The Land of Waffles, Frites and the Pissing Statue…and beer

I'm really behind on my blogs.  We're now in Hamburg, Germany and I'm writing about my time in Brussels, Belgium which was about a week ago.  The lack of free internet in most hostels, the fact that there is only one laptop for both me and Alex, and the fact that we are just tired by the end of the day has really been putting 'blogging' at the bottom of my to do list.  But hopefully, I can keep everyone updated as to how my time was in each country.

So, Belgium; land of waffles, frites (fries), beer, the peeing statue, and prostitution.  Our one hour and thirty minutes train ride from Paris to Brussels turned into an almost half a day fiasco.  We decided not to reserve our train tickets online beforehand (BIG mistake) so when we arrived to the station, we had to stand in line with other backpackers who were trying to reserve seats for their train.  To make matters worse, there was only one ticket agent open.  The manager eventually saw the line growing and opened up more ticket windows, but we ended up waiting about an hour plus.  Our train was supposed to leave around 2:25pm, but due to ‘technical issues’, it left the station at 3:30ish.  We arrived in Brussels a few minutes after 5pm.  Compared to our hotel in Paris, our hostel in Brussels was much nicer; first of all it’s a hostel, so there’s a kitchen.  Which means you can buy your own ingredients for a cheap meal to cook in the kitchen.  It was definitely cleaner; no bed bugs.  It had free wifi, and computers with internet access to use(but since the lobby closed at 11pm, the computers were off limits after that).  We settled into our beds, and did the first thing we needed to do; laundry.  It needed to be done.  Did I mention that we accidentally bought fabric softener in Paris, thinking they were detergents?  Meaning the first time we did our laundry in Paris, they were washed only washed with fabric softener.  Gross.  We found a Laundromat nearby, and with the help of a nice lady who was also doing her laundry, we had clean towels and clothes for our trip.  We also found a ‘Carrefour Express’ next to the Laundromat, where we bought canned chili and instant rice for our cheap dinner in Brussels.  We wandered around town for a little bit and snapped some pictures, but we grew tired and cold so we headed back to the hostel to call it a night.

We started the next day with a mission; to get some good waffles.  The map the hostel provided us listed one café where they served very good waffles and that’s exactly where we went to eat our breakfast.  Located in a very expensive shopping district, this café’s waffles are only 2.90, and apparently it’s one of the best.  And let me tell you how good it was.  I don’t think I’ve ever tasted waffles like this in the states.  It was crunchy, moist, soft, gooey, deliciousness.  Paired with a delicious cup of ‘café crème’, it was a delicious breakfast.

We walked up the hill towards the museum areas, but for some reason we didn’t read the map correctly and totally missed the museums we wanted to see.  Instead, we wandered off to the section of town where they had some Art Nouveau buildings, mostly by Victor Horta.  Our other mission was to try the ‘frites’ in Brussels.  We headed to one of the few remaining original ‘fritekot’ in Brussels; also the located at the center of street prostitution.  As the map had warned, those single girls were not waiting for the bus.  Alex got his fries with Andalouse sauce (it tasted like the sauces they use on Big Macs) and I got mine with simple mayo.  We ate and watched the prostitutes blow kisses to the men walking by.  I enjoyed my fries, although it felt like it was a bit too much mayo for me.

After doing some research back at the hostel, we decided to catch a glimpse of the Horta Museum before it closed for the day.  Unfortunately, they don’t allow cameras inside the museum.  And Alex and I both wished they would’ve allowed it.  The house is beautifully designed, planned and ornamented with Art Nouveau features.  Horta’s play with lights throughout the spaces is just breathtaking.  I just wanted to sit in his staircase forever, just to admire his details. 

We ate dinner at a restaurant where we had gotten a couple of recommendations for.  Alex got ribs and I got ‘sausage and mashed potatoes’ (apparently a Belgium dish)...which became my downfall of the night.  Later that night I was lying in bed, but couldn’t sleep for the life of me.  I had a terrible feeling in my chest (perhaps heartburn?), a huge headache, and nausea.  I never had to make myself ‘throw up’ in my life, so it took a couple of tries of the ‘finger down the throat’ method to purge out all the evilness that was making me feel so sick.  I ended up feeling better, but I think it’s safe to say I won’t be eating that particular dish at that particular restaurant anymore.

Next day, we woke up early and we left for Bruges.  Well technically, we first walked around town, looking for a currency exchange office because we had run of cash.  We needed the cash because we had decided to extend our stay in Brussels by one night, and had to pay for it in cash (it was under 100 Euros so we couldn’t pay with a credit card).  On top of that, we had to check out of our room because we weren’t sure of which room we were getting for our last night.  We ended up getting the same room, so we had to bring our backpacks all the way back to our room.  Mind you, we were in room 302, but we were on the 5^th floor.  So we woke up, packed up, walked around until we found a place where they converted the Dollars into Euros.  Then we took our stuffs back into the same room.  This all took about 2 hours.  But it was also in the morning, so I was very cranky.  Anyways, onto Bruges.  If you've ever been to a pretty town who's sole purpose is tourism, then you'll know what to expect in Bruges.  It reminded me a lot of Kurashiki in Japan.  Pretty buildings and lots of tourists.  We walked around, buying Belgium-ish gifts and snapping pictures of pretty buildings.  The central plaza was dominated by some sort of triathlon registration event, with lots of sponsors and supporters; Alex fell right into place when he saw this.

On our last day in Brussels, we took a visit to the 'peeing statue'.  It was sad to say how underwhelming this was, as it is just a statue of a boy peeing.  But it wasn't dressed up in any costumes, as we had hoped it would be.

We also hit up the Musee Magritte Museum and the Musical Instrument Museum.  Rene Magritte was just a super cool artist and I love his work.  If you like Salvador Dali's work, you'll like Magritte's.  The Musical Instrument Museum is an Art Nouveau building designed up Victor Horta, but the museum itself is really cool.  They give you headphones, and at certain locations in the museum you'll hear the musical composition consisting of the instruments you're viewing.  Pretty neat.