Belgium

Location: Brussels, Belgium

Travel Time: June 17-18, 2014

After visiting Prague, we took an overnight train to Belgium. Since we had been walking around all day, both of us definitely needed a shower. Since we had reserved for first class, we planned on using the shower on the train. However, to our surprise, the shower was on a separate train car that was going to detach itself within one hour. We had to be quick! Once we were both showered and cleaned up, we were able to relax. We anticipated having an overnight sleeping car. That didn’t quite work out. We were informed that our original train had been in a collision on its way to Amsterdam. We were told we would still make it on time to Belgium, however, there would be no bunk beds to sleep in. Only the standard seats. It was complete chaos! People were so upset not having a place to sleep. Fortunately, Tj and I were able to find seats that reclined. So that was nice. But of course, there was a gentleman who was snoring incredibly loud, so it was impossible to get a good nights rest.

Tj trying to get some sleep on our overnight train.

Next thing we knew, we had arrived in Belgium. We only had one full day in beautiful Brussels so even though we were low on sleep, we had no intention on wasting it! With our backpacks secured at the Brussels train station, we were on our way to explore. The first thing we did was stop at a bike shop right outside the train station to rent bicycles. We felt this would be the most convenient form of transportation since Brussels is very ‘bicycle-friendly’ and the weather was perfect. Our next stop was breakfast; Belgian Waffles! They were fantastic. It seriously felt like dessert for breakfast. We then rode off to take in some of the beautiful Brussels architecture. While riding around, we stumbled upon the Mannaken-Pis statue (http://www.brussels.be/artdet.cfm/4328). He definitely looked a lot larger in photos. There were so many people gathered around to take a photo of the iconic European figure.

Enjoying Belgian waffles.

Tj getting a picture with the famous Manneken Pis statue.

I found that Brussels was very easy to navigate. We had a map that listed where all the main attractions were and with the bicycles we could circle the entire city within a short period of time. It also helped that the train station was close by. One of the sights listed on the map was the top of a parking garage where you could get an awesome panoramic view of the city. We continued our tour of the city by stopping for some traditional Belgian Chocolate and Belgian Fries. And of course, it was mandatory that we had mussels in Brussels.

Enjoying Mussels in Brussels.

Looking back, it definitely seems as if Brussels was more of a food tour than anything. But hey, if you have good food then ‘let them eat (cake)!’ I would definitely love to return to Brussels since our time there was so short. Plus, I would love to visit other parts of Belgium, primarily Bruges since I have heard so many good things about it. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in Brussels. Now, off to meet our dear friends in Berlin!

For the full album, please ‘click’ on the link below: