Belgium or Bust

Leaving Amsterdam was a bit of a stressful situation to say the least, although I did finally have a great night’s sleep which I think helped me stay a little less on edge. Driving around that city is a bit of a nightmare because of the bikes and pedestrians but walking to the train station would’ve been annoying with my luggage. The hotel concierge told me that Uber drivers often don’t accept the rides there because it is a short trip and I was canceled on three times before one accepted and picked me up. We took a super roundabout way of getting to the train station, but I had given myself plenty of time, naturally. I had thought my ticket was for the Eurostar and online it had suggested getting there 60-90 minutes early for security and customs so I was planning on 90 in case I had some direction issues in the station finding the correct gate. Luckily, because I had scoped it out yesterday, I knew where to go. Once on the platform, I asked the guys working (who were SUPER nice) where to go because it was just a regular platform and I assumed since going to another county, I had to do customs and security like I did when I took the train from Paris to London last year. I told them I had a Eurostar ticket and they pointed me in that direction, but when I got there, it was closed. I was about to freak TF out and then walked back to the guys who had helped me first and showed them my ticket and it turns out, I am an idiot and I assumed it was Eurostar, but it was just Rail Europe and the platform I was on was correct. I definitely didn’t have to be there that early and my 9:28 train was still over an hour away. However, there was an 8:28 train that they said I could hop on with my ticket. I was a little confused by that, but got on anyway hoping for the best and hoping it stopped at the station I needed. If not, I could just hop on a train to the other or uber to my hotel. I had initially picked this station in Brussels because it was only a five minute walk from my hotel.

Anyway, I got on this earlier train and took a seat. I knew I had a second class ticket, but I saw no directives on the difference between first class and second class so I just sat down where I found a seat. When my ticket was scanned by the conductor I was informed I was sitting in the first class section and had to move or pay 32 euro. Considering this ticket cost about that on its own, me and my luggage did a walk of shame through a couple of cars and arrived in second class where I sat until I arrived at Brussels’ Central station. I purposely chose a hotel close to there so I could just walk with my luggage and not have to Uber again. After walking in a circle once, I did make it to the hotel. One thing I noticed is that this city is HILLY. There’s a lot of inclines all around it. 

Day 1: My hotel room was ready so once I got settled, I grabbed a map (which I couldn’t understand) and headed on my merry way. I needed to cover as much ground as possible today on foot because it was supposed to be the only non-rainy day of my three here. I wanted to get most of the far walking and outdoor things seen and done. Of course I had a list of places and began on my journey. Immediately, I passed the Royal Gallery of Saint Hubert, another beautiful shopping arcade and then arrived at Grand Place. I was blown away by its size and incredible old architecture. It was stunning. I admittingly knew nothing about Brussels before coming and didn’t do a ton of research, so didn’t know what to expect, but this blew me away. I stood there and took it in for a while, but also know I definitely want to go back and snap some pictures when there aren’t as many people around. From there it was the Église Notre Dame du Sablon (a big church), the Palais Royal (which was under construction but as most palaces do, had gorgeous landscaping), Brussels Park (one of many parks I visited that day), and then Mont des Arts outdoor park/garden area. Since it was such a beautiful day out (53 and sunny), so many people were outside eating lunch and just chilling. I also grabbed some chips and a sandwich and ate my lunch out there also, just like a local. 

Walking around for an hour or so already, I can already tell how different Brussels is from Amsterdam. It’s much more like a big city and has way more diversity. Amsterdam was very white and I saw very few POC’s at all and the pace of life there just also seemed way more chill. Brussels has a big-city feel, but on a smaller scale than say, London. There’s big modern buildings, lots of people moving around, but also some old medieval looking architecture sprinkled in, which is always cool to see. 

