Y1-11: Week 18, ISB trip to Brussels!

During ISB (intersemester break), we had a whole week without class or work to do, so Amélie and I decided to go to Brussels.

On Monday the 26^th we got up very early and took a taxi to the station because our train for Paddington left at twenty to six. We slept during the trip and then took the tube to St Pancras. It was the first time I took the Eurostar and the process reminded me of an airport because of the passport and security checks, although they are slightly less strict. The Eurostar is basically a normal train, the only difference I found was the fact that my ears blocked because of the speed and height variations. You don’t really realize you are under the Channel… 

 We arrived via Lille at la Gare du Midi or Zuid Station in Brussels at midday. It was a grey day and didn’t look much different from England, but it was definitely Belgium: the north of Europe styled buildings and French and Dutch everywhere. We took the metro line 4 to Anneessens (2,10 euros one journey, quite expensive!). And then found our way to Madame Chapeau’s, the little loft in Rue du Midi where we stayed the six days. The flat was so pretty, it looked like IKEA! It was also very complete, except for the lack of a microwave and oven, but I guess not everyone expects to cook while there. Also, it was on the fourth floor, endless stairs up an old building with fairly bizarre decoration, but it was a loft, so yeah. Kike, the landlord, was very nice. He spoke both French and Spanish (he was from Venezuela), and he welcomed us into the flat and gave us the keys and all that.

Once in the flat we ate our packed lunch and then rested for a while. There were some flyers and information around the place so we found out where the supermarkets were and went out to Carrefour and Lidl to buy some basic things to cook throughout the week. After leaving the stuff back in the flat, we went out to explore Brussels for the first time. The city is fairly small so you can walk your way around the centre and we were literally across the corner from the Manneken Pis or Peeing Boy, Brussels’ icon. We walked around the Grand Place, the Galleries Saint Hubert, … We also stopped by the information centre in the Town Hall and, of course, ate a waffle. It was the first of the endless amount of waffles we consumed during our stay… Once the sun came down it got cold and we just came back, took a shower, ate a quick dinner, planned the following days and went to bed. We were so tired! 

 On Tuesday, we got up an hour later than we had set the alarm because we were so tired we just decided to keep sleeping. Then we got ready and made some sandwiches for our packed lunch and went sightseeing properly. We left at around midday and spent the day walking and taking pictures: la Bourse; la Monnaie; Rue Neuve, where the shops are- there was literally a twenty-metre queue to get into Primark!; la Place des Martyrs; l’Église de Notre-Dame du Finistère; la Cathedrale de Saint-Gudule; Brussels Park (where we had lunch); le Palais Royal; la Cathedrale de Saint Jacques; la Place du Sablon and the cathedral; the Palais de la Justice – from where we saw a very pretty sight of the city and the towers in the evening sun; Manneken Pis;… Back at the information centre we bought a Brussels Card each to go to the museums the next day. And then we went to Maison Dandoy, which was a tea room recommended by our hosts, to get a waffle. Not for the last time, because the waffles there were so great we just came back over and over: coulis de fruits, jus de citron, glace, chocolat,… Endless toppings, endless joy and endless weight to be gained. After that we went to Gare Centrale to find out where to get the bus to the European Quarter and then walked around Mont des Arts and came back, stopping at some second hand shops and friteries along the way back to the flat. That night we cooked dinner, which took forever because the hob would not work properly. But in the end we managed to cook the chicken and had a proper feast after a long day.

  On Wednesday we woke up early to make the most out of our one-day Brussels Card. It gave us free entry to 30 museums, free transport and some discounts and offers for the day, for 24 euros. We had chosen the museums we wanted to visit the day before, so we just hoped to have enough time as most closed at around five or six. We managed to visit many of them. We started at Mont des Arts and our first museum was BELvue, about the history of Brussels. Then Coudenberg, an ancient palace that is now underground, under the Place Royale. After that we visited some arts museums: Magritte Museum and the Musées des Beaux-Arts where I got to see David’s painting “La Mort de Marat”. Then we went to Grand Place again and looked for Jeanneken Pis, the female version of Manneken Pis, but didn’t succeed. We had lunch next to la Monnaie and then went to the Museum of Chocolate and Cocoa. The best thing? Free chocolate tasting. The bad thing? We missed the chocolate making display three times because we decided to go to Maison Danoy while we waited and took longer than expected. Initially, we were only going to get some hot chocolate, but then we were tempted by the waiter and got ourselves some waffles too. Honestly, that place serves food from heaven. The waffles are perfect and the chocolate… Oh my, the chocolate… It was so good and creamy I will not be able to appreciate normal chocolate again after that. We had the waffles with lemon juice and vainilla ice-cream and the combination with the sweetness of the Gofre de Liège (sweeter than the Bruxelles one) and the chocolate was the perfect combination. Then we went to the Museum of the City and saw Manneken Pis’ closet, which was kind of eerie and bizarre and funny at the same time. The little kid even has a mago costume! The traditional clothing from Tenerife! How cool is that? After that we went back to the Chocolate Museum and just waited there for the next display. The chef looked so happy with his job, it was really funny. We learnt how to make Belgian chocolate and tasted some more. We were both chocolate-overdosed! The two other museums we saw after that were the Musée du Costume et de la Dentelle and the Comic Strip Museum. We saw so many museums in one day we were very tired ;) There was a proper thunderstorm going on while we were in the Comic Museum, but it stopped just in time to walk back to the flat, cook dinner and have a chilled night-in watching The Theory of Everything.

