When you think of Belgium, you normally think of beer. When I think of Belgium, I think of waffles and fries. So naturally, being in Europe for 6 months, means that at some point, a trip to Belgium was going to be necessary. Lucky for me, one of my sorority sisters, Katie, is living and studying in London for the year, and she was up for 4 days in Belgium with me.
I left early Friday morning and took my regular flight out of La Rochelle and landed in Brussels around 9:30 in the morning. From the Charleroi Airport in Brussels, I took a bus for about an hour into the center of the city, where I took a taxi to the hostel, which was about 15 minutes away. When I arrived at the Van Gogh hostel, Katie was already waiting for me! We checked in, climbed up 4 floors worth of stairs and settled into our private room. We freshened up, put make up on, and got ready to go exploring.
We walked to through the Brussels City Park that led to the palace, where the King of Belgium was currently staying. We knew he was in residence because the flag was up! We took a million pictures in front of the beautiful gardens with fountains and instead of there being a Starbucks on every corner, there were chocolate stores on every corner. It was so hard trying to decide which store to stop in and which one to pass up, because they all looked AMAZING. We decided that we were hungry, so we found a cute local pizza shop down a secret alley, where we stopped and had the most incredible pizza. Once we were finished, we walked down the street to the skate park where we watched people show off their tricks, then we headed on over to one of the cathedrals. Luckily, Katie and I had already decided that this weekend was going to be our FAT Weekend and we were going to eat everything we wanted to without any regrets. So, with that being said….we walked in front of the cathedral, and right before my eyes, there was a Belgian Fry stand…where we of course stopped to have our first taste of the perfection of Belgian fries. We also made a quick stop at Laduree, where we got some delicious macarons to snack on before going into the Royal Museum of Beaux Arts.
Inside the museum, we saw an exhibit from the Impressionist period. The art was absolutely gorgeous and we could have stayed there for hours…sadly, we were only able to spend one hour there before they closed. We kept on walking and stopped at multiple chocolate stores where we bought little things here and there to keep us sane throughout the way. Right when we walked into a plaza with the most gorgeous view of the city, I spotted a waffle cart…
I didn't even try to resist the temptation. I marched right on over and ordered a waffle with chocolate and whipped cream. When the man handed it to me, he laughed and told me I better be careful, or I was going to get fat! Hahaha oh, the nerve. But, I will admit, he was right…so I laughed it off and took it as sincere advice.
I left early Friday morning and took my regular flight out of La Rochelle and landed in Brussels around 9:30 in the morning. From the Charleroi Airport in Brussels, I took a bus for about an hour into the center of the city, where I took a taxi to the hostel, which was about 15 minutes away. When I arrived at the Van Gogh hostel, Katie was already waiting for me! We checked in, climbed up 4 floors worth of stairs and settled into our private room. We freshened up, put make up on, and got ready to go exploring.
We walked to through the Brussels City Park that led to the palace, where the King of Belgium was currently staying. We knew he was in residence because the flag was up! We took a million pictures in front of the beautiful gardens with fountains and instead of there being a Starbucks on every corner, there were chocolate stores on every corner. It was so hard trying to decide which store to stop in and which one to pass up, because they all looked AMAZING. We decided that we were hungry, so we found a cute local pizza shop down a secret alley, where we stopped and had the most incredible pizza. Once we were finished, we walked down the street to the skate park where we watched people show off their tricks, then we headed on over to one of the cathedrals. Luckily, Katie and I had already decided that this weekend was going to be our FAT Weekend and we were going to eat everything we wanted to without any regrets. So, with that being said….we walked in front of the cathedral, and right before my eyes, there was a Belgian Fry stand…where we of course stopped to have our first taste of the perfection of Belgian fries. We also made a quick stop at Laduree, where we got some delicious macarons to snack on before going into the Royal Museum of Beaux Arts.
Inside the museum, we saw an exhibit from the Impressionist period. The art was absolutely gorgeous and we could have stayed there for hours…sadly, we were only able to spend one hour there before they closed. We kept on walking and stopped at multiple chocolate stores where we bought little things here and there to keep us sane throughout the way. Right when we walked into a plaza with the most gorgeous view of the city, I spotted a waffle cart…
I didn't even try to resist the temptation. I marched right on over and ordered a waffle with chocolate and whipped cream. When the man handed it to me, he laughed and told me I better be careful, or I was going to get fat! Hahaha oh, the nerve. But, I will admit, he was right…so I laughed it off and took it as sincere advice.
