The French part of Belgium: Brussels

La Grand Place

view of Brussels from the top of the parking garage

Manneken Pis

Leon de Bruxelles

Marine and some street art

Alex and Marine

People watching at the street market

MAKING CHOCOLATE AT THE CHOCOLATE MUSEUM!

Atomium

Kwak beer

Light show in La Grand Place

When we arrived in Brussels, Alex and I met up with my friend Marine (she is French, but living in Germany, so she was only a short bus ride from Brussels). We first went to one of the most famous sites in Brussels, La Grand Place square, which is a UNESCO site famous for its architecture. Brussels was so crowded compared to the other cities we had visited. We went up to the top of this parking garage to get a view of the city before heading to another famous monument in Brussels, Manneken Pis. It is a statue of a little boy peeing. The city dresses him up frequently in little outfits. He was dressed up this time in a sweatsuit. He was a lot smaller than I thought he would be!!! We went to eat at Léon de Bruxelles which was recommended by my book as places to go before you die. It is famous for its mussels and fries. Although I am not a big mussels fan, I decided to order it anyway since they are so famous there. For me, they tasted just like any other mussels, and I thought the fries that we had in Bruges for the fry war were better, but oh well. It was a fun atmosphere. We walked through some parks , passed by some riot police, and ate some waffles. After a leisurely day, we went to find our hotel. What could have been a normal “finding our hotel” experience was way more than we expected. Marine had booked a cheap hotel online, and it was still relatively early, maybe around 6 p.m., but it was dark out. Turns out that our hotel was in the middle of the Red Light District. We walked along streets and more streets filled with all types of girls ready to let you in if you had money. We were feeling extremely out of place with our suitcases and maps wandering along, but the streets just kept coming! We were almost ready to give up on the hotel when we arrived in the black district of the red light district, and around the corner was our hotel. We decided to stay in the hotel for the night just to be safe and especially since we were so tired anyway. The next day we went to eat in the outside market and had kebabs and people watched. We went ot the Chocolate Museum where the cutest old man showed us how he made chocolate and we got free fresh samples! Yay! We then went to see the Atomium which is a major symbol of Belgium, and then to the Delirium pub where they have over 2000 beers. I had a beer called Kwak, which was served in a funky glass and I really enjoyed it. After some beers, we went for a walk towards the station to drop off Marine but saw an awesome light show in La Grand Place on our way which was fun and Christmasy. Overall, I enjoyed the Dutch part of Belgium more, but Brussels (in the French part of the country) was still worth a visit. I seriously think that if I was not American, I should have been born a Dutch Belgium. The people were just so nice and I loved the atmosphere of the country. Everyone should visit Belgium!!! It was definitely one of my favorite countries I have been to!