Belgium!

This past weekend I travelled to Brussels in Belgium to meet up again with Bridget and her friend from PC Kylie.  I left Vienna on Thursday at around 11, took a bus to Bratislava, and flew from the Bratislava airport to Brussels!  The drive from Vienna to Bratislava is actually pretty scenic, so I wasn’t too bored on the ride.

I arrived really late on Thursday, so we didn’t have much time to do anything besides eat some dinner and go to bed.  Friday morning we got up, grabbed some breakfast, and hit the road.  We stayed at the Gresham Belson Hotel a little outside the city of Brussels, and had a wonderfully long (note the sarcasm) ride into the center of Brussels.  It really wasn’t that bad though.  When we arrived in the center of Brussels, we met up with another of B’s friends, Jimmy, who is studying abroad in Brussels for the semester.  He was flying out to Spain that day and gave us a quick walking tour of Brussels, showing us a huge amount of the city in the process!!  The rest of the day was spent eating chocolate, drinking beer, walking around, shopping, drinking more beer, eating fries, and eating waffles.  Not too bad.  Friday night, we had dinner and then went to the Cafe Delirium, a really famous bar in Brussels that is known for their beer.  And rightly so, it was DELICIOUS! We met a group of Italians living in Brussels who worked for the European Parliament, and it was so fun talking to them in a collective of all of our languages: English, Italian (Bridget), German (me), Danish (Kylie), and Spanish.  It was a really fun night and day!

A beautiful sunset on the plane to Brussels!

A statue of Brialmont, a military engineer.

This place served INCREDIBLE chocolate!

The main town square - The Grand Place

The Hotel de Ville, or town hall.  This building was an inspiration for the design for the Rathaus in Vienna!

Bridget and I eating deeeelicious chocolate covered strawberries

Belgian Waffles have my heart.

This building is said to be inspired by Viennese architecture... I kiiinda see it.

Me and Bridget sitting outside the Royal Palace

HC!

Mannekin Pis is a small statue/fountain of a boy peeing.  It’s pretty hilarious and an international symbol of Brussels.
I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing.

Some flavored beer - strawberry, peach, and apple.

The AIDS wall in Brussels.

The Atomium.  This was built in 1958 for the World’s Fair in Brussels.  It was originally going to be an upside-down Eiffel Tower, but they decided that an atomic cell was more fitting for the time.

The elevator to the top...

It was kind of cloudy, so we didn’t have a great view, but it was still totally worth it!

A statue of Charles Buls, the former mayor of Brussels

Belgium is also known for its Frites.... FRENCH FRIES <3 Oh how I miss you. 

Bridget and Kylie in Delirium

On Saturday, we took an hour long train ride from Brussels to Bruges.  Bruges is an ADORABLE city full of character and canals and really awesome chocolate and beer.  We got there around 11 and explored the city.  We went to the Church of Our Lady first, where we saw Michelangelo’s sculpture Madonna and Child.  We then walked some more into the central square, and took a ton of photos there.  We also went to a chocolate museum/factory and took a ride in the canal.  It was an awesome little town and so beautiful.  But I’ll let the photos do the talking.

Church of Our Lady

Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child

This is the Provincial Court in The Markt, Bruges’ Market Square

The Belfry

We went to a chocolate museum/factory that had magnificent displays.

He taught us how to make chocolates!

Hello friend... it was nice knowing ya.

The canal ride was AWESOME! We never would have seen half the things we saw if we were only walking!

Coconut beer... served in a coconut!

French Onion Soup YUMYUMYUM!

Croquettes are apparently very famous in Bruges, and ours were delicious!

It was an awesome weekend and we had soooo much fun!