Ohhhhh Belgium: land of fries, waffles & chocolate. and the best beer collection in the world.
On Friday, Nick & I headed to Brussels and got in around 9ish. We quickly went out and walked around for a bit. We headed into the main square via the Galleria [a gorgeous inside shopping area]! Then we walked through the main square and saw the gorgeous Rathaus and all the other beautiful buildings that are trimmed with gold-plating. Then we had to stop by for a peek at
Mannekin-Pis. He's a little boy statue peeing into a pond. Brussels is well-known for the statue. Nick & I of course had to take a picture in front of it [see below]! Afterwards, we went to the best bar ever called
Moeder Lambic. We got to try a lot of different Belgian beers including sours. Nick got a
VERY expensive beer and enjoyed every moment of it, haha. We headed back to the hotel and retired for the night for an adventure-filled Saturday.
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| the inside galleria of shops upon shops in Brussels |
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| the gorgeous Rathaus at night |
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| Mannekin-Pis! The little boy statue that pees into a fountain |
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| a yummy Belgian beer |
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| our beer savant waiter at our favorite new chill bar |
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| gotta have a sour in Belgium |
On Saturday, we headed to a phenomenal breakfast at
Peck 47. We both got waffles [mine with cheddar, poached eggs, and some type of sauce ... nick's with poached eggs, chorizo, bacon, ham, and the same sauce] & mimosas! It was a lovely, filling breakfast. Afterwards, we walked around for a bit more then headed to the
Sandeman's walking tour. We got to see all the main sites of Brussels including another daytime visit to Mannekin-Pis. He was dressed up as he apparently is almost 250 days a year! "The Friends of Mannekin-Pis" [a society in Brussels] was handing out free Belgian beer. We stopped by the gorgeous cathedral which I hadn't really heard much about but was quite the nice touch for the city. Afterwards, we had to eat some amazing Belgian fries! So yes.. they are not FRENCH fries, they're actually Belgian fries :) apparently after WWII American soldiers started calling them French fries because they heard the Belgians speaking in French. Quite amusing. Our tour guide said that "Americans are not very good at geography." We also had to eat a few fabulous Belgian waffles + chocolate sauce on top. Nick and I then took a quick nap. After the nap we headed to the beer tour of Brussels [another Sandeman's tour]. It was a nice tour but Nick knows so much about beer that it was a bit of a waste of money for us. We definitely wouldn't do it again. Afterwards we went to
Delirium Cafe to check out what the fuss was all about.
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| waffle + poached eggs + cheddar + special sauce + mimosas |
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| ornate gold on the buildings in old-town Brussels |
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| intense gingerbread man ! |
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| the friends of Mannekin-Pis ! |
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| the friends of Mannekin-Pis handing out free beer |
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| the Brussels cathedral |
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| the park in Brussels |
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| the museum of musical instruments |
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| waffle stop! |
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| nick enjoying his waffle + chocolate sauce |
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| Delirium Cafe! |
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| the sister of Mannekin-Pis haha! |
On Sunday, Nick and I woke up and headed to Ghent. What a gorgeous city! We went into the main part of the town and to the
Castle of the Counts [or Gravenstein]. It's so interesting because it is right in the middle of the city & was built to "protect the government from the people" and not from the outside - quite an interesting concept. At 1pm we joined a
Gent Free Walking Tour. Our tour guide was very informative. We got to see the gorgeous setup on the waterfront that was created for the World Expo with a line of old shops and houses. We also saw Ghent's version of Mannekin-Pis - it's still hilarious to me that this is such a big deal in Brussels / Ghent! During the tour, we also saw a massive graffiti wall. Ghent decided to create this alley worth of walls that were specifically there for people to do graffiti. This way it minimized the amount of graffiti elsewhere in the city which has apparently really worked. To top the tour of, we got to see a few churches which is always a nice touch of any European city. Before we headed back to Brussels airport, we stopped by the famous Ghent beer place called
Dulle Griet. This place is famous for the yard beers where because the glasses/setup is so nice and people steal it sometimes they take one of your shoes and hold it until the person returns the glass. They have basket in the middle of the room where your shoe goes [see below picture]. It is very amusing! Nick also got to try "the most-coveted beer" in the world from a Belgian trappist brewery. It was a great way to end the weekend!
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| gorgeous sky |
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| castle of the counts |
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| capturing nicholas in his environment |
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| beautiful boat passing the castle |
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| the building-front that were created for the World Expo |
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| world's largest roll of toilet paper that is actually a bathroom |
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| Ghent's version of Mannekin-Pis |
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| canyon in Ghent that had only been fired once ever |
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| graffiti alley that was created in Ghent so people would do graffiti only in this specific place in Ghent |
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| sour + cheery beer in Ghent |
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| must give a shoe to get a yard beer |
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| nick said "this is the most coveted beer in the world" |
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| the basket with the shoes ! |
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| yes, the expiration date is "2035" |
All in all, Belgium is definitely somewhere I'd be interested in going again. I'd love to hit up Brugge as well as some of the areas outside of the towns.