After I had some food in my belly, I took the long walk out to Cinquantenaire Park. This park had a huge arch and really pretty flowers. It was the prettiest of all the parks I saw today and I probably would have sat there all day; it was just so calming and peaceful. I couldn’t stay though because I wanted to use my sunny day time efficiently so kept moving and headed to the European Parliament (all while passing Park Leopold on the way). When I was walking there, I was just thinking it was the Belgium Parliament, but then soon realized what my sister-in-law had told me before this trip. I had mentioned to her that I was going to Brussels and she was “oh that’s the capital of the European Union.”  I had no idea Europe had a capital, despite knowing the US does. I guess I never thought about it, but this was new information to me, and made this even cooler. It was a huge area and very cool to see. All the flags to all the countries of the European Union were up and the buildings all seemed to all be very new and modern. 

Since I was making great headway on my list, I decided I would hop on the train and go to the Atomium. I had read it was supposed to be super cool to see, but a 40 min train ride. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was so I did some googling and decided I wanted to go. I also knew it isn’t open on Thursday’s so tomorrow was out of the question and I had plans to go to other parts of Belgium Friday. I looked up the train directions, bought my ticket in the machine (so easy) and hopped on. Their system seems so easy and convenient and I’m quite the natural with train systems anywhere. I can’t read a real (or google) map to save my life, but I’m a savant when it comes to a public train system map. It’s a gift, really. 

It was a straight shoot out from where I was and I got off and made my way to the Atomium. Again, I was blown away with its sheer size and structure. Since I had googled it, I knew what it was going to look like, but I still was shocked. It was huge. I used my student ID to buy a discounted ticket (score!) and went up the escalators. There are some floors of information about it (it used to be the site of the World’s Fair so it’s structure makes sense now), some floors with some trippy lights and music, and some floors with panoramic views. Although it was super clear out, unfortunately, the windows were pretty dirty so you couldn’t get a great view. You win some, you lose some. I was there for probably a half hour or so, and then headed out and back on the train to head to the hotel for a bit. For this ride, I had to transfer trains, but again, it was super easy to figure out. 

I came back and relaxed for a little before my final outing of the day, to see the famous “Manneken Pis” statue. It is literally a statue of a little kid peeing. I’m not quite sure why it’s famous, but when I saw the giant crowd around it, I knew I was in the right place. Then I grabbed some Belgium Frites with garlic sauce and walked around, and actually spotted some cool street art as well. 

I haven’t been that hungry this trip, but the smell of the Belgium waffles was tempting me. I decided I would also get one, but then the girl told me their credit card machine was down, so there was my answer. A sign I definitely didn’t also need and could hold off for another night (or morning) to get it. Of course there were like a hundred other places selling basically the same waffles, but like I said, I took that as a sign. I walked around a little more and went back to the hotel again, although not nearly as tired as I was the first two nights so I did go out one more time to sit in a park by the hotel and watch the sunset since it may be the only one I got to see while here with the upcoming forecast. 

Day 2: Today’s rain wasn’t supposed to start until around 8 so I wanted to try to get in a little run before that, which I was successfully able to do, plus there was an absolutely incredible sunrise. I didn’t get to see it all, but the parts I did see were gorge. The sky was bright pink, purple and orange and it made me so happy. I ran through the arcade and to Grand Place again. Of course I wanted a picture of it (and me with it) with no people around.  I got someone to do that and then just decided to see where this run would take me. I ran through Brussels Park, passing the Royal Palace and their Notre Dame church, then to the Palais de Justice, which was under construction (I saw it from a short distance yesterday) and right next to The View ferris wheel which was in Place Poelaert. This had been on my list as a spot to see a good sunset, but I didn’t want to walk that far last night to watch the sunset there so I was glad I got to the spot today. It had a pretty good aerial view of part of the city, but it being cloudy, it was hard to see far in the distance. From there, I was all of a sudden at Mont des Arts again and realized how much of a circle I walked in yesterday before getting the full lay of the land. After that I kind of just went up and down some side streets again, saw some more street art, and the misting of rain began so I headed back to the hotel. 

