#musselsinbrussels

[pthendig]

Rich & lovely dark chocolate mocha latte and more. A dessert and appetizer in one. This was delicious. Cheers! #musselsinbrussels #siphonbrewing #imperialstout #belgium #belgië #belgie #belgique #belgian #belgianbeer #belgischbier #bièrebelge #bierebelge #beer #bier #bière #biere #instabeer #beerphoto #beerlover #beerstagram #craftbeer #beertasting #BeTheBelgianBeer (at Balen, Antwerpen, Belgium) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4qZO8-llUL/?igshid=d1blvmp2tkqm

[budgetbackpacking]

Les Moules-frites and white wine from a touristy restaurant that was open on a Sunday!

[travelingtrixie]

Beer and Mussels in Brussels #musselsinbrussels

[jfire164-blog]

Brussel Sprouts...

The first thing that I asked was if Brussel sprouts came from Brussels, Belgium. It still is unknown seeing as I don’t like Brussel sprouts so I had no intention of researching further. Nor what Belgium had to offer. My friend, Travis and I, were in search of a place to go the weekend not knowing what places were still left untouched or other hotspots that people recommended. As we scoured the internet for good deals on plane tickets, Brussels, Belgium seemed to be fate. We discussed a little about this potential trip and booked it…it loosely translated to “Do you want to go to Brussels with me?” “Sure, what’s in Brussels?” “I’m not sure…let’s go!” 

After a frantic morning of forgetting passports and barely making it to the airport 2 minutes before the gate closed, we were off to discover what Brussels had to offer. It is kind of off the path for most students seeing as no one really had any idea what Belgium was famous for…but we were going to find out! As we stepped into the cold, brisk Belgian day, we were swarmed with shuttle drivers who needed people to fill their van to take to the city center. Upon arriving, in the center, I did the very best to try and get us to our hostel but unfortunately, we were nowhere near and ended up taking a taxi to where we needed to be. (Navigation is still a developing skill) Like always, I was famished so we sought out the nearest café and were off to start our Belgian weekend full of who know whats!

Surprisingly, even after walking for half the day I immediately fell in love with Brussels. I’m not sure how Travis felt but I knew the Belgians had my heart. In short, it literally was a mixing pot of different people, food, and everything! Definitely, felt like home so maybe that’s why I loved it so much. Although a stop at Starbucks (ordering in French) in the Grand Place, made it feel even more at home. We really didn’t search for things to do but let things search for us. As we were drawn in by a “wanna be” Oktberfest celebrated by all the freshmen in the local schools, though I was pretty sure it was more of a protest than a celebration. After an afternoon of people watching in a nearby square and freezing our faces off, we were greeted by a ‘light show’ in the Grand Place where the buildings lit up different colors, absolutely gorgeous!

The next day was another day full of walking around and learning about what Brussels had to offer from the café, Delirium, with its 3000+ flavors of beer to the Mannekin Pis, the tiny soldier who was a national hero. Who could forget, Belgian delicacies: Belgian waffles, mussels in Brussels, and fries! The great thing about staying in hostels is that it gives you an opportunity to meet a ton of different people like you, who are traveling around the world and gives it a sense of community. We met quite a few people within our hostel and made plans to go out with them both days we were there, something that I have never really done before so that was a great experience to meet new people and form a common bond  through traveling to get to know them.

The Atomium, which was built in 1957 for the World Science Fair (Thanks Travis for that fun fact…) can be seen as the “Eiffel Tower” of Belgium. I saw it on TV once and did not really expect much from it. However, once we exited the train station and saw the Atomium from the distance all my expectations were gone. It was massive, something that I did not expect Belgium to have. After about an hour wallowing in the Atomium’s impressive structure, we walked through a park nearby. That was kissed by the autumn air with all the falling leaves and changing of colors. Something that I have missed about this year, not being able to see fall in Florence or most of Italy.

A dinner of Tex-Mex food filled our bellies concluding with a night out on the town at the local pub: Celtica where we, mostly I and our new found friend, Ellie, danced the night away. The one downfall of traveling any inexpensive airlines like Ryanair are the inconvenient flight times like our 7:00 am returning flight back to Pisa; which practically meant we got an hour of sleep (not in the best mood, sorry Travis) and took an hour drive from the city center to the airport. Thankfully this time, our arrival at the airport was smooth, no one missing passports or anything important!

