Bonjour and Hallo!
This past weekend, Jordan and I traveled to Belgium (again). The original plan had been to visit Lyon, France, but a recent terrorist attack had us rethinking that idea. Even on such short notice, we were able to book a four star hotel for only $40 per person(!!) in Brussels, and with a deal like that, we couldn’t say no to returning to our favorite city in Europe. If you missed the account of our first trip there, check it out here!
We left Saturday morning around 8 AM, arriving in the city just after noon. We left the train station in search of our hotel and lunch, finding the latter first.
The chain Exki that we had so enjoyed on our first visit had a location along our walk to the hotel, and we stopped in for a bite to eat. This restaurant does a great job of making itself not feel like a chain, and we sat in a light and bright upstairs room, the sound of the live music in the square outside drifting through the windows.
Because our hotel was so central, we had to walk through the Grand Place to get to it. I was once again floored by how beautiful it is.
I was also floored when we arrived at our hotel. Holy luxury, Batman!
It was hard, but we did pull ourselves away from the room to go out into the city. First on the to-do list was visiting our old, urinating friend. He was celebrating the Fourth of July, just like us!
Next up was a very important, very noble task: eating as many Belgian delicacies as possible. We entered every chocolate shop that looked like it would hold free samples and ate waffles the size of our heads.
The Belgian people are VERY serious about their food.
Our journey brought us to a design students’ exhibition, and we popped in to see what Brussels’ creative-types can make.
We also walked down a street that had been sectioned off from vehicle traffic so that people could play games in the middle of the road- there was ping pong, badminton, and even a life size game of chess!
Jordan and I were starting to get tired, so we headed to a garden to sit and relax. Along the way, we past a cathedral that was hosting a wedding, and we even got to see the bride and groom come out to cheers and thrown flower petals.
The Jardin du Petit Sablon was lush and shaded- the perfect place to rest.
We also ran into some statues that had curious resemblances to us…
Remember when I said a garden is the perfect place to rest? I was kidding. A bed is way better. So we headed back to the hotel for luxurious, four-star naps before dinner.
Two hours later(!) we woke up and left for dinner. Our plan we to spend the night at Delirium, so we wanted to get dinner in that area. Luckily, one of the streets on the way to the bar is packed with seafood restaurants, and that’s just what we had in mind. How did we pick which one to eat at? The restaurant that offered us free drinks won, duh.
We left dinner absolutely stuffed and satisfied, ready to get our Delirium on. We love that bar because you meet people from around the world every time you visit, and Saturday night was no exception. We hung out with two Australians named Jack and Will (hey boys- if you’re reading this, comment and say hi!) who were so nice. Especially in comparison to the bartender: he remembered Jordan from the last time we had been, and when we said hi, his response was, “Well, this is awkward, I don’t know what to say. What time should we meet up later?” EW!
When he realized that no, we didn’t travel to Belgium in hopes of hanging out with an old creepy bartender, he was not pleased. Oh well.
When the night had come to an end, we walked back home via the Grand Place, which was lit up beautifully.
I had a fantastic night’s sleep in he air conditioned comfort that was our hotel room.
Sunday, we woke up feeling refreshed, but not so ready to start the day. Our plan was to find a cafe to sit in and study for the majority of the time before our train was scheduled to leave, and then to study on the train as well. Not exactly ideal.
It wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected, though- we found an adorable bakery/ coffee shop called “Coffee’licious,” ate a wonderful breakfast, and worked for a few hours.
Before we left, we stopped at another candy store to stock up for this week, and then took the train home. It had been a fantastic weekend and we weren’t ready for it to end, but real life waits for no one. Sunday night we even did laundry and continued studying!
We travel to Strasbourg for a field trip this week, which I’ll be sure to post about, and then we have a long weekend in Barcelona and Paris ahead. I can’t wait!
Au revoir,
Ellie
EBS Abroad 