I hung around there a bit, basically because I was dreading going out in the rain. I had purposely saved the Museum of Natural Sciences for today and didn’t want to do another art museum so had to figure out what else I could do indoors. I figured maybe I’d try to do a tour of the European Parliament if I could. I finally got going and walked to the train station and bought a day pass in case I wanted to ride to a bunch of places today. The museum was about a 10 minute walk, but took me about 20 since I kept getting so turned around and it actually was a tricky route to get there. I used my student ID again to get a discount and was ready to see the largest collection of dinosaur bones in all of Europe. When I was doing my research and saw that it was here, I knew I had to go. I love dinosaurs! In another life I would maybe be an archeologist (or a meteorologist or my real dream job of being a sideline sports reporter). 

The first part of the museum was a lot of rocks and crystals (SNOOZE), then there was a pretty awesome Evolution exhibit, then the dinosaurs. Their evolution exhibit even had a ton of fossils and information of all our ancestors. How people don’t believe in evolution astounds me. They’re the same people who also think the Earth is flat and didn’t get the vaccine. But I digress. <Eyeroll>. They even had specimens at each stage of life from conception (well that’s too small, but you get the idea) to right before birth; kind of like the exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. 

Finally, I hit the dinosaurs and there were a lot of them, and a lot of separate large fossils too. It’s just so cool! I remember my brother and I used to dig in the sandbox at Willow park to see if we would find anything. We’d dig till all that nasty clay got under our fingernails, but alas, we never found any dinosaur bones. Guess they never roamed the great city of Glenview. They didn’t have anything as large as Sue or Maximo at the Field Museum, but they did have this massive set of leg bones from I’m not sure what dinosaur, but it was taller than like two basketball hoops. I was in awe. 

My feet were already wet after this museum, but I was so close to the Parliament that I decided to see if I could do a tour. I had checked online in the morning and today’s date was blocked out, to which I assumed it had reached capacity for visitors, but when I arrived (I figured I’d walk up anyway), it didn’t even look like it was open. Welp. I walked back to the train and decided I would head to a shopping area to walk around a bit. I knew I wouldn’t buy anything since it would cost less at home, but figured if something caught my eye, maybe I would splurge. But that didn’t happen. I walked around the shopping area a bunch, but I really needed to get my wet shoes and socks off. There are few things I hate more than having wet, soggy feet. I walked back to the hotel to take them off and just relax again and see if there was anything else indoors that I really wanted to do or anything else close I could walk to. I also booked my train ticket and did some research for Ghent and Bruges tomorrow. It’s supposed to rain again, but I want to see other parts of this country and these are doable by the commuter train. 

I went back out one more time to find two more peeing statues. I don’t know it is with Brussels and urinating statues, but they love them. It’s legit a symbol. There was one of a girl peeing, “Jeanneke Pis'', and another one of a dog peeing on a hydrant, “Zinneke Pis.” There was a big crowd around the girl and it was pretty comical. It is a little statue of a girl squatting and peeing. Reminds me of myself when I can’t make the walk from one bar to another and have to stop between two cars to go. Or from a tailgate to a game. Or having to get off the train to go because I can’t make it home. I could keep going with this… It’s most definitely hashtag relatable. I wanted to try and get a waffle again, but it had really started raining and I didn’t want a soggy waffle so yet another sign, today was not the day for one. I made my way to the dog statue and it was pouring so I snapped the picture and tried to book it back home. I had now soaked my second pair of shoes and socks. UGGGGHHHHH. I also was hungry and wanted to actually get something more local instead of grabbing and going from a sandwich shop, which is what I have done for literally every meal this trip. I narrowed it down to two different restaurants around here, consulted my dad (I wanted his opinion) and headed back out, this time in my Crocs. I was really looking like some white trash American, but I was not about to soak my last pair of dry shoes. The first place I picked, which is known for its Moules Frites, basically ignored me when I got inside and then another family came in and still ignored me, and then informed all of us (after asking to help them first), they were full. He was a rude ass French man, and they were now not getting my money anyway. I went to the other place I was thinking about, and got right in. It was definitely not a place that was used to customers wearing Crocs, but I was early enough where there weren’t too many other people. I had an absolutely delicious steak tartare and fries and it hit the spot. It was much better than the tartare I had in Paris last spring, and was just so smooth and garlicky. Yum. Then I paid my bill, walked back to the hotel, showered and got in bed, nice and early! The rain really put a snag in my day. It didn’t stop me from doing anything I had planned, but it kept me inside more than I would’ve liked. Such is life. 

