The title of this post pretty much sums up the highlights of our trip to Belgium however I'll go into more detail then that! :) We loved Belgium! I've never seen so many chocolate shops and types of chocolate in my life... and not to mention delicious!!! We realized it was easier just to tell ourselves calories don't count in Belgium! Where else do you get the chance to eat truffles one after another like chips right?!
Ok from the beginning... We departed London on an early morning Eurostar train to Brussels. (Fri Oct 25th) The Eurostar travels at an average speed of about 106mph and passes under the English Channel "Chunnel" linking the UK to mainland Europe. The ride took about 2 hours and about 20 mins of it was spent in the Chunnel. One thing I've learned is that my ears pop more on trains then they do on planes! When traveling at high speeds through tunnels the pressure creates a mess in my head being that I have touchy ear drums. Brian laughs at the amount of gum I chew and faces I make nearing the end of tunnels... And there are a lot of them when exiting London!
Once we arrived in Brussels we found our hotel very close to the city's enormous square called Grand Place. This is known as one of the "prettiest squares in Europe" and we could immediately understand why! The pictures below cannot capture the size and beautifully detailed architecture seen all around when standing in the center of the square. This is also where a "flower carpet" is created every 2 years to fill the square with millions of begonias. It will be done again in August 2014 so we may need to make a trip back! :)
Branching out from the square are many cobblestone streets filled with the endless chocolate shops I mentioned earlier. Doesn't your mouth water just looking at it?!
Upon arriving we were hungry and it seemed only appropriate to get belgian waffles right away! We ordered Brussels waffles which are the light and airy kind similar to the typical Belgian waffles in the states. However once we tried the more traditional type known as leige waffles these quickly became our favorite! They are richer, denser and sweeter (almost like a mini donut!) Especially good when doused in fresh Belgian chocolate! They can also be found at various stands and food trucks around the city! The rule "calories don't count in Belgium" also applied to waffles as we consumed a few! ;)
Brussels waffle
Leige waffles
We also had to go check out the famous Brussels statue Manneken Pis. It's a bronze statue of a little boy peeing into the fountain below (Can't really see the water "pee" in the pic.) The city has really taken it to the extreme with him as you can get endless Manneken Pis souvineers and even chocolates! Kinda random!
On Saturday we took the train to Bruges (pronounced rhyming with rouge) for part of the day. It was about 1 hour 15min train ride to the northwest of Brussels. We found it to be quite a charming little town. It is known as "Venice of the North" since there are canals which run through most of it. We took a canal cruise which was a great way to see the city!
Don't think there wasn't chocolate in Bruges... There were plenty of chocolate shops there as well! I had heard before going to go to a place called Bittersweet and order one of the "chocolate tulip things" Having no idea what this meant it was quite interesting what it turned out to be! The pictures below describe it... Basically a chocolate tulip that you float in steamed milk! Once it melts you have a delightfully rich hot chocolate! We should have shared one... we were in chocolate comas once we finished!
Like Brussels, Bruges has a very nice city square on a much smaller scale. The city center has a centuries old clock tower which we climbed 366 stairs. At the top we were able to see beautiful views over the Belgian rooftops since the sun decided to come out! We even heard the bells chime and saw the mechanisms behind the huge clock!
We finished the night back in Brussels with a beer tasting flight (plus a couple afterwards since they were so tasty and we had a perfect people watching position at a table outside the pub we were at!) We also enjoyed seeing the square lit up at night making it even more beautiful!
On our last day we decided to go see the Atomium. It was built in 1958 for the Brussels World Fair. The structure is designed after the atom of an iron crystal magnified 165 million times. It has said to be Brussels' "Eiffel Tower or London Eye" as it offers great views. There are exhibits in the spheres dedicated to science with escalators between some of them and then a high speed elevator to take you to the highest sphere. We again lucked out with it being cloudy when we arrived but it cleared up by the time we went to the top!
All in all we enjoyed Belgium very much... No matter how many pounds we may have gained!
