We finally made it to Brussels, our first stop on our journey! We were welcomed as we exited the Eurostar by 4 very large armored military vehicles making it known that everything was very protected. It took us a little bit of time to figure out which train to get on. We even wandered to the wrong part of the station and people started talking to us in French as if we knew something. All of this while we wandered around aimlessly in search of our train. But we found a place to ask someone and he pointed us in the right direction. It wasn’t a long trip and we were checking into our first hotel and experienced the tiny elevators in Europe, they really aren’t meant for big groups of people. So we got to our room and put our stuff down and even though the bed was very inviting, we were exhausted, we were set to do some exploring.
We went right to Grand Place, an incredible square with some amazing architecture. I don’t really know how to describe it other than that it took my breath away. As we first walked into there I really could not believe how amazing it is. Just a spectacular sight of old buildings built in a style you just don’t see in the US. Of course lining this square was the chocolate shops (and for some reason a starbucks…they are everywhere). Yummy! The best way to celebrate my wife’s birthday was with chocolate, waffles and some belgian beer, we got all 3. All of it was just delicious. Going to a restaurant was a very different experience though. It was definitely a more relaxed place and the waiter kind of ignored you unless you called for him. It was weird not seeing a tip line on the bill as well.
After dinner we got some aforementioned waffles from a little shop and they were so delicious. I have had a lot of waffles in my day and these were something completely different. They were sweet but not too sweet and just the perfect amount of fluffy and crispy. Man they were awesome!
Brussels really was a fun quick stop. Also we never felt unsafe in Brussels even with the terrorists attacks having happened so recently. I’m sure the many armed police and military walking around everywhere helped with that. But it was a great first night celebrating my wife and by the end of walking around and enjoying the sites and delectables, it was time to head off to bed. We had done it, stayed up all day and we were ready for a good nights sleep, cause in the morning the next adventure begins.
Travel Tales From BB-8 