Statues — International — Lovers and Explorers

Chocolate, Beer, Fries, Waffles, Smurfs, and a Smidge of Nudity—Hello Brussels!

Towards the end of our honeymoon we encountered one of the greatest problems a travel lover can have—we had some extra days and needed a new country to explore! For us it made the most sense to explore Belgium since: our departure flight was from Paris, it was a new country for both of us, and was more affordable then some of our other options. We found a wonderful room at SleepHere, and were thrilled to have so much space and a wonderful host with tons of tips/ideas for sight-seeing. Also, we quickly found our favorite breakfast spot—a little shop for locals that sold a sort of flatbread pizza—so addicting. We pretty much stopped here every day, if only they would have had punch cards.

There's enough room in there for John to almost hide from the picture!

We had a few ideas of our own for what we had to see. Sarah: chocolate, beer, and smurfs; John: waffles, fries, beer, and a famous statue. We also encountered more cathedrals and beautiful buildings than we had anticipated. Our first day in Brussels involved wind, beautiful statues, Castle of Laeken, wind, Place Royale, fancy chocolate, wind, and Mont des Arts.

First: Statues & Gardens

Our eyes were constantly being filled with majestic lions, men on horseback, and other momentous figures permanently cast in stone. There was even a hot air balloon figure (that Sarah may or may not have accidentally trespassed to get a closer look).

Now, one statue that John had been really excited about was the Manneken Pis (near the Grand Place)—this is where the nudity comes in (not of us! You’re welcome). When John explained how iconic this statue was, Sarah pictured a large fountain. Something like this:

What it actually was:

Not going to lie, Sarah was slightly disappointed. John, however, was quite captured by this! Neat little fact: They dress up this Manneken for each holiday. We got a post card of it for our guests to view in our living room. John’s one regret: he didn’t get a figurine of the Manneken Pis. Ya can’t win ‘em all.

Second: Grand Buildings

Thankfully, http://www.brusselscity.net/ did have a picture! — Thankfully, http://www.brusselscity.net/ did have a picture!

Castle of Laeken: Now as many of our royal audience knows, you don’t always reside where you conduct your business. So the Castle of Laeken is where the Belgian King actually lives. We actually stumbled upon the castle (that sounds so ironic, but it’s true) when we were trying to visit the gardens (aka greenhouses). As our garden knowledge is limited, we didn’t realize the gardens would be closed in October. Instead, we stumbled upon the Castle. Unfortunately, we were also hurrying to the Atomium and didn't take any personal pictures.

The Palais Royal (Royal Palace) is the Belgian King's office. To learn more about the Belgian Monarchy and this building in particular, we found this website to be very helpful: http://www.monarchie.be/palace-and-heritage/palace-brussels We always think its interesting to learn about the government of the place your visiting. Sometimes this is intentional, and other times, it's on accident. For us, we didn't have all of the information ahead of time since this was a lucky last minute accident!

Imagine a beautiful statue AND a church. For us that would be the Church of Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg. To be completely honest, I don't think we even realized what we were seeing until after we stumbled upon it and then looked it up. Visitbrussels.be gives you a much more accurate description than we could (clearly): "The facade is an exact replica of a Roman peristyle. During the French revolution it was converted into a Temple of Reason and then a Temple of the Law, before returning to Catholic worship in 1802."

Now after a brief stop at a fancy chocolate shop (we’ll cover this under food below), we found ourselves with this beautiful view of the Monte des Arts. A beautiful place for pictures, and for views of Brussels. We, and our camera, loved all of the gardens and parks in Europe!

Above the Monte des Arts--we found some chocolate!

In the Grand Place, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a beautiful square with a lot to see. Gothic buildings surround you, including the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall). It’s also very close to the Galeries St. Hubert. A glass roofed arcade with many shopping options—and we’re not talking Target.

Third: Smurfs, Food, Beer, Atomium, and a Cathedral

Who knew Brussels was known for its comics? We certainly didn’t, but they were everywhere. Another highlight? Seeing this giant smurf outside of the Smurf store:

Make sure you have a Belgium waffle—so delicious. We had a waffle in one of the train stations (along with a Starbucks. We tried to resist but…coffee!). Yum. More like a cookie than a breakfast—just our style. Next, the fries! John tried to order one in the native language, and finished it by adding, “with ketchup.” The man, not realizing John’s mastery of the language, repeated back to him, “Fries with ketchup.” So anticlimactic. However, the fries were delicious—no matter the language.

Another goal was to have a “pub-style” meal. On our adventure to try to find Hallepoort, we stumbled upon this pub, Brasserie Breughel in the dark and the rain—like a movie—and weren’t dissatisfied. As we watch a young couple make out in the corner (not cute, even in another country), we devoured our drinks and meals.

We also tried Ethiopian food for the first time at Toukoul—delicious!

You also can’t go to Belgium without getting chocolate. Our first chocolate buying experience was overwhelming at Laurent Gerbaud Chocolatier, and the girl behind the counter didn’t try to hide her distaste of our amateur palates. We walked away with an odd assortment of fancy chocolates. After eating those, we stumbled upon another chocolate store, Neuhaus. They walked us through the experience and guided our decisions—we couldn’t have been more impressed! Oh my goodness, so delicious. We savored one every night before bed. For Christmas, Sarah ordered John some more—they were that good.

We also had to have a beer tour at Brasserie Cantillon—we were in Belgium. The tour was great, and we learned a lot (that Sarah forgot, but has pictures!). At the end we had the 12 year old beer expert pouring our tastings. So delicious!

Atomium: John was so excited for the Atomium—it was built for the World Fair in 1958. Sarah had never heard of it, but is always up for an adventure. We got here right as the sun was starting to set. What is it? A molecule’s 9 atoms magnified 165 billion times (that’s a lot. How many zeroes?) You can get to each atom by escalators. We spent quite a lot of time and effort to get here, but wound up, after MUCH discussion, not going inside. At this point we were starting to run out of our funds, but still had a week or so left in Iceland. Yet we were glad we saw it.

Cathedral of Saints Michel and Gudule—so beautiful, and old. Sarah loved what she coined as “lounge chairs” out front (the sun wasn’t out at the end of October, but she still enjoyed the view):

Sarah enjoying the lounge chair & Cathedral of Saints Michel and Gudule

We wish we would have had more time to explore Belgium, but still managed to make the most of our time and money while there. What’s your favorite part of travel: food, beer, castles, history, or Smurfs? How do you decide where to go? Do you have it planned in advance?