Atomium. Because... why not?
Once you get up underneath it, it's really huge. Kind of ridiculous.
With the Atomium checked off, we headed back to the city center for a little more exploration.
St. Michaels Cathedral. It was really gorgeous inside, very bright and airy.
Parc de Bruxelles. Notice the trees that have been trimmed to basically form nets into each other. They had lights strung on them, but we're still not sure what their purpose was. The park was also full of joggers-- apparently you have to work off all that beer, chocolate, and waffles.
Palace Royale, including the giant cobblestoned area out front which is possibly a roundabout, possibly for pedestrians... it's impossible to tell where anyone is supposed to go because no one wants to paint lines on old cobbles.
Statue in front of Palace Royale, after playing a little human frogger.
The Musical Instruments Museum, or the MIM. It was a really cool old building, but we're not sure why it said "Old England" on the top.
The MIM involved wireless headphones that meant as you walked up to each old instrument, you could hear what it sounded like. Here's Anna rocking out to a lute-- she's a big fan of interactive, kid-friendly museums.
Last stop in the MIM-- the view from the top. The spike you can see in the distance is the main building of Grand Place that we saw the night before.
We met up with Kathryn again, who had opted out of the MIM in favor of a different museum, and headed for waffles round 2, to be eaten in Grand Place. Then we made our way back to the hotel, stopping at the grocery store to grab provisions for dinner-- baguette, brie, and paprika ribbles (apparently the Belgian version of ruffles). Kathryn and Emma met up with Kathryn's friends again, but Anna and I stayed behind to recoup, eat, and watch 7th Heaven in Dutch.
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