Day 3: Today I planned a day trip out to Ghent and Bruges, both in Flanders (outside the city). I was thinking about doing this through a tour, then realized it’s probably something I could do by myself on the commuter train and then have more flexibility with timing and with what I wanted to see and do. (I did this in London too when I planned a trip to Oxford.) Sometimes with tours, you get too much or too little free time to explore and I wanted to do this at my own pace. It’s about an hour train ride out to Bruges from the train station right near my hotel (Brussels Central) and Ghent is on the same line, so I planned to go out to Bruges first, then on the train back, stop at Ghent, then come back. I could stay as long or short as I want. And although rain was forecasted all morning, when I got up, it was out of the forecast and the sky was getting blue. That was such a relief because I did not want to go through the whole day with wet feet. 

In typical me fashion, I got to the train station way too early, not realizing how easy it would be to get to the track. It was easy enough and on the ride out, I watched the changing scenery and took it all in and before I knew it, I was in Bruges. It was a short walk into the city center and I had gotten there so early I got many pics of places with no people which we all know is my favorite thing. I also think the cloudy, chilly morning helped with that. I first walked right to the Main Square, where they were setting up for some kind of carnival. It then hit me it was Good Friday so this was probably an Easter celebration type thing. The Belfry (bell tower) of Bruges and I knew that I wanted to climb that to get an aerial view of the city, but I wanted to get the lay of the land quickly so I could figure out my best plan of attack for the morning. I walked over to Burg Square and saw the gorgeous Basilica of the Holy Blood (again, with no people), and then walked to Rozenhoedkaai because I had read you get great views from there. When I was heading there, I saw the small canals throughout the city and then I rounded the corner to see the big one that goes through. It was beautiful!! Bruges isn’t called the Venice of the North for nothing. (I’d honestly think that would be Amsterdam, but this also makes sense.) I snapped some pictures then walked around some of the side streets to see the shops before it got too crowded. It started raining so I decided to walk back to the Belfry tower museum/climb it to something inside and stay dry and that was a great plan if I do say so myself. There was no line and I walked right in. More perks of being so early. Now let me tell you, I’ve climbed a lot of bell towers in all my European travels and this one had to be one of the narrowest, steepest, and windiest. It was chilly and there were few people going up and down, but I can’t imagine the nightmare it must be in the summer when it’s hot and with way more people. I was sweating going up those 366 stairs and almost had a little claustrophobic panic attack, but made it. When you are in such a darkish tight space and just walking up in circles, it plays with your mind a little. 

When I reached the top, the view was spectacular and there was even a very prominent shelf cloud over the city that was super cool (this is where the amateur meteorologist in me comes out). I checked my weather app and of course it said no rain even though it was raining as I checked. Annoying. I enjoyed my stay up at the top for a bit then made my way back down and by the time I exited, the rain had stopped. For now. 

I walked back toward the canals and followed it over to the Church of Our Lady. I obviously went inside to see it and then it me, I was a nice Jewish girl in a very large famous church on Good Friday. Who would’ve thunk it? I walked over the the Bonifacious bridge to grab a picture as it was also supposed to be cute and minus the annoying fucking girls who wouldn’t stop taking a million glamour shots on it, it was nice. I was getting hungry so today was the day I would get a famous Belgium waffle, but it started raining again en route over there; this time harder than before. I did not want my day to be ruined by wet shoes and socks so I made my way into a small arcade and sat there for about ten minutes before it stopped. Again, the weather app said no rain at that very moment. SMH. Thankfully that was the last of the rain for the day as well. 

I finally grabbed my waffle with strawberries, belgium chocolate, and whipped cream and enjoyed it. Although I am not a waffle person (savory breakfast FTW) or a chocolate person, I had to try this at least once while being here. Belgium is famous for its waffles and its chocolate and I was able to knock out two birds with one stone. It was too much for me to finish, but enough to keep me satiated for a while and now that the rain seemed gone and I had eaten, it was time to take a canal tour ride. The driver was not nearly as nice or informative as the Amsterdam one, but the one cool piece of info that I took away besides that living on the canal is expensive, many homes have a hole at the top of their building and that was because that was the location that carrier pigeons would arrive. Pretty cool to think about!! 

