It started with a 5 hour bus ride from Paris to Lille and then a short ways later to Brussels. I must say, the bus ride to and from the city were definitely a highlight of the long weekend. The countryside in the North of France and Belgium were beautiful! I've been stuck in a city for too long. The greens were much more vibrant, the sky was bluer, and the horses and cows were so cute grazing in their fields.
It started with a 5 hour bus ride from Paris to Lille and then a short ways later to Brussels. I must say, the bus ride to and from the city were definitely a highlight of the long weekend. The countryside in the North of France and Belgium were beautiful! I've been stuck in a city for too long. The greens were much more vibrant, the sky was bluer, and the horses and cows were so cute grazing in their fields.
It's like 2 feet tall people.
My favorite part of the scenery, though, was seeing the stark contrasts of "old" and "new" literally situated next to each other. In a huge green field of crops, there would be a traditional red brick farmhouse with its pointed roof and just next to it would be a huge manufacturing plant or warehouse of some kind. Even as we moved closer to a little city, the modern houses would be next to the old farm houses, one right after the other, like Europe couldn't quite make up it's mind on whether to move forward in time or keep it's roots planted in the past. And that is exactly what Brussels is like.
Old mixed in with the new. It's a "mash-up" city. Not one I particularly loved, but still fun for a weekend. I've never been somewhere where the term "melting pot" was so applicable. The roads were all cobblestone and down every street you would see ancient buildings and extremely weathered cathedrals sitting next to new apartments or stores. (I mean "new" as in built within the last 50 years. Nothing was actually "new-new". It was quite dirty.) Every nationality could be found. Belgium is such a mixed up country that they don't even have a national language. It's both Flemish and French but everyone knows English. A weird, weird city.
The weather held up for Emily and I; overcast on Saturday and sunny on Sunday. (haha. Sunny...on "Sun"day.) Any how.... The architecture was awesome, though. Gothic styled buildings really differentiate Brussels from any other city. And Manneken Pis. It's a 2-foot tall statue of a boy peeing out water. Apparently, it originated as a water fountain because the Belgians have a funny sense of humor, and then it just evolved into this famous spectacle. Gotta admit, it was pretty funny.
Saturday night I arrived at the (super sketchy) train station in Brussels called Gare du Midi Zuidstation. I then attempted my 40 minute walk to my Couch Surfing host's flat in the Ixelles district. I got super lost. I had no phone service. But I made do! I walked from bus stop to bus stop looking at each of the maps and aiming/trying to aim in the right direction. After asking some locals where the heck I was going and making friends with Canadians who had data on their phones, I made it. Phew! Plus, haing stayed 50 ft from the city's best fry place, I had to get fries that night. Frit Flagey with it's plethora of homemade sauces basically changed my life.
My first time Couch Surfing was awesome! My host's name was Lewis North from England. He has an awesome accent and can play the guitar and sing like nobody's business. He is new to Brussels as he is doing an internship at the Parliament so his tour guiding abilities was basically discovering the city with us. (50% of Brussel's population: Expats.) He lives in a flat/apartment with three other roommates and they had a spare room to share. Emily and I lucked out! Barbara, the owner of the flat, is from France and she was super funny. She shared lot's of good places to explore and things to try. She even lent us a map that revealed where the best place to get 4 euro Chinese food was. It was boooomb Chinese food. Doused that plate in Sriracha and indulged.
Saturday morning I went to Atomium as my first land mark tour. Basically, it is simply what Belgium has to show for the World Fair way back when. A giant atom structure that you can pay to go up in...seen it. Checked that off the list....
Then we walked, Lewis read the map for us, we looked at the buildings, found some authentic Belgian waffles to eat, walked around some more, got another Belgian waffle to eat, went to a chocolate store to stock up on Belgian chocolates, then made our way back to the flat. Earlier that day, we had run into a friend of Lewis' who is also an intern at the Parliament and her friend from Poland was there for the weekend visiting. They. Were. Hilarious. They invited us all out that night and, wanting to see Brussels like the natives, Emily and I were in for the ride!
I can now say I have been to my first bar! And it was in Belgium! Actually, it was more like a restaurant that simply had a bar. Nothing crazy or exciting. It was even candle lit hahahaha. I enjoyed a nice Schweppes Agrum while Emily had a good old fashioned Coca-Cola and my new friends had some specialty fruit wine or whatever. Kinga, the girl visiting from Poland, was hysterical. She was still learning English, although she could speak like 5 other languages, so trying to decipher her stories had us nearly crying from laughing so hard. And whenever Lewis would talk in his killer British accent, she would smile and nod and then say, "I have no idea what you're saying. I can't even understand you!" Anna, Lewis' friend, was also hilarious, although it was probably because Kinga was telling all her embarrassing stories.
"Who cares. I'm Romanian!" "There's so many things to steal."
Two jokes that only would be understood had you been there too. I just want to remember them for my future book :) After we left the bar, we rode the bus back home and hoped Frit Flagey would still be open so we could get more fries. It was! Lewis was by far the most excited. And he wasn't even drunk- he was just excited!
Then Sunday morning, Emily and I went and walked around the outdoor market right outside on Place Flagey and took lot's of pictures. A nice way to wrap up the trip. Then I got on my bus and headed on home to Paris. I must say, I prefer Paris over Brussels by far. The whole city was pretty dirty and super sketchy unless you were on the three touristy streets. The balance of the city was very off. Too random and aside from the Grand Place square, I wasn't too impressed. ALTHOUGH- I was highly impressed with the food. Some amazing food! In fact, I didn't eat a proper meal the entire time I was there, aside from the Chinese food for lunch on Saturday. Basically snacked on waffles and fries instead of having meals.
Anywho, it was a fun weekend. I probably won't go out of my way to visit Brussels again, but at least I can say I've been to Belgium.
In Belgium, people drink a glass of champagne with every meal, including breakfast.
And despite my fatigue, I had to stop by the Grape Festival in Montmartre before the night was over! Straight off the bus, I met Hannah at the top of Paris's only mountain. Thought I was going to die by the time I climbed the 2,0000000000000 stairs to the top. Because of my lack of food intake that day, I made my first Starbucks purchase in France and bought a veggie wrap. Expensive but worth it!
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