Paris, Je T'aime: The Americans Do Belgium

Hello again! I'm back with a new post from my trip to Belgium, the land of beer, waffles and chocolate! Another fun trip with Mary, we also met up with Meg and Nora and a few other girls from ABS.

Our trip started off well, we took the train from Paris to Brussels then had to figure out the metro system in order to get to our hostel, Stayhere. We had heard great things about this hostel, and they were all true! It's basically a huge apartment that has been converted by its owner into a hostel. Our room had 5 beds, but our two beds were tucked away in a little alcove so we felt like we had a semi-private room.

Awesome breakfast setup

So many spreads!

Once we dropped our bags off, we met up with Meg and Nora at Grand Place for some lunch at the Hard Rock which was delicious as always. Then we decided to just walk around for a few hours and try to get a feel for the city.

Hotel de Ville

It doesn't get much more picturesque

La belle Grande Place

Me, Nora and Meg at the Hard Rock

Nachos + Pulled Pork...delicious

Mannekin Pis!

Beautiful stained glass

Cute escargot cart

The most ubiquitous Belgian chocolate

Wandering around can sometimes lead you to places that strongly resemble Eastern Europe

Wandering around can also lead you to be in a Harlem Shake video!

http://youtu.be/cWfwuVPf45w

Meg and Nora had to check in at their hostel at 4:30, so around 4 Mary and I went back to our hostel to regroup before dinner. At 7 we met back up with Meg and Nora and some other girls that were staying at their hostel from ABS and got dinner at Drug Opera. It was kinda tourist trap-y but it was the only restaurant that could fit 9 people comfortably. One of the main things we wanted to do was go to Delirium, a bar that has 2004 beers, so after dinner we did just that. There are actually 2 bars named Delirium right across from each other and we accidentally went to the wrong one! It was still good though, but I definitely want to go back and go to the real one.

Drug opera group pic

Gotta stop for an after-dinner Belgian waffle!

Delirium!

Virginia license plate for Charles :)

Delirium group pic

Meg and me!

Meg's Delirium Tremens beer

My Tripel Karmelier beer

Our second day was spent in Bruges, a small town outside of Brussels. It's wicked cute- like a town right out of storybook! We got a great lunch at a small restaurant and walked around for a while. While there isn't much to do in Bruges besides gawk at all the beautiful architecture, you can be sure that a town in Brussels has good beer and good chocolate.

In Bruges!

So pretty even on a gloomy day

I wish all towns in the US had beautiful town squares

tryna be artsy

I love a good canal shot....

or two...

or three

and a half

love this picture

we're so cute

Pictures don't do this church justice

Gardens behind the church

The only Michelangelo statue not in Italy (Madonna of Bruges)

We went to two chocolate shops, Dumon and The Chocolate Line. Dumon was really helpful, you just tell someone behind the counter what you like and they'll pick out some chocolates for you. The Chocolate Line is known for outrageous combinations like the bacon truffle and the Atlanta truffle which is Coca-Cola flavored. After we ate our weight in chocolate we decided to cleanse our palate at the only brewery in Bruges, De Halve Maan. We took a tour of the brewery which was really interesting and informative. We got to go to the rooftop for a great view of Bruges and ended the tour with a free beer from their pub!

Hedgehog truffles!!

Fried onion truffles..?

De Halve Maan brewery

Home of Brugse Zot

Rooftop views

Group pic number 3

Even the brewers have a Patron

Group pic number four....

The swan chocolate (pumpkin) was the best!

Yes, that does have tobacco in it

Unfiltered brugse zot beer!

Salut!

When we got back to Brussels that evening, Mary and I had plans to relax and then meet up for dinner and a drink with our friend Matt who also was in Belgium that weekend. While we were waiting for Matt to meet us at our hostel, we met a Canadian named Ray who is teaching English in a small town in France. He was really cool and traveling alone so we invited him to dinner with us! We got a recommendation from the hostel owner for a restaurant that would be open at 10PM on a Sunday and spent a half an hour trying to find it in the snow. It was well worth it though, as they had Somersby, the hard cider you may remember from Amsterdam that is favorite of mine!

Ray, me, Mary and Matt

Our last day in Brussels was Monday and, through a series of unfortunate events, we were unable to meet up with Matt the next morning as we had planned. Mary and I didn't let that stop us, though, and we spent the day traversing the streets and making our way through every chocolate shop in Brussels (almost). We got to see the two palaces, an Yves St. Laurent exhibit, and the Royal Park. We ended our trip the only way we know how: by spending the rest of our money on souvenirs.