Like I said previously, I’m not much one for being spontaneous without having a plan or somewhat of a schedule. However, this trip was the complete opposite to what I am use to which made it one of the best trips that I’ve been on thus far. I’m not sure if it’s the city, my travel companion, or all the people we met; but this experience made me realize why I came abroad in the first place; to meet new people, to get out of my comfort zone, and see where things take me with no set schedule. So it was a nice change from what I’m used to that another trip to Belgium is in order in the near the future! And for the record, I still don’t like Brussel sprouts.

But ya…that’s my life.

[chyhea-blog-blog]

Mussels in Brussels 滿肚子淡菜 連大便也差不多變成青口形狀也是值得的好不 😍😱🍴😋😆😂👍 #MusselsinBrussels #ChezLeon (at Chez Léon)

[mariahkatkline-blog]

But We Were Promised Oompa-Loompas

It's 10:30 on Sunday night and I can officially say we have successfully survived our first weekend trip. Sydney, Emily, Annabel, and myself went to Brussels, and had an absolutely amazing time. I wasn't expecting much because... well... because people told us not to expect much but the famous Delirium Cafe and french fries. The naysayers coud not have been more wrong, Brussels blew me away. 

The first night we got in late around 6. We walked directly to our hostel which didn't end up being a hostel at all but actually a hotel, Meininger Hotel. We spent about 15 minutes assuring the concierge we did in fact have a reservation, but all things considered we were all very impressed with the quality of the accommodations. This was my first time staying in a hostel. I wouldn't say I'm the Princess from the Princess in the Pea, but I will say I have high expectations and for 24 euro a night Meininger exceeded them. Below are some pictures of our room.

After we unpacked the obvious next thing on our mind was food, so we headed straight to dinner. We kind of just walked around aimlessly and strangely enough stumbled into a Thai restaurant. I got the Pad Thai, and I have to say it was some of the best Thai food I have ever had. Who knew? After complimenting the waitresses traditional dress profusely (girl was working it) we were off to find the infamous Delirium Cafe.

We didn't find it... Ok we found the bar directly next to it which is suspiciously also named Delirium, so it was close enough. After a testing of the namesake beer we decided it was time to dance so we asked the bouncer for the nearest dance club and he directed us to Celtica. Which I was able to snap a picture of the next day in the day light. This club was awesome. I walked in and was immediately blinded by the strobe lights, but after my eyes adjusted I had a blast. The European dance clubs are totally different than anything I have experienced in the US. THERE WAS NO GRINDING, it was awesome. Everybody just dances by themselves and it gives you the opportunity to get a little weird and have a lot of fun.

    The next morning we woke up early to see the sites. Our first stop was Het Ivoren Aapgh, which is a famous little book store filled to the brim with old copies of classic English, German, French, and Italian books. I picked up a copy of the works of Oscar Wilde that I'm really excited about. The rest of the day we wandered around to the classic sites including Le Grand Place and the MIM which is an instrument museum with a great view of the city at it's rooftop restaurant . We even went to a chocolate factory called Chocolate Planet that our guide book assured us would have Oompa-Loompas... there were no Oompa-Loompas which I guess was the only disappointment of the trip.

Le Grand Place

 After a quick nap back at the hostel we were ready for dinner and found a cute little place near Le Grand Place for the classic Mussels in Brussels dinner. After dinner we decided to try our luck at finding Delirium Cafe again and this time we were successful. The bar was really cool but really crowded and pretty touristy so we decided to go back to the bar we were lat the night before.

At the bar next door we some how became a part of a British bachelor party. It was really interesting to hear the Brits views of being in a "foreign" city. They told us they identify more with Americans than the continental Europeans, and that the continental Europeans can spot them without ever speaking a word. I thought this was really interesting because I always thought the Brits assimilated really well with the rest of Europe. They also introduced us to a Mary Poppins themed drinking game we are definitely bringing back to the states and made plenty of fun of our accents. We ended the night back at Celtica where we danced pretty much until morning.

Us inside the real Delirium Cafe

The next day we headed back to the Le Grand Place for some french fries and waffles where we were pleasantly surprised by a couple of street performers. Lunch and a show for just 5 euro is hard to beat.

