I spent this past weekend in Brussels with Patrick. We left early Friday for the 2 hour train to Brussels. This was my first experience on an international train and it was fun. Still, not quite as luxurious as I had thought it would be. I guess for the kind of train I'm imagining, I'll need to go for longer than 2 hours. Regardless, the train ride to and from Brussels got me two passport stamps with train symbols (to go along with the plane and boat symbols I already have)! I'm geekishly excited about that.
We arrived in the late afternoon on Friday and walked from the train station to our hotel. After checking in and freshening up from the journey, we headed into the city centre in search of some adventure, and food of course. We went to Grand Place square, which was breathtakingly beautiful. It reminded me of Amsterdam. I snapped lots of pictures, Patrick patiently waited, and we headed off down one of the streets surrounding the square to explore. We found several quaint streets with lots of little shops. We went into lots of shoe stores and other shops. Soon the rumbles in our tummies was enough to put us on the path toward food. We looked at lots of restaurants and decided that for tonight McDs would be the best bet. By the food on our trays, one probably thought we were feeding 5. I stand by my Amsterdam assessment of McDs, in Europe it's just somehow much much better than State side. After dinner we decided to kill some time in a casino. We gambled for about an two hours on different machines but inevitably came out losers. I lost 3 euro, Patrick lost 10. I guess Friday the 13 isn't as lucky as we had hoped. Reeking of smoke, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.
Free breakfast in the hotel consisted of a surprisingly American spread, much like "continental breakfast" with more croissants. Delicious, and filling! After breakfast we went out to explore the city. We stopped at Manneken Pis to take some pictures before heading up the road toward the park and royal palace. We passed lots of pretty buildings along the way. After crossing through the park we headed toward the European Union headquarters. It was kind of a long walk, but we were there soon enough. Another park ushered us into the district of European Union buildings. They all looked new and clean and suddenly the streets formed a perfect, oh-so-familiar grid. Snacks in the park and a rest on the bench before turning around and heading back. We stopped at a tiny bakery for the most delicious croissants I've ever had. Warm, flakey, calorie-packed scrumptiousness brought smiles back to our faces and put the extra spring in our step needed to make it back to the hotel. We used the hotel's free wi-fi to find a recommended restaurant. We headed to the #2 restaurant in Brussels,
Comocomo, for a Belgian tapas experience. Though we waited for what felt like forever for some plates of meat to get to us on the conveyor belt, we were soon surprised by how delicious these tapas were. Simple, but flavourful pieces of everything from cheeses, to pork, to frog legs, to octopus, to beef tongue to dessert. After about 2 hours, we had eaten 18 plates of food and felt satisfied enough to head back out into the cold night. We admired the square by night before heading back to the hotel for bed.
More free breakfast on Sunday morning: croissant-bacon-hardboiled-egg sandwich, juice, chocolate danish, yogurt, and kiwi. We conquered the metro system on our way to the hideous but somehow famous Atomium. We walked around and under the huge eyesore, saw that entry to the thing cost 15 euro and decided that we had had our fill of Atomium. We walked through the park next to the Atomium and then headed to Mini Europe. I was incredibly exhausted but excited for Mini Europe. Seeing miniature, to-scale versions of all of Europe's major attractions sounded amazing. We walked up a steep hill and through a small street of amusement park-ish shops and restaurants to the gates of Mini Europe. That's right, the gates. Apparently Mini Europe closes from January 9 - March something. Depression was soothed by Magnum ice-cream bonbons for sale in the local sweet shop. For dinner on Sunday we stumbled upon the most delicious meal of the trip. A real stuffed cow laying on the doorstep of this restaurant drew us in.
Amadeous offered barbecue and jacket potatoes. The menu was in French but we saw "spareribs" and decided this was the place for us. The interior to the restaurant was adorable, floor to ceiling bookshelves with row upon row of books, checkered table clothes on the old wooden tables, etc. etc. The food was delicious and we soon discovered the the spareribs were all-you-can-eat! Amazing. We stuffed ourselves and then lazily rolled back to the hotel to sleep it off.
After breakfast on Monday we checked out of the hotel and walked back to the Grand Place square to do our souvenir shopping. I bought postcards and then we hunted down a postoffice for Belgian stamps to the Americas. We bought a box of delicious Belgian chocolates from a shop called
Leonidas, which is supposed to be one of the best Belgian chocolatiers. At last we were hungry enough for an authentic Belgian waffle. I topped mine with chocolate and a scoop of vanilla ice cream and just about died to go to waffle heaven. The texture wasn't what I had always thought of as waffle texture. It was closer to something like a warm croissant. Rich, buttery, flakey, soft. Heaven. We went back to the hotel to collect our suitcase before heading for a sandwich shop that came highly recommended by locals and tourists alike.
Le Pain Quotidien turned out to be quite a surprise for me. I ordered the roast beef tartine with basil oil and parmesan cheese. I thought it would be delicious. Imagine the shock on my face when they brought out a tartine with raw meat spread over it. I tried two triangles of the sandwich before giving into the my stomach's resistance. We then walked back to the train station, boarded our train and headed home.
I had a wonderful time in Brussels. It was a small, quiet but fun city with some culture and interesting food. I would go back again simply for the Amadeous stake house we had on Sunday evening. I am looking forward to the next adventure, wherever that may be, and to more stamps on my passport!
