Waffles, and Chocolate, and Beer! Oh My! (and fries!)

My second week of travels took me to Belgium, where I spent 2 days in Bruges and 1 day in Brussels before returning to France. I flew from Lyon into Brussels and then took the train to Bruges, which was only about an hour long trip. Belgium is a pretty tiny country, comparatively speaking. The flight there was uneventful, although I was struck by how relaxed everything was compared to in the US. I mean, the security people smiled at me. Maybe that was just because it was an inter-EU flight, but they were really chill. I was all prepared to show my passport/boarding pass at every possible moment, but I rarely needed them. I only needed the boarding pass to go to the gates (not my passport, or any id for that matter), nothing through security, and then my  passport and boarding pass to get on the plane. I know there is a reason the US does it a certain way, but it was refreshing for people to be a little nicer. 

My 2 days spent in Bruges were amazing!! The city is beautiful, small, and very inviting, even in spite of the cold. Although, considering the North Sea is really close, it was warmer than I expected. Bruges is often called "The Venice of the North" because it is a port city with a series of canals throughout the old city. Because of its access to water, Bruges became a center of trade during the Middle Ages, especially with the Mediterranean and Italy. I would suspect, although I don't know for sure, that this is why spaghetti is a big deal. Every little restaurant served spaghetti, even as an afternoon snack. Now, Bruges is a larger city of about 120,000, but the city center is much smaller, with only about 20,000 residents. I actually read somewhere that at night, there are more tourists in the city center than residents. Bruges is shaped like an egg, and is only about 2 km across and 3 km tall, so walking most of the city is very easy to do.

Bruges is in the Flemish region of Belgium, which means that dominant language is Dutch, specifically a dialect called Flemish. This is the first time that I have traveled to some place where I do not speak the language. It was kind of intimidating, because I hate to be "that tourist," but most people also speak English and Bruges is a tourist city, so they make it easy. On a side note, I really enjoyed listening to the locals speak. Maybe it stems from reading too many fictional Amish books when I was younger (they sometimes speak a form of Dutch), but I really like the Dutch language. And some words are similar enough to English or French that I could catch some things.

The old buildings off the center market area

A lot of my time was spent just walking around the city and observing the old architecture. While only some of the city is still the original buildings from the Middle Ages, they have made an effort to construct or remodel homes in a similar fashion, so almost the entire city center gives an historic vibe. One of the most iconic places in Bruges is the center market, where a belfry still stands and is still used. I climbed all 355 steps to the top and the view of the city was beautiful. I also went to a lace making demonstration. Bruges is famous for its lace and there is still a group of women that get together to make lace almost every day. They do it as a hobby, but it's a part of the lace museum, so you can watch them make lace and gossip in Flemish! It was really cool! I never actually knew how lace was made, just that it was intricate and time consuming, but to watch these women whip through the motions, only to finish a small half-centimeter of lace really made me in awe of the patience needed to do that every day. 

View from the belfry

The belfry in the center market

I also did 2 very touristy, but iconic Bruges tours. The first was of the only brewery still left in Bruges, De Halve Maan Brewery (Half Moon). Parts of the brewery building are still left from the 1500s, but this company has been around since the 1850s and is still owned by the same family. Our tour guide was amazing! He much be in his 60s, maybe 70s, and has worked at the brewery for most of his life, and was very enthusiastic and proud of their product. They should be, because the brewery has won gold medals at competitions around the world, including multiple in Germany. The tour was through the entire brewery, where we got to see how the beer is made now, but also how the building was used historically to make the beer. We got to sample their most famous beer, Brugse Zot, after the tour. Their restaurant actually serves a special unfiltered tap and it was very good. 

The second tour was of the chocolate museum. The museum was not really that big, but demonstrated the history of chocolate, both its cultural importance and its actual production. It included a lot of artifacts from Central and South America, as well as from Europe once chocolate was brought over the Atlantic. There were also recipes for the original hot chocolate drinks. A large part of the museum felt like an advertisement for certain Belgian chocolate companies, but we got to see a demonstration on how they make pralines. All in all, it was a really good visit.

Outside of the beer and the chocolate that I got to try at the museums (and yes, I bought some too, but just a little), I also tried some other iconic Belgian foods, like fries and waffles. Actually the fries were really good, but I've had similar fries in the states. Not at any fast food place, but at a nice restaurant. There were large enough to have a substantial potato taste, but simply fried and lightly seasoned. There was nothing too complicated about them. The waffle was really good. I bought it at the Wednesday market and it was delicious! Nothing but powdered sugar on it, but it was a perfect way to start my morning of sight-seeing. I also tried a Flemish stew that is served over fries. It was really just a kind of beef stew, but it was also really good. All in all, food was a success.

Yah for Belgian Waffles!!

The old town hall in the Grand Market in Brussels. It is still used for the city administration

St. Michael Cathedral. The date of construction and Gothic
architecture makes it similar to Notre Dame in Paris.

Brussels was different. It's not nearly as "postcard-esque" as Bruges. In fact, it was a pretty dirty and nondescript big city. I'm sure there are more, hidden things there for people that live in Brussels, but to visit was not very exciting. There were some really neat places that I visited, like the Cathedral and the Grand Market. I also walked to the European quarter and saw the EU buildings, which was really neat. I also saw Manneken-Pis, the infamous peeing statue. Similar to the Mona Lisa, everyone is always disappointed in how small the actual statue is. It was almost funnier to watch people pose for pictures than see the actual statue.

In this picture, you can see how tiny the statue actually is.
And that Asian guy kept doing ridiculous poses for pictures.
It was really hard to not laugh out loud at him.

A copy of Manneken-Pis in the chocolate museum.
Yes, that is a chocolate fountain.

The neat thing I did discover about Brussels is that it really is the capitol of Europe. I heard more different languages and accents here than anywhere else. There was English in English, Irish, American, Middle Eastern, and Indian accents. French I couldn't understand and French I could understand (I'm going to be confident in my French skills here and say it wasn't me, but them speaking a Belgian dialect). There was also German, and I'm sure multiple kinds of Dutch (at least Flemish). There were also a staggering number of Asian tourists, although I'm not sure what languages. Then also Italian and Spanish. I spent only about 4 hours walking around Brussels and this is only what I could identify. I'm sure there was plenty more that I couldn't, and I didn't even venture into any immigrant neighborhoods, of which there are numerous. I'm sure some of this is from the EU, but it was still cool to experience all that in only 4 hours.

The Royal Palace in Brussels

While Brussels officially ended my visit to Belgium, one of the most memorable moments was on the flight home. The flight was delayed by about 30 minutes because the fuel trucks were running behind, which was aggravating, and the whole day had been cold, gray, and on the verge of rain. I was exhausted and ready to come home. We finally boarded the plane and took off. Because of the low (and dense) cloud cover, we quickly broke through the clouds into one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. The top of clouds were white and swirled like cinnamon rolls. The sky was vibrant oranges, reds, and purples, which reflected off the top of the dense clouds. It was really the perfect way to end my trip.

From Belgium with love