Bruxelles

Monday, March 28 – Bus ride to Brussels (or Bruxelles) – prepare to be in my food dreamland! We got there around 1:00 and started walking to begin our search for the list of food we had to eat in 8 hours :) We walked by this big cathedral (St. Catherine’s Cathedral), which was really pretty, but it was black, like it had been burned or had mold on it or something. Then right around the corner, success #1 – fries! My friend Natalie and I split a huge cone of fries – delicious! Then we started walking to the central station, we saw another pretty church (reminded me of Notre Dame), and down the hill from the church was a really pretty park area with flowers and individual wooden lawn chairs that everyone was laying in, soaking up the sun – it was awesome! We were headed towards the Grand Place, but got sidetracked and went into a number of chocolate shops! Success #2 – Belgium chocolate! Ever shop had free samples or a chocolate fountain!!! (I may need to move to Brussels!!) I bought some of the best chocolate I’ve ever had! :D

We finally made it to the Grand Place. It was the big center/square surrounded by huge gothic buildings – very pretty! Unfortunately we were not there during the right time of the year, all of the post cards had picture of what they called the “flower carpet.” The entire square is covered in flowers! They make designs, ahhh it looked unbelievable! I’ll just have to go back sometime so I can see it in person! Then we went and saw the “Manneken-Pis” – a statue of a little boy peeing….not sure why it is so famous, but we saw it anyways. Went into a store and had some Belgium beer (success #3), delicious!! Dinner time = waffle time! (success #4) I had the waffle with strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate drizzle – sooooo good!!! I really think I might have to move to Brussels for the food! :D

             

We walked back to the Grand Place and saw the drunken American girls that had heckled us early to try to get us to come and sit with them, were still there. So, we went and tried the beer sampler. It had 5 different beers, it was very good! So we sat there for a while and hung out with 2 American girls, 2 Brits, and 2 Australians, it was so much fun!

I loved Brussels!! Mostly for the amazing food – chocolate, waffles, beer, and fries = Marie’s a happy, happy girl! There wasn’t a whole lot to see with the little time we had, but it was very cute and the Grand Place was gorgeous!

Tuesday, March 30 – 3 countries in less than 12 hours! First, we went to the European Parliament (of the EU) in Brussels. It was very nice, very modern. First, we had a lecture, interesting facts: there are 23 different languages represented in the 27 countries of the EU, so everything needs to be translated into all 23 languages! They have 3 people translating/language, and as a result, they use really simple words/terms so something doesn’t get lost in translation. And the only places you are prohibited to take photos are in the security check and in the cafeteria, weird. Then we went into the parliament room/seats where they meet. One of my favorite parts was seeing all of the flags of the countries represented in the EU; they were everywhere! Then bus ride to the next country…