Posted by Karbo
On the 12th, we took our last Megabus ride from Paris to Brussels. We may have mentioned it already, but so far we have yet to meet a Megabus driver who is not a grumpus.
After checking into our Airbnb apartment, we went to explore Brussels and it's famed Grand Place, which is its central square. We knew it was beautiful but when we saw it for the first time it still took our breath away. The cool thing is that while the Grand Place is very grand with many beautiful buildings, you can only get to it from narrow, winding lanes that don't allow you to catch a glimpse of the square until you're actually in it.
We also had our first of many waffles during our first night in Brussels.
For our first full day in Brussels, we went on another Sandeman free walking tour where we learned that a lot of the impressive buildings in the Grand Place are guild houses and that each guild tried to out-do the other, which resulted in a row of beautiful buildings. Today, the only guild house that still houses an active guild belongs to the brewers guild (which shows how important beer is to Belgium!).
In order to add some decoration to the many bare walls around the city, Brussels has a 'comic strip trail' that features 30 walls covered with comic strip characters. I have to say I was completely caught off-guard when I found out that the Smurfs are Belgian. I'd grown up watching the Smurfs, or 藍精靈, in Chinese and had always thought of them as Chinese.
We also saw the infamous Manneken Pis (the "peeing boy") fountain sculpture. The sculpture is just as underwhelming as the reviews say and we really don't know how it became so famous. There are souvenirs of this little peeing baby boy everywhere in Brussels!
We had lunch at Fritland, where we had our first Belgian frites experience. Per our tour-guide, French fries got their name because an American G.I. was served some frites by his French-speaking Belgian counterpart. The American assumed that the tasty little fries were French fries when in fact they were, and always have been, Belgian frites!
On the 14th we went to the European Union Parliamentarian, which was basically a very concise and condensed history lesson of the countries of the European Union.
We also devoted a significant part of our time to chocolate-tasting. Along with its waffles, beers, and frites, the Belgians are known for their chocolate and the majority of the lovely chocolatier boutiques in Brussels were more than happy to let us sample as many chocolate delicacies as we wanted. The ones that stood out to us were Elisabeth, Mary, and Dumon. I have to say that Elisabeth was my personal favourite but Dumon is great in that it sells sugar-free (and diabetic-friendly) truffles and chocolates.
For our last day in Belgium we took a day trip out to Bruges. We only knew about Bruges from the movie, In Bruges, which we watched one day in theatres only because we saw that Colin Farrell was in it. We had no idea then that 5 years later we'd actually be in Bruges!
Jason: As Karbo mentioned earlier, Belgium is known for its huge selection of beers. Throughout our short stay here, I managed to sample several different kinds, from popular exports like Leffe and Duvel to local favourites like Trappistes Rochefort and Bruges Zot. My personal favourite is Bruges Zot. It's not as hoppy as most Belgian beers, yet it has more body and flavour than a lager.
Interesting fact: While Stella Artois is considered a "premium" beer in North America, it is known as a low class "wife-beater" beer in Europe. After tasting all the fascinating flavours the other Belgian brews have to offer, I can see why Stella gets a bad rep here.
Interesting fact: While Stella Artois is considered a "premium" beer in North America, it is known as a low class "wife-beater" beer in Europe. After tasting all the fascinating flavours the other Belgian brews have to offer, I can see why Stella gets a bad rep here.