Brussels and Bruges

And so it has come to pass. The first weekend. The first trip. The first of many to come. And it was gooood.

Seeing as our first weekend was a 2-day weekend (FYI: the semester is set up with mainly 3 day weekends, some 2 day weekends, and one 4 and one 5 day break), we wanted to go somewhere relatively close and doable in two days. Cue Brussels, The Land of Four: fries, chocolate, waffles, beer. Plus a few peeing statues here and there.

I traveled in a group of 7, and we all woke up bright and early Saturday morning to catch trains first to Luxembourg, then on to Brussels. All in all, it ended up being about a four hour trip. Once in Brussels, we just wandered around on foot, taking in the sights and getting our bearings in the city. (Yes, this does in fact mean that we got a little lost and had a whale of a time finding our hostel. To be fair, the hostel was not well marked at all.) We were staying in a hostel just off of the Grand Place, which is probably one of the prettiest 360 degree views of ornate buildings anywhere, especially when you emerge from an alleyway expecting another quaint row of houses but instead get turrets and steeples. It was on this trek that we conquered our first of the four - authentic Belgian freits/frites/fries. (That's another thing: in Brussels, people speak either French, Flemish, English, a combination of the three, or are crazy tourists like us, so everything comes with at least three names. This makes directions difficult.) My friends, these fries were tasty and the perfect thing to hold us over until we figured out the hostel situation. While figuring it out, we talked to Brussels Hostel Guy and got the skinny on everything worth knowing in Brussels. He highlighted maps for us and starred the places that we wanted to see. If ever you find yourself hostel jumping in Europe, take advantage of those front desk people! They know their stuff. I know this because he sent us to what he called "the best waffles in the city" and after eating one, I believe him. Mine was stuffed with solid bars of chocolate before the final press, so the waffle was just crispy and caramelized enough on the outside, chewy enough on the inside, and the chocolate was that perfect half-melted-gooey-but-still-solid state. Mmmm. Number two: check.

Since our plan of action basically called for eating our way through the city, we made sure to walk as much as possible to justify things. We hoofed it across Brussels on a grand tour of cathedrals, parks, palaces, parliaments, street fairs, parades, you name it. We found Manneken Pis, the little peeing boy statue that is so famous for who knows why, dressed in an odd robe and with a red block covering his head. That was a little disappointing, but right at the time we came to the statue, the parade that was the reason for his garb was turning the corner, so we stood and watched and some of us ate escargot. I did not partake. Since Pis was the last stop on our self led tour, we headed back to the hostel, eyes peeled for number three. On a little side street, we ducked into a chocolatier and picked a sampling of chocolates to share later after we settled into our hostel rooms.

For dinner, we found some street sandwiches - kebabs are all the rage, y'all - and kept things quick, easy, and cheap. Then we set out to find Delirium, a huge bar with an equally huge selection of beers, determined to finish the four. So we each picked a different Belgian brew and savored the flavor before heading out once again, in search of a place to watch the Chelsea/Munich game. And then all we wanted to do was sleep after a day of walking walking walking.

But the next morning, we rose bright and early in order to do it all again! Thank heavens for the Eurail pass, because we decided on a whim to include a side trip to Bruges. We looked for mermaids, but couldn't find them. We did find both the Fry and Chocolate Museum, and toured them purely for educational purposes. And maybe free samples. Then we spent the rest of our visit walking down canals, through cathedrals, and around parks. Every single street and building in Bruges is ripe for photography. Everything looks like a post card. It was beautiful. When the time came, we hopped back on the train, made our connections, and arrived back to home sweet Metz just in time to get some beauty sleep before classes in the morning.