This past weekend Andy and I packed our bags and went to
Brussels! (For those who don’t know, Andy has been good friend and fellow theater kid at GW
since freshman year and is also studying in London this semester).
The trip there was rough, to say the least. We took Megabus
there on Thursday night, expecting to sleep for most of the 8 hour bus ride.
But Megabus was not so kind to let that happen. We stopped about 2 hours into
the drive to go through customs out of the UK, then stopped again to get on a
ferry for an hour and a half, then back on the bus for 4 hours until we got to
Brussels at 6am. After wandering around a still dark Brussels we found our
hostel and realized we couldn’t check in until 4pm.
We took refuge in a café, where I felt more sick and
exhausted than I have in a long time. Andy was a true blessing and ever so
patient as I attempted to pull myself together. Then we got our second wind and
went on a 3 hour walking tour through the historic part of the city. (Side
note, for anyone traveling in a big city I HIGHLY recommend Sandeman’s tours.
They are free tours in most major cities and are amazing). The tour gave a
fantastic overview of the city – architecture, history, politics, commerce,
food, and the guide’s personal love of Brussels.
After that, we checked into the hostel and met 2 other
travelers – Megan and Tom. Megan is Canadian and was in her 6th week
of backpacking through Europe. Tom is Australian and interning in Haas, and
travels when he can. After a much needed nap, Andy and I met up with them for
dinner. We had so much fun with them! We
were all exchanging stories of traveling, and although we had just met, it kind
of felt like I had known them forever. After dinner in Brussels’ famous tourist
area of seafood, we went to the most famous bar in Belgium – Delirium. The bar
has it’s own “village” with several different bars: the main one has over 2,400
kinds of beer, above that is a bar specializing in microbreweries and international beer (with 300
kinds of beer), a café with 400 kinds of vodka, and a bar with 300 types of
tequila. It was the place to be! The 4 of us sat at a random table with 3 guys
from Moldova and had the best time. Then to end the night we got the famous
Belgium frites (fries).
(yes the name of my drink in the picture is Pink Killer)
The next day, Andy and I started the morning with heavenly
hot chocolate and cappuccinos and wandered through the Cathedral of St.
Michael and St. Gudula, which was absolutely gorgeous. Then we took the metro
up to the famous Atomium (which I still can’t pronounce correctly) and wandered
around there. It was very cool to see the outskirts of the city and we stumbled
upon a park that was picture perfect Autumn. After some chocolate shopping, we
grabbed some dinner and visited the Delirium Vodka bar and…sampled…some
of the products there and ended the night with more frites.
Sunday, Andy got his last waffle and then we went to the
Comic Book Museum, which is actually one of the coolest museums I’ve ever been
to. Belgium is famous for it’s comics (like the Smurfs and Tin Tin) and the
museum showed all of the work and art that goes into creating a comic.
The bus ride back was easier than the first, but still long.
We took the chunnel back, not the ferry. The bus literally drove into a train
car and we rode along.
It was an incredible weekend, an amazing city, and I couldn’t
have asked for a better travel partner ;)
(song credit to Andy)
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