I just got back from Brussels this afternoon. Brussels wasn't exactly what I expected, which was a good thing. I expected it to be very similar to Antwerp and I've heard it compared to Amsterdam. It was neither of those. To me, it reminded me of San Francisco. It was hilly, felt like a metropolitan city and had great views around each corner. We had some problems with navigation. For starters, the bus stop we needed to go to wasn't in service; so we spent the next 30 mins walking around the train station trying to find someone to talk to, but just ended up trekking it up the hill to the next stop along the line and hopped on the bus. Luckily, Laura knew some French was able to help facilitate the process of figuring out if we were getting on the right bus.
We reached the hostel, dropped our bags off and set out in search of food (and a beer). We ended up in a little sandwich place that served us some delicious paninis, Hoegaardens and dessert. From there, we wondered around the city. We stumbled upon a semi desolate park with some great statues, the royal palace, a Frida Kahlo exhibition, and a lot of cool stuff along the way. Later that night, after a much needed power nap, we ventured out to the city center to try to find food. Huge mistake. Naturally, the food was expensive, touristy, and no one could agree on anything. So we wound up at an Italian restaurant. Got myself some lasagna and beer. I was a happy camper. From there, we went in search of a famous bar - called the Delirium - but came back inconclusive after walking in circles. We had a drink at another recommended bar and headed back to the hostel for a night cap (raspberry flavored beer) and to get a good night's rest.
We got an early start on Saturday and hit up a local thrift market across town. There was everything imaginable there. It was basically Europe's garage sale. I got a cute little leather wallet to use for traveling and a small Delft saucer to put my jewelry on. We also stopped in a few beautiful churches along the way. Gorgeous buildings - inside and out. Brussels also had great street art. They are huge on 'comic walls' where cartoons will take over a side of a building and go to town. There's nothing I like better than some interesting street art.
We had to do the touristy thing and see the peeing boy fountain (much smaller than originally thought), the squatting girl (no joke), the pissing dog (little excessive), get a Belgian waffle (absolutely delicious), grab some postcards, check out the big central square (so much beautiful architecture all around, it was a bit overwhelming). For lunch, we decided to give in and check out the seafood in Brussels cause it's supposed to be good. We got a huge bucket of mussels, side of french fries and a beer for 10 euro. Lekker.
That night, we cooked dinner in the hostel kitchen - 80 cents per person for salad, pasta and bread - very efficient. We had located Delirium during the day so we headed out to see what this bar was all about. It was gigant, with rooms and rooms of tables, a few bars, and tons of people. As big as it was, it took a few laps to find a place to sit. We had 2,000 beers to choose from. I tried a South African mango beer and another beer I couldn't tell you the name to cause I got flustered ordering because the bartender was asking what year I wanted (not like it really mattered to me) but they literally had so many beers, some had two editions. Needless to say, it didn't disappoint.
The next morning, we all got up. Took one last trek through the city to the train station and said Au revoir to Brussels and headed back to good ole Amsterdam.
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