Belgium

Saturday, August 1st

Brussels is a quick train ride across the English Channel on the Eurostar. The amazing thing is that you can get to a whole different country in 2 hours on the train! We still cannot get over how cheap and quick it is to travel in Europe!

The train was fairly early, but with the time change we didn't arrive in Belgium until about 11:00. We immediately hopped onto an intercity train to Bruges, another of the major towns in Belgium. Bruges is probably more famous as a tourist destination, because the shops and sites are better compacted in one area, and the town is a little more quaint. We finally arrived a little after noon, dropped our luggage in a train station locker, and hit the city.

Everything sits close to the main square in the city. The square is surrounded by historic buildings, little restaurants and food vendors. We grabbed a quick lunch of the Belgian special - French Fries. Apparently fries were actually invented here, so there are vendors all over the place. They generally eat them with mayo, but we couldn't handle that and went with the classic ketchup. We hung around the square people watching and seeing the hundreds of people waiting in line for a carriage ride through the town. Even though we didn't take a carriage ride it was nice to sit in the sun and listen to the clip-clopping of the horses.

We left the square and went walking through the town. The town is nice because it is just lined with little food shops and other "cute" shops. We meandered out to the edge of town where they had a few windmills, which were originally used to grind (or "mill") grain into flour. On the way back we stopped in a few chocolate shops (one of Belgium's other claims to fame), got some great samples, and took a box home (which we are still enjoying, even tonight as I type!).

The highlight of the day ended up being an accidental walk by a small candy shop. There were two guys cooking giant blobs gelatin, and then they started forming it, molding it, and turning it into candy. It was mesmerizing. We literally sat in the shop for about 45 minutes and watched these guys form a few giant blobs into thousands of tiny pieces of candy. It was very interesting to be able to watch the entire process and then enjoy a piece of candy at the end.

After being lured in by this display, and feeling obligated to buy a jar of the candies, we headed back to the train station and went back into Brussels. We dropped our bags at the hotel and headed off to dinner, where Aaron enjoyed the 3rd Belgian specialty, Mussels, while non-fish Jenna went with a local chicken dish. The mussels were good, and yes, there were cliche references made to mussels in Brussels.

Sunday, August 2nd

Sadly, this was a rainy day in Brussels. There is a ton to see in the city, and while we did enjoy everything we did, I'm sure it would have been a hundred times better with the sun shining.

We started out in the main square - the Grand Place, which is lined with several huge historic looking buildings. Since it was raining and was fairly early, it was completely empty. It's a famous plaza, but I think the main draw is the people watching from the cafes that line it, which were all closed, so we headed off pretty quickly.

Our next stop was the Mannekin Pis - a small statue/fountain of a naked boy peeing. Not sure why this is such a huge draw - the statue is really very small, but even in the pouring rain at 10am, the corner where it sits was packed with tourists. We of course took the opportunity for a photo like everyone else.

At this point we were pretty well soaked through (I literally had to stop and ring out my socks at one point), so we thought it was time for an indoor activity. Brussels has several museums, and while we probably wouldn't have stopped into any on a sunny day, priorities change when your feet are squishing, and your pants are wet up to your knees.

Partially for proximity, partially for uniqueness, and partially for Steve Luthye, we decided to see the Museum of Musical Instruments. We ended up being really happy that we went. It was just so different than the museums we're used to seeing. There were basically 4 floors with all sorts of instruments from all different time periods and regions. They had everything from 1000 year old flutes to bagpipes to accordions to a full Chinese orchestra. What they didn't have was explanations in English.  However, they gave you a headset, which when you stepped in front of a display, it played the tune from the instrument. It probably sounds boring or cheesy, but it was actually a lot of fun.

Before leaving the museum, we grabbed lunch in their top-floor cafe, which had a good view of the city. From here we were able to see all the people on the street start putting away their umbrellas, as the clouds started to break a bit and the rain stopped. By the time we got outside, the sun was starting to peek through a bit, which was a welcome change.

With the sun on our backs (kind of), we set off for more of the outdoor sites. We saw the other two main historic buildings - the Royal Palace and the Palace of Justice, which were both pretty magnificent, but I guess about the same as the other similar buildings we've seen across Europe.

The big highlight of the afternoon was stopping for a waffle. Of course all Americans are familiar with the Belgian Waffle, but what we found interesting is that they don't eat them for breakfast. It is just one more of the many snack items that are at your disposal. The batter is extra sweet, almost like a dessert in it self, but then they smother it with more goodness. We had one with chocolate and powdered sugar, and another with strawberries and whipped cream. Both were delicious!

By now it was mid-afternoon, and we'd seen most of the main sites of Brussels but still had a few hours to kill before our train. We decided to just head off and wander through the streets around the Grand Place, which have lots of shops and people to watch. Since the sun was out and it was later in the day, the plaza was now completely packed with people. We stopped for a drink at one of the cafes and watched the tourists for a while (including the worst hacky-sack player of all time).

By the time we had finished, it was time to go back to the hotel, grab our bags, and head for the train station.

We ended up having a great time, and between the chocolate, candy shop, and waffles I don't think there was a single moment when we weren't running on a sugar-high, which I think is a great way to spend the weekend!