We sat down and ate our waffles as we overlooked the city and enjoyed the more than perfect weather. Once we finished, we kept walking and ended up at yet another small park with a beautiful cathedral in front of it. By this point, we were both exhausted from traveling and walking, and decided to head back to the hostel. When we got to the room, Katie took a power nap while I showered, then we headed downstairs to make use of the good wifi. Before I knew it, there was a group of 5 guys from Mexico (WOW, what a small world) who started giving a live concert INSIDE our hostel. Yeah, totally casual. Everyone got up and was dancing to the great music and it was really nice to just sit back and enjoy the show. Katie and I decided that we were hungry, yet again, and we went for a small walk around the corner to grab some chicken and fries before heading back to the hostel and going to sleep. Once we got back to the room, Katie and I stayed up talking until about 2:00 am. Though we were sorority sisters at SFA, we never really hung out, and so it was really nice getting to know each other way better and we ended up bonding over a lot of things!
Saturday morning, my alarm went off super early and neither one of us wanted to get up. I re-set my alarm and woke up around 9:00am. We quickly got ready, went downstairs to have breakfast, called a taxi to take us to the train station, and we were off! We made it to the train station around 10:00 am and went to to the self service ticket booth to buy our tickets to go to Brugge…however, the booth was not in our favor and did not want to work. So, we ended up waiting in line at the ticket office to buy our tickets, which ended up being better because we got a student discount (yay us!). The next train was leaving in about 10 minutes, so we power walked to the deck and took the 10:30 train to Brugge. During the hour long train-ride we bonded even more and talked about our families and school, and rested a bit before beginning our long day.
Once we made it to Brugge, we stopped at the coolest Starbucks (ever), inside the train station, to get some coffee to wake us up. We crossed the street from the train station and we started walking in to town. As we enjoyed our scenic view on our walk, we started seeing signs for a Picasso Exhibit that was going on…but being a Saturday, we didn't think it was open so we went just to check it out…
To our wonderful surprise, the Picasso exhibit was open AS WELL AS the Andy Warhol exhibit, so we bought our entries to both and headed off on the first adventure. Without going on an endless rant on how great the Picasso exhibit was, I’ll just tell you that they had a variety of pieces from Monet, Manet, Degas, Van Gogh, and of course, Picasso (hence the name) and the Warhol exhibit had my favorite, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe.
After taking our time to go through the exhibits and cherishing the beauty and tranquility of the place, Katie and I left and headed towards the cathedral where there’s supposedly a drop of Jesus’ blood, so that was really neat. We then made our way out, and quickly noticed that instead of there being a Starbucks on every corner, there were chocolate and candy stores literally everywhere we looked. Quite dangerous for a chocolate lover like myself!! But…I took full advantage. We walked into a candy store and bought some goodies before we began our (small) spree of lace shopping, since Brugge is absolutely infamous for their lace. We found the most darling things! Place mats, Christmas decorations (endless and endless amounts of Christmas decorations), handkerchiefs, and much more….needless to say that I bought a lot of small souvenirs for family and friends. Anndddddd, I am quite excited to say that at this point, I already have a million things to decorate the house that I don't have yet haha. Failing to plan is planning to fail, right? (Thanks for that one, Mrs. Henderson!)
Once our wallets hurt from spending so much money (though it was worth it), we decided to find a quite place for a small and casual lunch, which ended up consisting of a tuna baguette with chips and red wine. I can’t really describe how much I enjoyed Katie’s company — she’s such an intelligent, well rounded, and kind person! I was so glad I was able to share this trip with her.
When lunch was finished, we walked over the bridges that give view to the scenic canals of Brugge, and one led us to the duck/goose pond that they have. I then found another massive door in my path (this one, however, didn't led me to my destiny haha), and it was the door that led to the Benguinale House. I’s a small gated community, with all white houses, that are home to nuns that are still presently living there. I thought it was interesting to see this community in such an iconic place to visit in Belgium, but since they had been there for hundreds of years, it was only natural that they maintain and preserve their territory.
