Easter in Brussels
Hey all! How are you all doing? Happy Easter for those who celebrating Easter this past weekend. My friend, Torie, and I went over to Brussels, Belgium for Easter weekend. We had a great time and here are some highlights!
Victory #1: Brussels was the first trip that we planned on our own without any school help and we picked the country and the city and the AirBnB. Torie and I are both planners so we felt personal victories when things went well. The first amazing thing was our AirBnB.
Have you ever met someone that was just so exceptionally interesting and totally put your fun facts to shame? Well that was our AirBNB host, Aude. Aude, has just recently had a career change and has her travels and most recent adventures to share. She knew the area that we were staying in and the touristy areas as well, providing maps and directions of all kinds. Incredibly helpful and great for us planners!
Victory #2: We had to have the infamous Belgian chocolate and while we were heading to the center of town, Grand Place, we ran into one of many Leonidas chocolate stores. Of course we went in and was immediately overwhelmed in all the best ways possible. I asked the expert behind the counter for some help and I have no regrets about that. Chocolate is always a good thing.
Victory #3: Continuing on the famous food trend, we had to get the Belgian waffle. We initially got really excited and purchased a waffle from a waffle van for 2Euro. Little did we know that we made a tourist mistake! We could’ve gotten waffles that were bigger and even tastier for 1Euro. But regardless, I can understand why these waffles are raved about, they are delicious!
Victory #4: Aude, had told us that Belgium unfortunately is not known for their superb food. Aside from beer, mussels, fries and waffles, of course. She encouraged us to try food from different countries as they were popular and all over the place. Torie and I decided that we wanted to try Vietnamese, since she had never had it before. We got super lost and wandered into a random area that definitely did not have Pho but Torie, the map whizz navigated us back to Pho Pho, the Vietnamese restaurant. I in turn, taught her how to use chopsticks!
Romans really like Roman food so we wanted to adventure out and we were excited that Brussels gave us the opportunity to try different foods. It’s the little things!
Victory #5: Everyone told us to go to Bruges, a city north of Brussels. We had some challenges with buying the tickets at the train station because Belgian machines really like you to use either a card or have 30Euro in coins, both of which we didn’t have. However, after some navigating we finally made it to Bruges. It is a fairytale, cobblestone, river, swans, and cute stores in tow. After some semi aimless wandering around, we finally made our way over to the local brewery for a tour. As beer enthusiast, you can only imagine how excited Torie and I were.
The tour detailed the history of the beer and the family behind the beer, ending with a great view of the city on the rooftop of the building.
Victory #6: The last and final victory of many, was our trip to the Sunday flea and food market. I always love going to markets in various countries because goods are affordable and unique. You also get to taste a little bit of the local life. This market proved no different. There was everything from clothing, shoes to full roasted chickens, kitchen supplies, cosmetics, flowers, fruits and vegetables. You could get everything at this market and it was so wonderfully overwhelming.
Torie and I got so excited about the fresh produce that we decided to get a whole crate of strawberries for 5Euro. This is actually a steal compared to both American and Italian prices and they were delicious! Even though together we have both eaten about 50 strawberries and may actually turn into a strawberry, there is still no regrets with this purchase!
Needless to say it was a great trip and I hope one day I will be able to go back to this wonderful city.
I hope you all had a great weekend!
That’s all for now.
-Lindsay