Brussels

From Brugge, we caught the train to Brussels after a very long jog to make it on time. We stayed with Sheena's college friend Ellyn who has been living there for the past couple of years. We headed out with Ellyn and two of her expat friends to grab some of those famous Belgian beers. On our way to the bar, we stopped at Grand Place to see it lit up at night. It was so breathtaking!

 Then took us to a famous bar called Delirium which is also a very popular beer brand. We managed to snag a table and enjoyed some beers (for them) and a very delicious cherry lambic (or two).

  

The next day, Ellyn took us on a great tour of the city. We walked by the Royal Palace which looked so lovely. Ellyn told us that Brussels doesn't usually look this nice so I'm glad it put on such a good show when we were there!

We stumbled upon this sort of block party where lots of people were enjoying the nice weather. I'm still not sure what it was for but I got a free balloon so I was happy :)

  

Then we walked over to this really lovely church (that I forgot the name of) which was across the street from a beautiful garden. We were there at the perfect time of year to see all of the tulips in bloom! If you go there, do not try to get close to the flowers to take a photo. They had a cop standing there yelling at people to get off the grass...

After we saw some culture, we headed over to some chocolate shops. You hear that Belgian chocolate is some of the best in the world but it probably isn't true, right? WRONG. We got a couple pieces at four different shops for some variety. Let me tell you. It was the best chocolate I've ever had. Some places had very traditional flavors and other had very unique ones. They were all amazing. 

  

After the chocolate, the only logical next step was waffles. I'm not a huge fan of them but these are unlike any old American waffle. It isn't as sweet of batter (in my opinion) which allows you to pile on the toppings. I tried to eat the one below alone and lost the battle. According to Ellyn we had to eat our waffles in front of Manequin Pis. It is exactly as it sounds; a statue of a little boy peeing. The people of Brussels love this little guy though. He even has costumes that get put on him during different parts of the year... Hilarious.

  

  

We headed back over by Grand Plas and had some lunch some drinks. It was such a lovely day and a great city!