Brussels: the City of Beer, Chocolate and Lace.

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Greetings from Brussels everyone.

Stephen and I decided to have a mini-break in Brussels for the weekend.
Our weekend begin with catching the Eurostar, something Stephen had never done. It was a nice train compared to previous ones in Egypt. The process was pretty easy, we picked the tickets up, picked up some dinner and then went through customs our passports were stamped as if were heading going to France, just another stamp in the passport, the poor customs guy had to flick to find a spare page in both our passports.

Our journey began with a short train trip around 2 and half hours, it was even better because we lost an hour going to the continent. We had the joy of staying at the Hilton Brussels City hotel - on staff rate!! The hotel was really easy to find with their Metro network and we began the weekend with the Belgium beer in the hotel bar.

We began Saturday with a hearty buffet breakfast, Stephen thoroughly had his fill!! You could see the thoughts going through his head, once he’d heated his waffles; he wondered ‘what else can I fit on my plate’. It was quite funny.

We headed out into the snow to see a little of Brussels before the new Mr and Mrs North joined us for the weekend. We headed to St. Michael’s Cathedral, so beautiful, we didn’t see much as there was a service inside. On the way to Centre Belge be la Bande Dessinee, the Comic Strip Museum we stumbled upon the Martyrs Square which was a pretty little square in the centre of town. We discovered that not only was Tintin from Belgium but so was the Smurfs and heaps of other comics, which we’d never heard of. From there we headed to the Grand Place, a magnificent central square, it was mostly down to the antique frames of the guildhalls. It was filled with people and the beginnings of a Christmas tree and a Nativity Scene; it would look amazing in a few weeks. We continued to stroll around and found our way to Galeries St Hubert, it was the place to shop, we later would buy some lace and chocolates there. We were both getting pretty cold and we knew Lana and Ben were on their way, we headed back to the hotel to defrost and wait for the newlyweds.

It didn’t take long and they had arrived; it was so lovely to see friends after 8 months away. I wondered if we’d changed in anyway, they had seemed the same opposed to a slight tan from Sabah. I’m sure we hadn’t changed except for our hair was longer and we catching up in Brussels opposed to in Berwick.
We decided to check out the De Biertempel, a shop that had stocks 550 beers with matching glasses. It was pretty amazing the shop was small and seemed to be filled to the brim, and we both walked out of the shop with purchases. From there we headed to the Grand Place. It was beginning to snow; we found our way to the one of Belgium’s national symbols - Manneken Pis Fountain, a little boy cheerfully taking a leak into a pool. From there we listened to our stomachs and bought Belgium Waffles and ate them in the snow!! It was certainly a surreal experience, being in Brussels, eating Waffles with Lana and Ben in the SNOW!! It was too weird. It was too cold time to defrost back at the hotel again.

A few hours to ourselves we freshen up and met Lana and Ben in the hotel bar for a drink before we went to dinner.

The next day after another hearty buffet breakfast we went to the Royal Palace, home to the King and Queen of Belgium, we couldn’t go in but it was lovely from the outside. From there we headed to the EU headquarters where all the big decisions are made. We also enjoyed the snow, until it got too heavy and it was time to say our good-byes to Lana and Ben. After warming up it was time for Stephen and I to complete the rest of our shopping. We went back to Galeries St Hubert, where we spent around an hour choosing our truffles for Christmas and a tin of different chocolates. Oh so yummy!! We headed to a local pub when the snow was going crazy, enjoyed a few more beers and killed time to till our train left at 9pm.
It was time to leave and head back to the hotel, it was a slow walk, and the snow had really come down since we’d been inside. I hope you enjoy the photos we took. We boarded the train and we were on our way home back to England where it was surprisingly warmer than in Brussels. Who would have thought, warmer in England!!

And that was the end to our mini-break. Till our next adventure we hope you stay safe and well.

Love
Michelle and Stephen.

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Photos

On the Eurostar to Brussels
Our first trip together on the luxury Eurostar.

Just a little cold
The temperature as displayed near Martyrs Square.

Centre Belge De La Bande Dessinee
Stephen with Asterix.

Centre Belge De La Bande Dessinee
Stephen at the comic book museum with Tintin and his fellow characters.

The Cathedral and Cows
St Michael's cathedral and the interesting cows outside.

Tintin around the streets
Michelle with a mural on Tintin we found while exploring the streets of Brussels.

The Grand Place
Stephen in the central square, where all the action takes place.

The Grand Place at Night
It was amazing, particularly when it was snowing.

Dinner with the New Mr and Mrs North
Michelle with Ben and Lana in a great pub near the centre of town.

Pare de Bruxelles
The park at the front of the royal palace.

The EU Head Quarters
A massive complex in the European quarter of Brussels.

The Royal Palace
The royal family was not in when we visited.

The Snow
In the Grand Place where everyone, including us, were drinking indoors next to an open fire.