Brussels, Belgium

with such an early flight, we reached Brussels ard 9.45am. this is where we start feeling the language barrier, almost everything is in French or Dutch. we only make things/directions out from the little diagram beside d words.

anyway, after 45min of waiting for our luggage, we head for the bus station, following instructions given by our host in Brussels, Bertrand. we need to change to a tram at one of d stops and we had to ask for directions. she started to direct us where to go and which directions to take for the tram, in French and at d same time with lotsa pointing and signing! we didnt understand what she was saying but we understood her directions. it was a rather funny sight i have to say!

on tram in Brussels

Graffiti ads along tram route

we managed to follow d lady's instructions and reached our destination without much trouble. after a short rest at our host's nice home on the 4th floor, we took a tram just to see a bit of d town. we ended up near the Atomium! nice surprise! This Eiffel Tower of Belgium apparently went thru some major cleanup and is now shiny n Bright!

Atomium behind me

we tried to have an early night but we werent very sucessful at all! we spent the night cooking n chatting with our host over dinner.

Brussels' couch, in a spare room at Bertrand's home

Day 10

d weather wasnt much better than yesterday but we started on our walking tour anyway. we walked thru the 'posh' street where all d big brands are (obviously we didnt do any shopping there!). our 1st stop is Palais de Justice. d building is HUGE n really old n wasnt maintained. so it wasnt very nice. but d building was on a higher ground n we managed to get a good view of Brussels city from d back of d building.

we then took a long walk to the Royal Palais de Belgium. apparantly there's 2 palaces, 1 is in d city and d other just outside. or cos we werent allowed in to neither of them so we only took photos outside it.

Royal Palace behind me

we went into the Brussels Park across d palace n had ice cream there! yes we were freezing but eating ice cream! it was cool! d ice cream doesnt melts easily cos of d weather so u can really enjoy it slowly!! there are many statues in d park but none of them were well maintained. some were covered with algae n other slime. d fountains were either dried or really dirty. so it was quite a pity that the beautiful park was not very pretty.

on our way to d Grand Place/ Grote Markt, we pass by this nice little garden Place du Petit Sablon where there's lotsa statues of important people who helps bring prosperity to Brussels. what i cant understand is that ALL d statues has huge calf muscles! every single one of them!

Hotel De Ville at Grote Markt, Brussels in daylight

we walked thru the shopping areas where we had a late lunch... fries! our host had told us earlier that d fries here are excellent n we must really try it! so we did that. they were indeed nice! more chunky n tasty n they dont turn soggy when they're cold! yum!!! after lunch, we actually visited some chocolate shops and of cos we have to buy some chocolate... how can i walked into a Belgian Chocolate shop without buying chocolate!??!?!?? we went into 3 stores n bought something from each shop (all were dark chocolate, my fave!!!). we decided to stop entering chocolate shops cos we knew we will be tempted to buy more...

just going to these few places in d city already took us like 3-4 hrs! the city is not as small as our host told us!! we decided to wait for nightfall so we can see d Grand Place/Grote Markt at night with all d lights. we picked a not so crowded restaurant just behind the main square and ordered mussels. a huge pot was served shortly, with fries (a little toooo much fries in 4 hours). it was really nice to have a piping hot pot of mussels in a cold weather like this! d mussels were really good n fresh and we cleaned d pot out without much effort! guess what we have for dessert?...... yes! waffles!! i ordered 1 with chocolate sauce... very very yummy but a tad bit overloaded with sugar.. ahahahah...

Mussels dinner!

by d time d sun went down around 9pm, i was pretty happy cos i think i won't be able to stuff myself anymore than i did! saw d nicely lit Grand Place/Grote Markt. it was very very beautiful indeed! we were clicking our cameras away like there's no tomorrow! i think we might have taken tooo many... hahah...

Hotel De Ville at Grote Markt at night

me at Grote Markt/ Grand Place

we walked to the infamous monument of Belgium which is very nearby. it is a very small statue actually... lotsa tourist were exclaiming about how small it is! of cos as a tourist, i need to take a photo of it...

Mannekan Pis

we headed home after that... it's been a fruitful day in terms of camera and food! hehehe......

written by  wangyng on April 4, 2008 from Brussels, Belgium
from the travel blog: Hello Europe!!
tagged Brussels and Belgium
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