Our quiet walk through the community led us to the most beautiful of parks, where we enjoyed a calm promenade, before stopping to grab some delicious Belgian Waffles, that I just couldn't get enough of. After eating (and taking full advantage of the free wifi), we headed down to the city market just before they started cleaning up. It was so neat to see — instead of fruits and vegetables, there were hand-made toys, wood products, and other practical things. Katie and I decided to keep walking straight, and we just so happened to run in to the city center — which was enormous, gorgeous, and full of lights! I can only imagine how pretty it must be during Christmas time. After taking our time to walk around and enjoy all the cute little shops (and the million of other chocolate shops), it was already starting to get kind of dark, so we decided that it would be a good time to go back to the train station. HA, however, something always has to happen….
Just when we started to walk…it began to rain…not the light-kind of rain where you’re still able to walk….no…it was more of, “the sky is falling apart and there’s a thunderstorm happening” kind of rain. We ran along with hundreds of other people to find shelter haha and we just stood there, soaked, watching the rain…We considered taking a taxi, but, as fate would have it…there were no taxis around. So, we anxiously waited as long as we possibly could before (literally) running out into the rain, taking shelter where we could, and heading to the train station. Once we were about 10 minutes away from the station, it stopped raining, and we thought it was too good to be true — well….it was. RIGHT as we were walking across the pavement to walk INTO the station, it started pouring…I mean like crazy…so there we were, once again, having to run inside. Naturally, we were soaked. As soon as we were in the station, we found a train that was leaving for Brussels, with a departure time in approx. 7 minutes. To say we got our exercise in during this trip is quite the understatement. Our tired legs were once again put to the test…we ran down the stairs, down the hallway, and back up the stairs just in time to see our train pull up. We thought we had finally saved ourselves from the rain, but as fate would have it, every one getting on the rain was crowding onto the cars where the doors were under shelter. In order to not be left in Brugge, Katie and I had to run (for the last time), to another car wayyyyyy down yonder, and finally got seats. By this time…it looked like we had taken showers outside, which we had indeed. We tried to relax on the train ride home (though soaked), and we had never been happier to see the train station in Brussels. However, since we hadn’t fully dried yet, we felt ourselves getting outrageously sick from the cold wind while we waited for our taxi.
Once back at the hostel, we quickly took hot showers and bundled up as best we could before going out and grabbing a Kebab for dinner. We took our Kebabs back to the hostel and sat downstairs (where the wifi was), ate, and headed upstairs for some much needed rest.
When lunch was finished, we walked over the bridges that give view to the scenic canals of Brugge, and one led us to the duck/goose pond that they have. I then found another massive door in my path (this one, however, didn't led me to my destiny haha), and it was the door that led to the Benguinale House. I’s a small gated community, with all white houses, that are home to nuns that are still presently living there. I thought it was interesting to see this community in such an iconic place to visit in Belgium, but since they had been there for hundreds of years, it was only natural that they maintain and preserve their territory.
Our quiet walk through the community led us to the most beautiful of parks, where we enjoyed a calm promenade, before stopping to grab some delicious Belgian Waffles, that I just couldn't get enough of. After eating (and taking full advantage of the free wifi), we headed down to the city market just before they started cleaning up. It was so neat to see — instead of fruits and vegetables, there were hand-made toys, wood products, and other practical things. Katie and I decided to keep walking straight, and we just so happened to run in to the city center — which was enormous, gorgeous, and full of lights! I can only imagine how pretty it must be during Christmas time. After taking our time to walk around and enjoy all the cute little shops (and the million of other chocolate shops), it was already starting to get kind of dark, so we decided that it would be a good time to go back to the train station. HA, however, something always has to happen….
Just when we started to walk…it began to rain…not the light-kind of rain where you’re still able to walk….no…it was more of, “the sky is falling apart and there’s a thunderstorm happening” kind of rain. We ran along with hundreds of other people to find shelter haha and we just stood there, soaked, watching the rain…We considered taking a taxi, but, as fate would have it…there were no taxis around. So, we anxiously waited as long as we possibly could before (literally) running out into the rain, taking shelter where we could, and heading to the train station. Once we were about 10 minutes away from the station, it stopped raining, and we thought it was too good to be true — well….it was. RIGHT as we were walking across the pavement to walk INTO the station, it started pouring…I mean like crazy…so there we were, once again, having to run inside. Naturally, we were soaked. As soon as we were in the station, we found a train that was leaving for Brussels, with a departure time in approx. 7 minutes. To say we got our exercise in during this trip is quite the understatement. Our tired legs were once again put to the test…we ran down the stairs, down the hallway, and back up the stairs just in time to see our train pull up. We thought we had finally saved ourselves from the rain, but as fate would have it, every one getting on the rain was crowding onto the cars where the doors were under shelter. In order to not be left in Brugge, Katie and I had to run (for the last time), to another car wayyyyyy down yonder, and finally got seats. By this time…it looked like we had taken showers outside, which we had indeed. We tried to relax on the train ride home (though soaked), and we had never been happier to see the train station in Brussels. However, since we hadn’t fully dried yet, we felt ourselves getting outrageously sick from the cold wind while we waited for our taxi.