On Thursday we had some train tickets to go to Brugge. Fortunately, they were not timed because we ended up sleeping over an hour more than planned in the morning because we were so tired. We woke up at around ten and then went to Gare Centrale to take the train to Brugge. We had to ask at the guichets which train we had to take and I must say the man that answered us was extremely rude… Other than that we had a great day. Once in Brugge we went to the information centre where they gave us a map in which were marked the ten must-sees, so we walked according to that. It was a lovely little town with its channels and old buildings and we were lucky enough to have good weather, even if it was really cold. The forecast was snow but it didn’t even rain! We visited: Beginhof (monastery), Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (church), Rozenhoedkaai, the Markt, the Burg,… We took all the compulsory pictures (even the one with Donatello the Suricat https://www.facebook.com/DonatellotheSuricat) and then we had lunch (fries and waffle included) and kept on sight-seeing: the Hanzekwartier and the Concertgebouw. We finished quite early so we just took our time to walk back to the station… and even do a little bit of leisure shopping at Pimkie, Six, New Look,… Once back in Bruxelles we went to Carrefour to buy some more food and then stayed back in the loft.

On the fifth day we focused on the places that were further away and required transport to get there. We bought a JUMP day pass for 7 euros which is valid on all STIB transports: metro, bus and tram. We ended up using all means and definitely got our money back. First, we got up early and took the bus from Gare Centrale to the European Quarter. We went to the visit of the European Parliament which was really cool. Hopefully one day I will be in one of those interpreting booths! Then we visited the Natural Sciences Museum which was awesome. There are loads of dinosaur squeletons and stuffed animals and interesting stuff. After that we walked to the Palais du Cinquantenaire even though we were starving, because we didn’t want to have to come back after going back to the city centre for a proper lunch. We took the metro to Gare Centrale and had lunch in a small restaurant in one of the alleys around the Grand Place. We had fried, moules, beer, waffles,… Proper Belgian meal! The metro took us then to Simonis where we walked the park that lies in front of the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur. The building is simply beautiful! It is strange because it is a cathedral in Arts and Crafts style, so it looks somewhat odd but it is impressive. We were lucky to get inside and the building is honestly breath-taking. I loved it. Then we took the tram to Simonis in an attempt to get to the Atomium in time before the sun set, but we went into the wrong metro station and ended up going around the whole city once more before coming back to Simonis and then getting to Heizel. Beware if you ever go, Elisabeth and Simonis are different stations but very close together and the tram leaves you at Simonis, which is Elisabeth metro station! We took line 6 and cruised the city’s metro stations. Once we arrived at the Atomium we got our tickets and went up. It is an amazing construction and the view is breath-taking! We were actually lucky enough that because of getting the metro at the wrong station, we were delayed and ended up in the sightseeing sphere of the Atomium while the sun went down and the city lit up! It was gorgeous! The only drawback was a little fog, but in January we couldn’t have hoped for better. Once back in the city centre, we ate at a Steak House near la Monnaie, and then we had a waffle (ofc!).The police were blocking some streets and had guns and everything around La Monnaie though, and nobody seemed to know what was going on. The next day we found out that there had been a bomb menace! And we had literally been eating outside the place lol 

 Saturday was sadly our last day in Brussels. We got up early and finished packing and getting ready. Then we had breakfast at a nearby café, Le Temps des Tartines, which was really good and filling. The hot chocolate is really cool: they give you warm milk and the chocolate is a cube of proper chocolate in the end of a stick, you just put it inside the mug and stir it until it has melted. It is so creamy it’s amazing! That morning we did shopping: first, we walked to Place du Jeu de Balle where there was a flea market. I love those places; there were so many cool things! I bought a jumper and looked for a vintage camera case but did not find one cheap enough and in good condition. Then we went to Place du Grand Sablon where there was an antiques market and there I got a really odd ring. After that we walked to Grand Place and I bought some postcards while Amélie got some new Vans. We finally found the Jeanneke Pis and then went to Carrefour to buy some salad for lunch and food for the trip. We had to leave the flat at around half three, but we were able to leave the suitcases at Kike’s flat. We roamed around the city for a while, watching the street musicians and shops and making time, but then it got too cold so we decided to go to Maison Dandoy for a farewell hot chocolate and waffle. The queue to get a seat was insane but we had all the time in the world so we waited and it was definitely worth it. After saying goodbye to Manneken Pis, we got our bags and went to the station (not paying for the metro ticket, and panicking a moment when we got off the metro at opposite sides and then had to cross the mechanical doors, but we managed!). We arrived there pretty early but it was alright (and actually helpful because we got kind of lost in the station). The trip back was tiring but fortunately we had enough films and series to watch and not get bored: Face-Off, the Maze Runner (cinema session on the Eurostar under Amélie’s scarf/blanket to avoid the annoying light), Modern Family,… The trip back was quite peaceful and when we finally arrived in Bath we literally crashed into bed of exhaustion.

To sum up, I had some AWESOME holidays! First time organizing a trip on our own and traveling alone. And I genuinely loved Brussels. It is strange mix of old buildings and alleyways with wide open spaces, massive New-Classicism buildings and state-of-the-art Futuristic constructions in the newer European Quarter. And, as you can probably tell from this post, the food is great (Speculoos, chocolate and Bruxelles waffle forevah). So it is not goodbye, it’s see you soon.