What’s not to love about Belgium with its beautiful quaint towns, incredibly friendly people, french fries covered in mayo, waffles drenched in chocolate and, of course, the 500+ varieties of beer? What more could a person ask for?
Our first destination on the train portion of our journey took us to Brussels, Belgium, just a short one and a half hour ride via high speed train from Paris. Arriving in the afternoon last Thursday, we checked into the Queen Anne Hotel, which turned out to be very nice, comfy, and spoiled us with huge breakfasts of bacon and eggs opposed to the standard bread and cheese we’ve been eating everywhere else. We settled in and then set out to orient ourselves with the city. We didn’t have a set plan, and just sort of meandered around soaking in the cobble stoned streets and ornate medieval architecture. Not too long into our walk, the rain started to fall and we decided it was a perfect time to try out the famed beer of Belgium and directed ourselves toward a nearby pub. It was a nice little place, a slightly off the beaten tourist path, and filled with what seemed to be a mostly local crowd. Most Belgians are pretty talented in their linguistic capabilities and usually speak Dutch, French, German and English. Our bartender was no exception, and, in perfect English, helped us pick a few brews from their overwhelming selection. We ended up staying for a few rounds – maybe a bit longer than we should have – but it was a fun afternoon and a good introduction to Belgium beer.
Day two we had a bit more structure to our schedule. We started off by going to Brussels’ most famous square, Grand Place, where, even though we were a little burnt out on museums, we couldn’t resist going to the Belgian Brewer’s Museum. If we were going to drink it, we might as well learn about it right? We then walked a few blocks to perhaps the most popular and strangest tourist site in the city, a fountain of a small boy peeing appropriately named Manneken Pis (Dutch for little man pee). The rest of the day we leisurely spent walking around town, through parks and occasionally snacking on waffles.
The following day, after sleeping in and devouring our final Queen Anne Hotel breakfast feast, we made our way to the train station for the forty-five minute train ride to Bruges in the Northeast of Belgium. Initially, we had planned to stay two nights in Bruges, and continue on to Amsterdam. However, apparently the Belgian train workers weren’t getting paid enough and had planned to go on a one-day strike the day we were to leave Bruges. Beer and waffles won out, and we decided to extend our stay in Bruges and cut out a day in Amsterdam. Luckily, the hotels we had already booked were able to accommodate our change of plans without any trouble.
Our first afternoon was pretty similar to that of Brussels. We walked around a bit, did some future trip planning and found a nice little pub where we watched a local soccer match, and sampled a few more of Belgium’s finest alongside two considerably older male patrons. Accommodations that night were at the St. Christopher’s Bauhaus Hostel, where we had a great double room on the top floor with great views. We knew we were staying at a quality place when we checked-in inside of a bar.
The following day, we moved out of Bauhaus and into Lybeer Hostel, which also turned out to be very nice, despite a little roughness around the edges. They also had the most helpful and friendliest staff that we’ve encountered thus far – by far. We thought the weather in Paris was dreary, but the second day in Bruges was a complete wash out. We tried to take in a few sights in the morning, but decided to cut our losses and use the remainder of the day to do some work online and to do our laundry chores. We did manage to sneak out that evening for a dinner and a nightcap beverage.
Smelling extra fresh, we set out early the following day to take full advantage of the sunny forecast. Biking is a pretty integral part of most Belgian’s lives, and is their main mode of transportation. Several times we saw people pull up on their two-wheeler, put down the kick stand and walk into a bar (watching them leave the bar was a little more entertaining). With that in mind, we decided to partake in the biking fun and rented a pair of bikes for the day. Our first destination was to a little town a few miles East of Bruges called Damme. We followed alongside a canal on the twenty minute or so ride passing windmills and farmland along the way. Feeling pretty good about ourselves, we decided to ambitiously set out in the general direction of the ocean to see if we could catch a glimpse of the coast. An hour and a few wrong turns later, we were excited and a little surprised to arrive at the beach. After a quick walk on the beach and lunch in the town of Heist, we made the trek back to Bruges. Our legs and butts were not very happy, but it was great to see some of the countryside and the coast.
Back in Bruges, we finished off our already action packed day by taking a guided boat tour through the town’s many canals. It was a good chance to see the sights from a different vantage point and to learn a few fun facts too.
The following morning, we woke up before dawn and headed to the train station – destination: The Netherlands.
Posted by haleyandjim 