Once back at the hostel, we quickly took hot showers and bundled up as best we could before going out and grabbing a Kebab for dinner. We took our Kebabs back to the hostel and sat downstairs (where the wifi was), ate, and headed upstairs for some much needed rest.
Sunday was a really calm and casual day. We slept in until about 11:00 before getting dressed and heading out into the cold weather. We decided that since it was Sunday after-all, we could indulge all of our cravings and have a pretty chill day. Katie and I headed out and we enjoyed a scenic view of the Botanical Gardens that just so happened to be around the corner from our hostel. After that, our first stop, was meant to be Starbucks…however, we got distracted by an enormous Häggen Dass Ice-Cream shop, and decided, why not go in? Obviously, we came out with medium sized ice-cream cups and we continued on our way, until our attention was drawn elsewhere — people running a marathon. How lovely. There we were on the sidelines, eating ice-cream, and watching people run their hearts out. We finished out ice-creams and kept walking while we talked about our fitness goals (we were quite inspired after watching part of the marathon). As if it wasn't official before - I MISS MY GYM AT HOME. Wow, I don’t ever think I’ve missed it as much, but really and sincerely, I do, and I cannot wait to go back and put in some work in January!
Anyways, we decided to stop for a quick mid-day snack (literally) at Belgium’s most famous fast food place — Quick. Once finished, we did some souvenir shopping and continued walking through the calm, Sunday city streets of Brussels. We finally took out our maps and decided to finish up all of the tourist things. We went to the city square, which was absolutely GORGEOUS, stopped for our daily dose of Starbucks (I had to take full advantage…the nearest Starbucks to my house in France is 4 hours away) and kept along the cobble stone rues. We finally saw the infamous fountain where the little boy pees (not sure what all the hype was about…) before heading back to the city center to grab some dinner. The nice warm ambiance of the restaurant was enough to make us not want to go back out into the cold, but, we still had one last stop before ending our Belgian tour — the Delirium bar, which featured over 3,000 different beers. It was a pretty sketchy route to take, but we made it, ordered our beers, and sat down for some nice conversation, when we were OH SO rudely interrupted, by two guys who had nothing better to do than hit on us. They finally got the hint (after 20 minutes) that we weren't interested, and we all parted like the Red Sea (but a million times faster), and headed back to the hostel to re-pack our bags and get ready for a long journey home the next morning.
Anyways, we decided to stop for a quick mid-day snack (literally) at Belgium’s most famous fast food place — Quick. Once finished, we did some souvenir shopping and continued walking through the calm, Sunday city streets of Brussels. We finally took out our maps and decided to finish up all of the tourist things. We went to the city square, which was absolutely GORGEOUS, stopped for our daily dose of Starbucks (I had to take full advantage…the nearest Starbucks to my house in France is 4 hours away) and kept along the cobble stone rues. We finally saw the infamous fountain where the little boy pees (not sure what all the hype was about…) before heading back to the city center to grab some dinner. The nice warm ambiance of the restaurant was enough to make us not want to go back out into the cold, but, we still had one last stop before ending our Belgian tour — the Delirium bar, which featured over 3,000 different beers. It was a pretty sketchy route to take, but we made it, ordered our beers, and sat down for some nice conversation, when we were OH SO rudely interrupted, by two guys who had nothing better to do than hit on us. They finally got the hint (after 20 minutes) that we weren't interested, and we all parted like the Red Sea (but a million times faster), and headed back to the hostel to re-pack our bags and get ready for a long journey home the next morning.
Overall — I wasn't Brussels’ biggest fan, but on the other hand, I absolutely fell in love with Brugge…it was the cutest little city with just enough attractions to keep you from being bored. Plus, I had the best of company. Thanks Katie for making the trip with me! Sending much love to London and I am so looking forward to our next trip.
XOXO,
Ana
XOXO,
Ana