Spring Break pt 3: Blame it on the Waffles

April 5

The day was a bit chilly as we walked the 5 minutes to the train station. It wasn't too difficult to find the right train to Brussels. We would arrive around noon so we settled in for the 2 and a half hour train ride or so.

Once in Brussels, we managed to find our hostel after help from a local. The Grand Place Hostel was probably in the best location we could have imagined. It was situated on a little side street right across from the Gran Place itself. After checking in and barely had time to throw our stuff in the lockers before we ran out the door to properly see the Grand Place.

Grand Place was pretty much a giant square with these beautiful buildings surrounding it. Don't ask me what their purposes are, I still haven't a clue. But apparently in the summer, the center of the Place is covered in a Flower Quilt.... that's literally a bed of flowers in the middle of this square. It looks so cool in the pictures, it made me a bit sad we weren't going to be able to see it.

Now, you may be wondering why I have hardly any pictures of Amsterdam.. and of Brussels. I assure you that I did take loads of pictures, probably too many. But here's the reason you aren't going to see any of those pictures.

After freaking out over how cool this place is (we'd barely walked 10 feet out our door!) we followed our noses to the delicious smell of Belgium Waffles. Standing in line to get my waffle, I was overwhelmed by all the toppings I could put on it. I decided not to hold back, when in Belgium right! And got Strawberries, Chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. It was right after I received my glorious waffle that I reached into my pocket to take a picture of it (in true tourist style). It soon became apparent that my camera was no longer in my pocket. I checked both pockets, my bag, and then everything all over a good 5 times. I snapped this picture on my iPod camera.... then started having a panic attack.

How good does that look!

We all retraced my steps.... all 50 of them. But alas, there was no blue Canon anywhere to be seen. I started to realize what happened... someone must have pick pocketed me. I was mad at myself for not keeping hold of my camera better, i felt violated that someone reached into my pocket without me noticing, but most of all I lost all my pictures and how was i supposed to document my trip going forward! I must say, after this I was probably the last person you'd want to travel with. Sorry Ally, Maggie and Rebecca! I aimlessly followed as everyone excitedly explored Brussels. My mind was still going back and forth the Grand Place plaza trying to find my camera.  

Eventually, my hunger got the better of me and I soon found myself in the little Italian restaurant two doors down from our hostel. We were served one of the best dinners I had on this entire trip. I would have gladly eaten there every night we were here. We turned in for the night, and I decided I would unfortunately have to use my iPod as my camera... and steal Ally and Maggie's pictures so you will see some Amsterdam after all :)

The next day, Monday, we headed out on a walking tour of Brussels. I still had no idea what Brussels was all about so I was excited to actually see the place. We ended up stumbling upon the European Union Parliament building... and touring the Parliamentarium. It's an interactive tour about the EU and had really interesting features inside, definitely quality stuff. Just walking around Brussels was a cool way to get to know it better. Here's some pictures from our walk.

Outside the history museum 

The Grand Palace

I really loved walking around the streets of Brussels. They are typical European streets and never lead you to where you think you are going. The street names were so cool, some were French while some were Dutch.. or Flemish, the Belgium Dutch. It was fun just to try and pronounce the names, and we made a joke of it.

We got back late after our walk and not too hungry for dinner. So Maggie, Ally and I went to the Waffle Factory to get waffle #2. It was then that I actually was able to taste the deliciousness of Belgium Waffles. 

The waffle itself was covered in a kind of sweet glaze, then topped with toppings of your choice. I went for the strawberry, whipped cream, and chocolate again. It was gone far too quickly though, and I almost wanted another one if they weren't so terrible for me. I did however, indulge in something of almost equal standards as the waffle.... Belgium Chocolate. Ally and I found a place called the Belgium Chocolatier and couldn't resist... Maggie was already making her way through her Chocolate covered strawberries ;) I picked out 7 of the best sounding gourmet chocolate truffles and left a very happy girl. We walked up to some steps that overlooked the city and you can see the steeple of the Grand Place on the sky line. It was there that we sat to eat our chocolate and talk about the exciting places we have yet to discover. Our trip that we had spent so long planning was finally becoming all to real to us now. It was a bit amazing that we were actually spending three weeks literally back packing across Europe. It was surreal.

Then we noticed that the lights on the steeple at Grand Place was changing colors. We ran down there to get some pictures, and as we did it turned into a light show in the plaza....

We spent a while sitting there in the square watching the light show and finalizing our spontaneous idea of taking a day trip to Bruges in the morning. Again, we had no idea what it was all about but it sounded like a really pretty town and heard good things about it from one of our roommates, and some random family I met in the middle of the square.

So there it is, after two days in Brussels, two waffles, and 7 chocolate truffles later I was starting to fall in love with this city... even though it ate my camera :(