Starting off with-- entering the hotel. Let's just say I know how to pick out a hotel pretty well. We ended up at a 5star hotel in Brussels. We walked in and checked in and they welcomed us with tons of chocolate and a glass of champagne. How classy is that?! We clinked glasses and entered our hotel room which was just beautiful. We got in on Friday later than we had expected, it was around 4pm and we were exhausted from the travel. For breakfast food we figured we better go to a grocery store and grab some snacks so that we do not have to spend too much money on our trip. I found C'ote Dor (my favorite chocolate in all of the world) and bought tons and tons to start off with! We also tasted a new beer, Hoegaarden. Which was alright but there were many that tasted better. We decided that it was necessary to have moules e frite (mussels and French fries). The concierge recommended us to go to a place called in english Old Brussels. They were the best mussels I have ever tasted in my entire life. They were drenched in garlic and salt and I just wanted to keep eating more. Emily and I shared a bucket of them and then ate some fries. We tried a lighter beer of Hoegaarden, not the fruity ones we tried from the market. We ended up going to sleep really early to wake up early the next morning!
Saturday was a day of exploration. We started by walking to Grand Place and seeing the square and the buildings and of course it was raining which really ruined a lot of things but that is okay. We ended up soaked by the end of the day. After grand place we went over to the brewery that was across town. We got a little lost but we made it! The beer was sooo good. The brewery was called Cantillon. It is one of the only family owned breweries still left in Brussels. They make their own kind of beer that you cannot buy in most restaurants or the grocery store. You start with a regular beer, which is not that regular. It is extremely sour but it is one of the best beers that I have ever tasted. We then worked our way back home and saw Manneken Pis. Who was dressed up in a costume! They say he changes costumes pretty frequently so at least we got to see that it was true! We stopped for fast food at the local chain called "Quick." Quick is only quick to make you sick. Because in Italy there are no preservatives everything has been making me sick while on vacation. It is so nice to be eating healthy food most of the time here in Italy. For dinner we decided it would be important to go somewhere with food much like Italian style. So we went to a restaurant called Porto Fino which is Italian style pastas and breads. It was delicious. I got ravioli with truffle sauce and enjoyed a nice coca cola light to settle my belly. We went to bed pretty early again.
The Royal Palace, it was not open when we went there but it is beautiful from the exterior.
This is the Sablon Cathedral in Sablon Square which is a really nice park and this gorgeous old cathedral that you can just freely walk into which is always a nice perk!
The sour beer that we tried first at the brewery, so tasty!
The sour beer that we tried first at the brewery, so tasty!
and now the fruit beer, raspberry flavored. YUM!
Manneken Pis in his one of hundreds of outfits that he has!
Sunday which was our last full day in Brussels was an action packed one as well. We started early, around 9:30am and we headed towards the Court House to go in an elevator to the top of this structure that saw over the city. Overall it wasn't super impressive. It was an enclosed box with scratches all over the plastic so taking a picture was very difficult. We then headed to the metro to take a train to the Atomium. The atomium is a structure that was created in 1958 that has 9 spheres. 5 of which are open to the public, the strange part is actually getting from one sphere to the next. We stood in line and took the lift all of the way to the top to look out and see the view of the city which was a lot better than what we had seen earlier in the day. We then went into each of the other spheres to see the exhibits. After we were done we went down to the ground level and grabbed some lunch. I had a really good soup that was just mainly broth but warmed my bones since it was a very chilly weekend. We went back to Grand Place and into a chocolate museum. It was not that great of a museum but we got to see a chocolate making session and tried some of the chocolate that was just freshly made. Who could complain about lots of chocolate?! After that, we tried to go to the fine arts museum (Margaritte) but it was sold out for the day, go figure. So we went into a pub and tried a new beer, Jupiler which I really enjoyed. We had a couple of beers and then headed to venture out and see what else we could find. We ran upon a Jewish Synagogue and Saint Michael cathedral. Both of which are impressive from the outside but we were not allowed into the interiors (BOO). Dinner consisted of a bar right around the corner from our hotel. It was called Fat Boys and had a lot of different kinds of beer and foods like tacos, and wings. I of course got chicken wings because thats all I could think about after seeing Pizza Hut all over the city. Another reallllly early night because we had to check out of the hotel and be at the metro by 7:30am this morning.
This morning we got up around 645am and packed up our stuff, got dressed and ready, and went to check out of the hotel. We made it to the metro and got to the mid-central station that we needed to get our bus that took us to the airport at. So we finally found the bus after circling the entire station. The bus took about an hour and some minutes because of terrible traffic on the highway. We made it with less than an hour before our flight. The flight was not bad at all, I mean there were a lot of clouds so I did get a little motion sick but when do I not on these flights. Then when we got off the plane we got our bags and headed to another bus that took us to Florence train station. That bus made me even more sick to my stomach, go figure. And then we had to walk 10 minutes to our apartment. Today will consist of homework and projects so that this week isn't completely stressful. It would be weird to have a stress filled week when there has not been any stress here so far!
Overall, it was a fantastic trip and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I can see myself going back to Belgium and spending more time exploring the city. I was so intrigued and it felt a lot like home which made everything all better! Enjoy the pictures and keep reading.. I hope to keep you updated as much as possible.
Check back tomorrow evening (your time) for pictures so that I can add them while I am on the school internet rather than the internet in the apartment which does not work!
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