J'adore La Belgique

I made it back from Belgium!  Sorry this is so delayed, but I had to jump right back in and work ALL day Tuesday and Wednesday.  Today I am taking advantage of my open schedule to write to you all, study up on my French (classes start back up tomorrow), and just relax (maybe watch a movie, or 2?)  But, let's talk about what you all came here to read, Belgium!

The train to Brussels on Friday was my first European train experience...surprising, right?  It was amazing!  That has become my new favorite way to travel.  Relaxing in the rather comfy chairs, ipod on, gazing off into the gorgeous countryside passing by, it was wonderful.  Plus it was only an hour and 20 minute ride from the center of Paris to the center of Brussels, what service!  We were staying at Stephane and Kate's apartment in Brussels (gorgeous, might I add) so I was able to navigate my way there easily.  We had a little glitch trying to get the front gate open, but luckily their neighbor was eager to help so he let me in and replaced our clicker with a spare of his own, essentially saving us.  Adam arrived a couple hours later, so we had a snack, watched a video clip Stephane left for us about Brussels, and set out to see the city.  We rarely used the metro all weekend because the walk into town was only about 20 minutes, and we needed the exercise after everything we ate all weekend!  We managed to come across the Cathedral, which was gorgeous, tons of random artwork in the streets, the Grote Market, and the Grande Place.  We then spent hours just weaving in and out of the streets connecting to the Grande Place until we happened upon Delirium, one of the bars discussed in the film clip.  This place is famous and holds a Guinness World Record for the most beers on the menu...2,500+ to give you an idea.  We popped in to check it out and try a famous Belgian beer.  I, not being a beer fan (at all), stuck with a safe choice: chocolate beer!  I actually enjoyed it!  Not thick at all like I expected, it still had the beer taste, but with a hint of chocolate, it was great!  I don't remember what Adam got, but after talking to the bartender, it was supposedly a "great fit" for him.  From here we set out to find dinner, and being the ridiculously indecisive people we are, that took a while.  Eventually we settled on Chez Leon, another popular restaurant discussed in the film, for some mussels, fries and more beer (it was a special for 12.90Euro!)  It was my first time trying mussels, and they were pretty good, something I'm glad I tried once, but wouldn't order again, there was nothing special about them.  After this we found a metro and headed home early.  After making a pit stop at the grocery store for some Magnums (only the best ice cream bars IN THE WORLD) we settled in to watch Despicable Me (which was NOT as good a movie as I expected).

Best. Ice cream. Ever.

Random artwork...

Cathedral

In the Grande Place

Grande Place

Chocolate beer!!

Mussels and Fries

Saturday we ventured out again by foot, but because it was raining, decided to make a pit stop in the Museum of Musical Instruments.  SO COOL!  Seeing all the various musical instruments used in different countries and cultures, and hearing the sounds that they all make, was pretty darn cool.  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the most random, odd-looking things that make the most beautiful sounds.  After this we ended up back in the Grande Place, where we hopped into a seemingly inexpensive and plain Italian restaurant.  However, when we got inside, it looked like the setting of a romantic scene in a cheesy comedy film.  Everything was black with little twinkling lights acting as stars and the waiters all wear penguin tailed suits, it was great, and still pretty cheap!  I got the salmon tagliatelle (if you haven't noticed by now, I have recently become obsessed with salmon, at least it's a healthy obsession!) and it was absolutely amazing!  After this we ventured over to see the fountain, Jeannekin Pis.  You all may know about the popular fountain, Mannekin Pis, of a little boy "peeing".  Well this one is even more vulgar of a little girl squatting and peeing.  Not quite what we expected to see, but at least we can say we saw it!  Then we decided since we had at least seen most of what there is to see in Brussels, we would hop on the metro and go a little outside of town to the site of the 1958 World Fair.  Of course we got off the metro at the wrong stop, so after quite a long walk, we happened across one of the most amazing (and different) sites I have seen: the Atomium.  It is a giant structure of an atom (and I mean GIANT) with each "ball" housing various expositions.  I was just in shock at the grandeur of it all, and the shininess, while Adam (a construction management major) was thinking more along the lines of HOW did they build this thing.  Needless to say, there was no question that we were going to pay whatever ridiculous amount they were asking just so we could go to the top (luckily for us students, it was only 8Euro).  After climbing copious amounts of stairs and endless escalators (that was scary), we were able to make it into 3 of the 6 "balls".  We made our way back down to the bottom to hop in the elevator to take us straight up to the top.  This elevator was small and packed with people and literally felt like the tower of terror ride at Disneyland.  The views from the top were amazing and it was so cool seeing all the gorgeous splotches of fall colors everywhere we looked.  The top "ball" also housed a restaurant where we were planning to grab a little something, mainly because we felt bad going up to look and not eating, but luckily they were closed so we were off the hook!  From here we headed back home early, only to watch episode upon episode of How I Met Your Mother (he got me hooked).  Around 9 we decided we didn't feel like having pasta for dinner (which was all we had to eat in the house) so we ventured around the little neighborhood to find any open food establishment of any sort.  Little did we know, it was a predominantly Muslim neighborhood, so the only places we came across were these little hole in the wall mouse houses (instead of roach coaches).  The place we settled on looked pretty sketch, I'm not gonna lie, but they were super busy fixing up various sandwiches and "burritos" so we figured it must be good.  After waiting for about 30 minutes, our "chicken burritos" were finally ready, so we grabbed them and set off for more How I Met Your Mother.  Surprisingly, the burritos were amazing!

Funny, but inappropriate, Jeannekin Pis

Atomium!

View from the top of the Atomium

Sunday we realized there wasn't much else to see in Brussels if we didn't feel like doing museums, so instead we were off to the train station to see where we could go for the day.  We ended up in Bruges (pronounced Bruje) after an hour and 15 minute train ride for only 13Euros each.  Let me just say, best decision we made all weekend, I fell in love with that city.  While there is next to nothing to do there, there is SO SO much to see, and it is all beautiful!  The architecture of the buildings was so ornate and the rooftops were all the same.  The dozens of churches and cathedrals with towering steeples everywhere you looked.  The rivers and canals flowing through the city (it's called the Venice of the North).  The beautiful fall colors the filled the streets.  The horse drawn carriages and gondolas taking people on tours of the city.  The endless amount of chocolate shops and Belgian waffle stands.  It was truly amazing, and quite possibly one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen in my life.  I recommend it to anyone and everyone in Europe for at least a day (or 2) trip...I don't know if much more than that is possible for an active person because like I said, not much to do, but for relaxing and taking in the sights, this is the place.  We couldn't have gone at a more perfect time of year either because this city had the most vibrant colors of landscape I have ever seen in my life.  Needless to say, it was an amazing day, and I will shut up now so you can see what I mean.

Beautiful cobblestone streets and buildings

Gondola-filled canals everywhere you look

Belgian fries!

The center square with one of the tallest brick bell towers (still operating!) in the world

Another steeple church resting on a beautiful, serene lake.

Another wonderful weekend, a bunch of fabulous memories, and another European city under my belt.  I can't wait till I am off on another adventure next weekend in POLAND with my 2 great friends, Ally and Ellie!  First, I have to get through a long work-filled weekend, the kids first week back at school, and my BIRTHDAY! (next Wednesday, if any of you were wondering ;)

I miss you all, hope to hear from you soon!  Love you :)