We spent the rest of the day site seeing and made it to the Parliament building and the Royal Palace special for Poly-Sci major Emily before we had to head to the train station and back to Lux.

All in all we had an amazing time. Brussels is completely underrated and I definitely recommend you visit if you have the chance. There was just enough english to make us comfortable and make it easy to get around, but also enough french and other languages to make things feel exotic and exciting. Brussels is a place I could see myself living.

WELL... if you made it through all that thank you. I know I have a lot to say. We are headed to Munich for the Ellie Goulding concert next weekend so check back here for my (hopefully shorter) post then.

Xx,

Mariah

[drayandhar]

The Change of Plans

Hey everyone!

After a few nights in Lille, France we had planned on catching a ferry over to Ireland where we would spend about a week soaking in the green hills and amazing accents, but those plans changed once we discovered that the trains to the ferry we fully booked. I mean, come on Lille!! We always seem to have problems with you!! At first, it was like running into a wall, so unexpected and sudden that it took us off guard, but then after some deliberation and many hours reading our travel book, we decided to head up to Belgium for the week.

Just before we went to Belgium, though,  we spent a full day at Vimy Ridge, a great Canadian battlefield. It was extraordinary to see exactly what we've learned about in school, no matter if it was years ago. I felt such pride walking through the site, but also great sadness and confusion- it's not a war site without its conflicting feelings. The monument was so stark and powerful against the sky that I'm sure you could see it for miles around. What I found strange was that there was a herd of sheep right next to the monument, and apparently there has been times when they escape and go into the 'undetonated mines' area... haha makes everyone on the site nervous.

Now, Belgium, the magical land of waffles and chocolate! We first trained to Brussels, apparently the capital of Europe. It's an city driven mainly by economics, but besides that and the dirty canals, it actually has lots of charm and character. The city centre is so lively, especially the weekend when we were there because there was a music festival on. We listened to bands play at one of the concerts, this one was in a park and the stage was a beautiful gazebo. I'd never heard of any of the bands before but they were GOOD. The first few were mainly instrumental, but my favorites were these bands called, 'Gaetan Streel' and 'Paon', especially Gaetan Streel, the main singer had the voice of an angels. We also ate our variety of food here in Brussels, the waffles (SO GOOOD!) and chocolates and French fries. Did you know that Belgium is the inventor of fries, Tin Tin and Astrix? Well it is and all over the city are fry houses and walls painted with scenes from Tin Tin.

The city was great, but the highlight of Brussels was really the people we met. We went on a great walking tour where we met two hilarious guys, Sid and Rohith, who made us laugh every few seconds. We met a few lone travelers, Tom, Jason, Alex, and Australian Tom, and after the tour we all went and ate 'Mussels in Brussels' and had a great night out drinking, experimenting with Belgium beer and absinthe. We also met a group of Scott's and an American lad, Trevor, who we went out with (on a different night) to this bar called Delirium. It has over 2500 beers and is widely known across Europe. If anyone gets a chance to go to Brussels, check this place out!

The next city we went to definitely contrasted with bustling Brussels. Its name is Bruges and looks like one of those model villages you make at Christmas, all pretty and medieval- a very romantic city. We walked so much here; all through town, over canals, we saw the most photographed dog and had a Belgium waffle every day. We met back up with Jason and Tom from the tour in Brussels and went drinking one of the nights. Lots of fun, I learned (and nearly won) how to play bumper pool and saw how beautiful Bruges is at night. All the canals are still and the narrow houses are all glowing from lamps inside. It's a very picturesque city.

Now we are back in Lille awaiting tomorrow, which is going to be one of the longest travel days we'll have. We are going back to London and because we love making things difficult we aren't taking the Eurostar (a 2 hour speed train directly from Lille to London), we are instead taking a train, ferry, bus, train, tube to our hostel! Oh goodie, right? It's weird that we'll be in English speaking territory soon, no more 'Bonjour's' or 'Ciao's' or 'Gracias's', just good ol' 'Hello' and 'Goodbye'. Oh, and just in case a few of you aren't counting down the days until we get home, we have officially been here for 3 months, how the time has gone!

Talk soon!

~Dray