We just got back from our weekend trip to Belgium, and we had such a good time. Our first stop was Brussels. We didn’t really know what to expect, but it was definitely a cool city. Some parts have an old European vibe while others feel and look like New York City.
We really weren’t sure what there was to see in Brussels except the famous landmark statue, Manneken Pis, so we made sure to get a picture of us in front of that.
The Belgians even dress the statue up for special occasions. There is also a statue of a peeing girl and a peeing dog. After we saw that statue we were thirsty so we decided to head over to Le Roy’s pub in the Grand Place and get one of those fine Belgian beers.
The whole town of Brussels smells like fine chocolate and warm sugary waffles. We couldn’t walk 20 feet without finding another chocolate or waffle shop. I am pretty sure that we were in 5 chocolate shops in the first 30 minutes of getting there.
Once we had all the chocolate that we could handle, we took a short drive over to Brugge. There were probably even more chocolate shops in Brugge than there were in Brussels. We managed to find a place called ‘Bar Choc’ that offered 44 different kinds of hot chocolate. I had one with marshmallows, and Marissa had a dark chocolate one (obviously).
We also got a little shot of water, a small cup of pudding and some sugar cubes to go with our hot chocolate. I’m still not quite sure what all that stuff was for.
After we finished with the hot chocolate we went on a brewery tour of the only brewery that exists in Brugge.
Our tour guide Inge told us that these fermentation containers needed to be cleaned thoroughly, but the quality control experts that were supposed to clean them developed too much of a belly to fit inside. So they needed to hire 16 year old boys to climb in and clean them. Because of all the alcohol fumes they had to whistle while they were inside the vats cleaning (is that where whistle while you work came from?) so that once they passed out from the fumes someone could pull them out.
In between all of the beer drinking and chocolate eating, we managed to squeeze in a boat tour of the canals and a climb up to the top of the Bell Tower.
And no trip to Belgium would be complete without a little shopping.
fun! I like how you got thirsty after seeing the pee fountain! :-P And look at all the chocolate!! How do you get your pics to have that shadow border?!
ReplyDeleteGood to see you're trying out all the beers before I get there Dan, so you'll know exactly which ones to recommend by the time I get there. :)
ReplyDeletewhat a cool blog, how many get to blog about living in germany. we just think erie is great!! right staci?
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to see you guys are having so much fun! You have been there for what, a few months, and you already traveling all over the place. That is so great!! I love the last two pictures. Did you end up trying waffles in either place? That was one of my favorite parts of Belgium. :)
ReplyDeleteWe had a waffle in Brussels topped with bananas and chocolate. It was delicious! Did you see our pictures on facebook?
ReplyDeleteErie is pretty cool. I will compare once we visit Germany! :-P
ReplyDelete