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April 17th – April 23rd
Semana Santa was so relaxing and much needed. Sunday I slept in nice and late and did my normal work out. Afterwards I headed to the park to read a book and lay in the sun. From there I headed to Sol to meet up with Sandy. Over Semana Santa Sandy was taking a Spanish class so we headed to the yogurt place, picked up some food and then went to the plaza to work on her homework. We finished up fairly quick so we walked around the city until her boyfriend Sam finished up at work. He is a chef, so we headed to his restaurant and he gave us a quick tour before joining us for a jug of amazing Sangria. Afterwards I headed home and got to chat with the family for a bit.
Monday was a very full day. I slept in and worked out before heading towards Opera to meet Sandy for lunch. We had a bocadilla and then headed around the city to pick up a few things. We had a relaxing afternoon and some quality girl time. After completing the few things on our list we headed
to Sandy’s house and then to the park. Sandy really wants to learn Spanish so we spent our entire afternoon walking around the park speaking only in Spanish. I was really impressed with how much she tried. We actually were able to have real conversations. Considering that when she arrived in Spain she couldn’t even say “hola”, her Spanish has gotten so much better. After spending the afternoon with Sandy I headed to my house to complete the last few things on my list before my trip the following day; cleaning the apartment and packing.
Tuesday morning I woke up bright and early, grabbed my stuff and took a taxi to the airport. The plane ride was a quick two hours, of which I slept most of the time. Once I arrived at Brussels Cholorei I had to take a 45 minute bus ride to down town Brussels. It wasn’t a bad ride but I had a little girl kicking my seat the entire time. Finally we made it to the station and I hopped on the metro to go to my hostel. I got all checked in and dropped my stuff off and then headed out into the
city. I had a quick lunch while I was walking around, until I came upon one of the most famous sights in Brussels the grand place which is a large square. Honestly this was probably one of the most beautiful squares I have found in Europe. It is surrounded by buildings with stunning architecture and in the fall the plaza is covered with flowers. I stopped by a gift shop to pick up my key chains and post cards before continuing around the city. I really had no major plans for this trip so I just walked around. I stopped for a Belgium waffle with white chocolate and strawberries (it was delicious). Afterwards I walked around some more. I got a little lost and ended up in some interesting neighborhoods. Surprisingly enough Brussels has a red light district, and I managed to find it (oops). After dinner I headed back to my hostel and spent the evening relaxing in the park.
Wednesday was another great day. After eating breakfast at the hostel I headed out into the city. I started off at the park near my house, cutting through to a basilica at the other side. Afterwards I headed
back into town. My hostel had some great maps of the city which included three different walking tours. I had no other plans so I decided to do them. I stopped off on the chocolate factory for some amazing Belgium chocolate and began the first tour. It was about an hour long walk and took me along northern park of Brussels. This tour took me through a section of the city that is actually in the process of mirroring that of Las Ramblas in Barcelona. It was interesting to see the Spanish influence in this country. Afterwards I headed up the waterfront and to the beautiful botanical garden in the city center. The second tour was much longer and themed around Europe. This tour took me through numerous neighborhoods related to European figures, architecture and businesses. I went through sky scrapers, the poorest area of Brussels, the arte area and parks. I was fascinated with the parks. The Parc Du Cinquantenaire Jubel Park has three famous museums and the Park Leopold Park was actually the Zoo until all the animals died. They were both really interesting. After this tour I stopped off for lunch at an organic restaurant and had
some amazing pasta 😊, before beginning the final tour of the southern part of Brussels. It started off in the African district and cut through the rich areas towards the palace of Justice. This could have been really stunning; however, it was completely under construction. From there I headed down to the Marolles neighborhood which literally was the slums. It’s the area they used to send the sick people to go and die outside the city walls. After finishing up the tours I headed back towards the city center to another important part of Brussels; the manneken pis. This little statue of a boy peeing is so tiny and it is hilarious that it is the mascot of the city. I finished the day off by going back to my hostel and eating dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Thursday morning I got all packed up, put my stuff in the luggage room and checked out of the hostel. I headed to the last thing on my list of must sees, the atomium. It was about an hour long walk from my hostel to the monument. On the way I found a cemetery that I was really impressed with. Some
of the grave markers were amazing. After the long walk there I only had enough time to go and grab a photo before heading back to the hostel for my stuff. When I got my luggage I headed to the bus station and waited for it to arrive. At the bus station I grabbed some Belgium fries. They literally put fries in a paper cone and pour tons of sauce over them. I also grabbed some chocolate to take back to Spain with me and hopped on the bus to go to the airport. My flight wasn’t nearly as good this time. The weather in Brussels was amazing but the weather in Madrid was pouring down rain. We were majorly delayed and landing was a bit challenging. After arriving back in the Madrid I headed home and to bed.
Friday was another great day spent with Sandy in Madrid. I slept in and then grabbed a few things at the market before heading to Sandy’s house. Because of the holiday many places were closed so we decided to have a potluck style dinner. Upon arriving at Sandy’s house we spent the first part of the day watching a movie
and chatting, but soon we put it in gear and headed to the kitchen. We started off by making hot cross buns. This is very typical in Australia and Sandy really wanted me to try them, the only problem was neither of us had made them before. Sandy is fun to cook with but goes against everything I was ever taught; like mixing wet and dry ingredients too soon. It was definitely hard for me to just wing it but I had a blast watching her guess on how much to put in and when to put in the ingredients. Overall they turned out pretty good, probably would have been better if we would have checked to make sure the oven was set properly, but not bad for a first run. By the time we finished up, we still had a bunch of cooking to do. Sandy started in on the Lasagna while I made guacamole as our appetizer (I know…strange combination 😊). Just as we finished up with that the rest of the party arrived; Sandy’s friend Yolanda and Sam’s friend Nacho. For the rest of the evening we spent a ton of time chatting, eating and relaxing. We
were all shocked when we looked at our clocks and realized it was well after 4 in the morning by the time we were starting to wrap up (typical Spain). Nacho and Yolanda headed out soon after and Sandy, Sam and I continued to visit and eat Belgium chocolate I had brought back with me. Before we knew it the sun was already starting to come up. I ended up crashing at Sandy’s house and by the time I woke up on Saturday it was well in the afternoon. Sandy and I spent the rest of our day watching movies and relaxing to end the week.
The week turned out great and was just what I needed, but it is going to be so hard to have to start waking up early again and going to work next week 😉.
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