Postcards from Kristen: Trip 16: Brussels and Bruges, Belgium

Trip date: January 13-15, 2012

Belgium has 2 offical languages, Dutch (huh?) and French (hurray!). Our trip took up from the capital - Brussels to a quaint medieval Bruges, the same Bruges as the one featured in the film In Bruges.

All in Attendance: Mohammad, Jason, Bikram, Carmen, Kristen

We slept in the Geneva Airport on Thursday after using our gleis7 train pass to train down for free. We slept in an out of the way hallway near a parkade in sleeping bags that we brought. Overall comfort was at a 4/10 (which isn't too bad when you factor in that we only needed to sleep 5 hours). We then woke up super early and caught our flight to Brussels Airport.

From the airport, we took the very cheap bus towards the city center. A big thumbs down to getting caught in Brussels' rush hour traffic. During the ride, we caught a glimpse of the EU Parliament. Finally, after an hour, we got off the bus at an arbitrary stop and then went to the nearest train station to take us to the central train station of Brussels'.

Finally, a European city with a less than perfect transit system. Trains here are actually late, as in a real 10+ minutes late. We got off at the central station and sought out a waffle shop for our first taste of some Belgium waffles.

Yum Yum Yum Yum. They did not fail to disappoint. They taste as good as you hope. Honestly, the best kind of waffles are the plain ones (usually 1 euro in cost!). Each waffle has a thin layer of sugar and it is delicious without all the whipped cream, fruit topping and chocolate, custard etc etc etc.

After a quick check in at our hostel - 2GO4 Quality Hostel (a steep 19 euros/ a night), we went to check out the overwhelming beauty of Brussels' Grand Place-Grote Markt. Every 2 years, they have a huge flower carpet occupying the square. We saw evidence of this in many many many postcards pictures. However, during our windy winter visit, there were no flowers to be seen but a curious amount of horse droppings instead. This square really does condense an absurd amount of architectural beauty in one area. Where as Venice's Piazza San Marco is a work of classical elegant beauty, the Grand Place-Grote Markt is a more Gothic/Baroque elaborate beauty. In the plaza are the town hall along with several museums and shops.

We went to see the Manneken Pis - a very small statue of a peeing boy (occasionally dressed up in a costume) which was very nearby to the square. I have no idea how Brussels citizens feel with this statue being an iconic symbol of their town but I guess sometimes you have to be able to laugh at yourself. It's curiously here, near the statue, that we found the cheapest (1 euro) waffles in Brussels. After wandering the streets, we got some Belgium french fries (which are fried in beef grease) and they were heart attack delicious.

After, we went to the comic book museum which I found just okay. Knowledge of the French language is a must if you visit since a lot of the exhibits and displays are in French.

Then after a quick rest at our hostel and wrestling with bed sheets and blanket covers, we split ways and Jason and I went to see the Dali exhibit that was happening at a museum in the Grand Place. Well worth the small fee. After we went galloping around south of the Grand Place, looking at the quaint streets and large walls of street art. Brussels' is very big on comic strips and street art so there's a lot of murals around. In fact, our free city map had a lot of places marked to view these murals.

We met up with everyone again and went to a restaurant and I got a pot full of mussels to eat. It doesn't get anymore touristy than 'Mussels in Brussels' but sometimes that's what you want and need.

The next day, we took the metro to go to see the Atomium, a giant Iron crystal built for the 1958 World's Fair. Jason and I were satisfied with a quick glance and few photos so as the rest of the group entered inside of it, we instead went to check out the flea market and more comic strip walls. The flea market sells everything and anything in one big unorganized and slightly dirty heap. Fancy Swiss knives, photos of people you don't know, old letters, antique skates, various buttons.

We met up and then took the train to Bruges (Dutch speaking). We had prebought tickets online which made them considerably less expensive (about half price). Bruges is a very charming little town. We did little more than sight see here. We bought some very affordable Belgium chocolate, saw the Belfry tower, saw the windmills (if you see one of them, you've seen all of them - they are all identical), went to a drum and bass show, took a long walk through the parks (I even took an early morning run which was really lovely). We stayed at St Christopher's Inn-Bauhaus Hostel for 16 euros a night. It was decently nice but a bit far from the center. Free breakfast of hard boiled eggs, fancy croissants and custard buns are always a plus.