When the ride concluded, I walked around a little more, but it was insanely crowded and was once again glad I had arrived so early. On my way back to the train station, I walked through Minnewater Park to see the Lake of Love and all the greenery. All morning, I had watched my water consumption because I didn’t know what the bathroom situation would be like, but I really needed to go before getting on the train and figured the station would have a public bathroom. Welppp, it cost .50 euro to go and I had no cash and they didn’t take cards. When I went out in Zaan Shanse, they only took cards for the bathroom. The woman basically told me I was shit out of luck, and some man coming out very kindly offered me a 50 cent coin. What a hero. I graciously thanked him, yelled at the girl who tried to cut me in line (she was all up in my personal space the entire time), and then peed. 

I hopped on the train to Ghent and was ready to tackle the second city of the day. Another easy ride to that city, but about a half hour walk to the city center (Korenmarkt). When I got there, I was blown away by the medieval architecture of the churches and buildings and the Lys river that runs through the city. It was very crowded as to be expected, but was easy enough to get around. I walked right over St. Michael’s Bridge to snap some pictures and see that church, then made my way around. I had the Ghent Belfry, Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts), and Saint-Bavo’s Cathedral on the list. Although there were only three major things, I wanted to wander a bit as well. I knew I could get an aerial view from either the bell tower or Gravensteen, but didn’t want to pay for both to do so I decided on Gravensteen so I could also get a history and self-guided tour of the castle. Before going over there, I wanted to walk around a bit. I passed Gravensteen and saw how cool it looked. It was smaller than I expected, but still pretty awesome. Then I stumbled upon this really cool graffiti alley that had all kinds of street art. It was so bright and fun to see and is always something that I love to see, and even more exciting since I didn’t know anything like that existed here. I also walked to the bell tower and the church. Of course I had to walk inside the church and see all the stained glass. Apparently there is a very famous painting there called “Mystic Lamb”, but you had to pay to get in to see it and I just didn’t care all that much, especially since I didn’t know what it was and had never heard of it before.  I bought my ticket (student discount success again), but couldn’t enter for another 45 minutes so I wandered around and got myself a sandwich in the meantime. I walked up the river and around the main square again and before I knew it, it was my turn to enter the castle. I didn’t listen to all the stops on the self-guided tour, but did most of it. The view of the city was incredible and just so beautiful. Inside, there were also a lot of artifacts of swords, guns, metal armor suits, and jousts that were pretty cool. There was also the torture rooms with all kind of creepy things, the basement room where they held prisoners, and the toilets. Of course I found those to be the most interesting because they were basically giant slabs of marble or stone with a hole in it that people sat on to go to the bathroom. It was about five stories up and the hole went right down into a canal/moat around the castle. Imagine being in your home or on a boat and just seeing a giant turd come out of that hole and splash right down into the water. Hilarious. The grounds were pretty cool and to think of what went on there is pretty surreal; just that whole lifestyle. It’s totally another world. 

Gravensteen was my last activity and I was pretty tired as it had been a long, eventful day with quite a bit of travel, plus I had another 30 minute walk back to the train station. I was really proud of myself for planning and navigating this entire day for myself and it had really been a success. Both Bruges and Ghent were nothing I imagined and I was totally impressed with both of them and so so glad I went. 

Once I got back into the city, I just wanted to go rest my legs for a bit. This day had already been my highest step and mileage count and I was feeling it. Plus I had the new Love is Blind episodes to watch. I showered and got in bed to watch them, and was planning to go back out to wander a bit, grab some dinner, and watch the sunset. It was pretty cloudy so it wasn’t a good sunset, so I just got my food and called it a night. It was a great way to end my last day in Belgium and this entire trip overall exceeded my expectations. As always I had such an amazing time traveling and can’t wait to do it again.