Belgium - Brussels, Bruges

3rd October 2014

So our 10 days of travel begins!!!

I took a 5-hr train to Brussels Main station, and planned to meet Lc there since he went by plane. I had to transfer 2 times, and my second train arrived late by 20 minutes, at Brussels North, and I ran around like a crazy woman to find the earliest train to get to Brussels Main. I missed a few and arrived at Brussels Main almost 40 minutes later than planned. I immediately went to the platform where I was supposed to be at to look for lc but I couldn't find him. And I was worried sick.

I went up to the main area and I was wondering if I should go and look for dw, jy and tj first since they arrived in the morning and were meeting us at the apartment at 6.30pm. After walking around a while, I suddenly caught a glimpse of lc walking down the stairs and he looked so sad and worried as well. And I just ran up to him and hugged him and we both started crying :')

We met up with three of them at the apartment. And guess what? Dw said that her entire handbag got stolen at the train station D: OMG that was really unlucky... She lost cash, DSLR and her passport!! So instead of touring the city like they were supposed to, they went to the Singapore Embassy. Sigh :/ Thieves are so immoral. I mean if they just take cash, fine, but passport?? Seriously?

We had dinner right below our apartment, which was super strategically located at the city centre, where we could find loads of bars, restaurants, etc. We shared 2 pots of mussels (in white wine and beer respectively), and a big seafood platter, costing 18€ per person. The mussels were quite different from expected, as we though that the sauce would be thick and creamy. Instead, it was pretty clear and watery!

After dinner we found the Grand Place!

Along the way, there were also a lot of shops selling chocolates and delicious-looking dessert such as these:

After a good walk, we went back, chatted, planned the itinerary for the next day, and headed to bed!! Yay!

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4th October 2014

We grabbed breakfast at a random cafe, and it was no good. We joined a free 2-hour walking tour with the Sandeman guide and it was great!! You could book the tour online, but I think most people don't book it and just gather around the Grand Place at 11am. The guide was really energetic and knowledgeable and interesting, although I still lost my attention towards the later half because I was starving. Haha.

That is the famous Manneken Pis - the pissing boy. You've probably heard some sort of a story about this little guy, though nobody knows which is the real one. The statue is really mini, like maybe 50cm tall? And the city hires a tailor just to make costumes for this boy, who may change his outfit more than once a day. I wonder who changes his outfit for him...

I like the area around this St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral (Cathedrale St-Michel et Ste-Gudule).

This is the Royal Palace of Brussels - official palace of the King and Queen of the Belgians. Right opposite of it is the Place Royale - a historic square. I was quite confused by the names. Oh wells.

Royal Palace of Brussels

Place Royale

Mont Des Art (French), or Kunstberg (Dutch), is the elevated area where you could get a view of the Brussels city. It's a nice place to be in the afternoon.

When the tour was finally over, I could finally find a place to tame my stomach :/ We found this great place with steaks, ribs, burgers, etc. And of course, I had ribs!!! And it was so huge and tasted so good!! Sadly, I don't remember where or how much it was, but I think it was about 16€. Pretty decently priced.

We landed in the shopping district after lunch, and tj wanted to take a look at his favourite AF, so we headed into its usual dark and mysterious storefront... Later, we found some of the famous chocolate shops, such as Godiva and Pierre Marcolini.

I didn't buy any chocolates, because the only one I wanted to try was the chocolate truffle, but it only came in big boxes of more than 10, and that was way too much for me. So I had a macaron, the Pierre Marcolini flavour, and it was quite nice I would say! The chocolate was very rich, smooth, and not too sweet. It was not very expensive as well. About the same price as (or even cheaper than) a branded macaron in Singapore.

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5th October 2014

We went on a day trip to Bruges, or Brugge (Dutch)! I'd heard a lot about it from everyone. It was merely 1 hour away from Brussels by train, and we got the Go Pass 10 from the train station for about 50€, meaning 10€ each for a return trip. It was the best deal we could get. A student or weekend ticket was about 15€ for round trip, and a regular round trip would cost about 24€.

The centre (market place) of Bruges is not too far from the train station. Just keep walking to the North (slightly to the East), and you will find it! Bruges, like what tj said, feels a little like Amsterdam. A lot of canals, but slightly different architectural style.

There are a few shopping streets along the way. A lot of cafes where you could get a cup of coffee, and of course ice creams and waffles!

The market place was quite crowded and busy! You would see horse wagons on the streets, and remember to duck if they're coming your way because the horses didn't seem to care about humans on the streets :P

Bruges is really a nice place to spend a Saturday afternoon, strolling, enjoying the sunny yet breezy weather, sitting at the sidewalk with a cup of coffee, and getting a queer sense of calmness despite the world moving so rapidly around you.

Liege Waffle

Brussels Waffle

Not forgetting that we got the best waffle we'd ever had. Thought I am no expert, the first is a liege waffle, which is oval in shape, thicker, sweeter, and more chewy. The second one is what they call a Brussels waffle, which is thinner, lighter, and crispier. Find out more here. I personally really loved the liege waffle, because it had this layer of caramelised sugar which gave it a really fragrant and sweet taste (even though I am not a big fan of sweet stuff), quite different from what we usually have in Singapore. The dough kind of melts in your mouth as you slowly chew it, and it just feels so heavenly.

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6th October 2014

The rush to the airport in the morning wasn't quite what we expected, and we were so worried that dw couldn't catch her flight, or get rejected from entry into the UK since she lost her passport, but everything turned out well so thank God!

The trip ended so quickly D: It was really fun to travel with two of my oldest and best friends! Really hope we could travel together with cc and cp in the near future :)