Brussels

For our last day in Belgium (read our other Belgium blogs: Ghent and Bruges), we decided to check out Brussels. We had been told ahead of time that Brussels was only worth one day on our itinerary, if that. Since we were flying out of Brussels the following morning and since it is such an important city in the European Union, we decided not to skip it but heeded everyone’s advice and only gave it one day. Let me tell you upfront. I have no idea what any of those people were talking about. We definately needed more than one day!!

We caught an early morning train from Ghent to Brussels, and again, it was not necessary to buy our tickets in advance. We bought the tickets and jumped on the train seconds before the doors closed. Perfect timing! There are 3 stations in Brussels, so make sure you get off at the appropriate one. In our case, we got off at the central station and walked about 10 minutes to our hotel. Since it was located in the business district and it was a Saturday night, we got our room for an amazing deal. Only ~$70/night! And, we felt like we had a small room in a palace since our embossed ceiling was around 15 feet high with windows to match and a fancy mirrored entrance door.

After dropping our bags off, we headed to the main square in Brussels. On the way though, we passed St. Michael’s Cathedral. Doesn’t it look like Notre Dame? And all the trees along our walk were bursting with vibrant colors. We didn’t miss fall after all! (I thought we would since we moved to Florida)

If you haven’t noticed, one of our favorite things to do in a new city is to take the free walking tour. Brussels was no exception. Conveniently, the tour met in the Grand Place, where we already were. Our tour guide was a very energetic Irish guy, and even though our group was very large with around 30 people, the guide did a fantastic job. He started out by explaining that Brussels is just like the Town Hall located on the Grand Place. At first glance, it is a beautiful gothic building. But after a harder look, you will notice some oddities. For one, the two wings of the building are not symmetrical (because they expanded to make more money but could only expand on one side). In the time period, this was considered very sacrilegious. And secondly, the door (seen in the picture below) isn’t even centered correctly.

The next stop on our tour was the all too famous Manneken Pis. It is a really small fountain of a little boy peeing, but don’t worry about not finding it. There will be tons of crowds around it. It wasn’t dressed up while we were there, but the city evidently has appointed a dedicated seamstress to the statue, and there are hundreds of costumes for it. There is also a girl statue a few blocks away but it is much harder to find and is behind bars.

As we walked through the city listening to the stories, facts, and history, we noticed there were Tintin murals all over the place. They are beautifully painted and somehow belonging in this city, perfectly intertwining the old and the new. If you have never heard of Tintin, don’t feel bad. I wouldn’t have heard of it either, but it is one of Nisheet’s favorite comics, so he was thrilled to see the murals. I don’t think it has had a huge influence on American youth, but the rest of the world seems to think we are missing out. But, basically, it is a comic strip about a boy detective (Tintin) and his dog (Snowy) created by a Belgian cartoonist. The city’s love for Tintin doesn’t just stop with the murals. You should check out all the stores selling little figurines, t-shirts, mugs, and books!

Our walking tour was by far the longest one we have ever been on taking the entire afternoon. Since it was so long, we had a 20 minute break in the middle. And we just happened to be right next to The Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert which is the first Galeries of its kind in Europe and is basically a super fancy mall. Since we were right there, we obviously decided to take a quick peek inside. There are several chocolate and tea shops, and I suggest you go in ALL of them since they were all giving free samples while we were there! Yum! Our favorite was a chocolate shop called Mary. We didn’t end up with any chocolate, but we bought the most delicious brioche filled with vanilla cream from Madagascar. (and yes, we sampled the vanilla cream before we bought it). When we met back up with our tour, our guide informed us that Mary is the official chocolate supplier to the Belgian Royal Family. I guess we know our sweets! And, check out the awesome, perfectly French cashier!

The walking tour continued another hour or so after our break. We walked back to St. Micheal’s Cathedral which Nisheet and I visited earlier in the day, and we also walked through a park. I felt the second part of our tour was very heavy on politics and economics which is probably because our guide was previously an economist and because Brussels is the unofficial seat of the European Union. It was very interesting and I learned a lot, but by the end of the tour I was breathing a sigh of relief that it was over and I could get back to sight seeing. The only downside to the tour was it didn’t end until 5pm and all the stores and attractions closed at 6pm. Not much time left! So off we ran to the official Tintin gallery so Nisheet could find the perfect souvenir.

Like usual, after the walking tour (and then an hour of shopping), we were getting hungry. So, for a light dinner, we ate at one of the most popular frite shops around, Fritland. Mmm-mmm. There will be a huge line outside. When we were there the line was down the sidewalk, across the street, and onto the other sidewalk. Do not wait in it. Walk inside to order, even if you want a to-go order. Another tip is to order your sauce on the side. Otherwise the top frites will be drenched in sauce with nothing left for the bottom ones. We got a garlic sauce and it was delish! We also saw people with a frites sandwich that looked amazing!  

Nisheet did most of the bar and beer choosing on our trip, but I did find one supposedly amazing bar in Brussels to check out, Moeder Lambic. It is one of the top 10 bars in the world and has lambic in the name, so how could we not go?? The bar was completely packed when we got there, but luckily 2 people got up to leave right when we walked in. We asked the bar tender what the most popular lambics were (and by the way there are only ~5 on the menu). Nisheet got that one and I ordered a raspberry one. Absolutely terrible. I forced myself to take 5 sips thinking that it would get better. Nope. We paid for our basically untouched beers and left in search of something drinkable.

On our way to the next bar, we passed back through the Grand Place. It was beautiful during the day, but it was spectacular at night. All of the buildings had a brilliant purple/blue light highlighting the architectural details. The square was full of cherrful people and the atmosphere was happy and wonderful.

We then made our way to the widely known Delirium bar. It was also a huge letdown as it was completely packed with tourists and was blasting American music. We only stayed long enough to snap a picture before we bolted for the door. (FYI, the Jeanneke-Pis is located right next to this bar). Since both of the bars we tried ended up being huge failures, we decided to check out a bar near our hotel, away from all the tourists, called the Beer Circus.  It was just what we were looking for. It was very laid back and relaxing with locals chatting with the bartender. When the bartender handed us a ridiculously thick menu full of beers, he assured us he could answer all of our questions and help us find the perfect beer. I had already spotted what I wanted as soon as we came in though. They had a Trappist beer called Chimay Blue on draught! Surprisingly a lot of the bars we had been to in Belgium had a very limited draught list. We paired our beer with a cheese plate and had a wonderful evening discussing our favorite parts of the trip and talking with the friendly bartender. It was a great way to end our European adventure.