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Published: January 10th 2008
Town Hall
Davies' stunning photo of this gothic masterpiece, the highlight of the Grand Place....are tiny! Gimme the big juicy New Zealand ones any day. Although if anything, they're slightly more flavoursome - though not enough to justify their size!
I always enjoy coming to Belgium, especially for the food - scrumptious chocolate, tasty mussels, crisp fries (with mayonnaise!), delicious waffles and fantastic beer is always readily available. Davies commented on how Belgium is lucky to be famous for it's food - or else all they would have is a couple of good female tennis players and errr....Jean-Claude Van Damme ;-)
"The Muscles'" hometown though, is a nice city, and I have fond memories of it from my visit here last year. Being one of the first cities I had been to in Europe, I remember being in awe of all the buildings and how pretty it was.
It does indeed have it's pretty areas, and some parts could be mistaken for Paris. However, to call Brussels a mere imitation of it's more illustrious French counterpart would be harsh, as it definitely has it's own unique character.
However in comparing the two cities, they do definitely have their similarities - the language and the architecture to name just a couple.
Brussels has more of
Maison du Roi
King's House, in the Grand Place. a raw feel to it though, an edge that Paris lacks.
Brussels is also much more cosmopolitan, thanks to Belgium's relatively relaxed immigration laws. On the streets, you see people of all races and creeds, and almost in equal number - a city of immigrants.
Getting there from Berlin though, was a bit of a mission.
As I had hurriedly jumped on the train, I didn't have a seat reserved. Luckily, there were empty seats available but all of them were reserved for certain parts of the journey which meant that I had to play musical chairs all the way from Berlin to Cologne. At least I was spared the embarrassment of being expunged from my seat I suppose.
There was only one connecting train from Cologne to Brussels, and it turned out that Davies and I were both catching it, so we met up again at Cologne's Hauptbahnhof. We had only been separated for 24 hours, but the events during that time meant that it felt like much longer.
With a couple of hours to kill before catching our train, we decided to have a quick look around Cologne.
Cologne is another city that I had visited last
Mannekin Pis
Brussels' most famous "monument". year, and the memories came flooding back once again as I stepped outside the Hauptbahnhof to be greeted by the gargantuan cathedral of Cologne. A truly breathtaking sight, the cathedral stands 157m and took more than 600 years to build! Was definitely worth it though as it's absolutely spectacular. We went inside as well, which was also impressive, but after seeing so many churches.....
The other thing that I fondly remember about Cologne is the local beer - Kolsch. Davies had heard me and several others go on and on about how good it is - it is quite possibly the most refreshing and best-tasting beer I have ever had - so he was keen to see what the fuss was about. We found a traditional pub just round the corner from the cathedral and ordered a couple of glasses. Yes, glasses - Kolsch is always served in a 200ml glass. Doesn't take away from how good it is though. Davies verdict was that it was nice - but I think perhaps we had overhyped it for him.
After grabbing some Burger King at the station we then went to the platform to catch our train. However, it seemed like
Guild House
One of the guild houses in the Grand Place. every single train was delayed, and as exhausted as we were, we did not appreciate the 40 minute wait for our train.
When we finally boarded the train and sat ourselves down, we then heard the dreaded announcement that for some reason, the train was not going to go to Brussels, but would stop in Aachen, the German border town. This pissed us off even more, although there was a replacement bus service.
Once in Aachen we cunningly managed to grab seats on one of the first buses out of there after a bit of a scramble.
The coach was comfortable enough, and once we got into Brussels I started to recognise places that I had been and roads I had travelled, which was a cool feeling. Combining my knowledge with Lonely Planet's map and the coach's GPS system, we managed to work out where we were in relation to our hostel once we reached the bus station. The bus station was filthy and full of dodgy characters, so we wanted to get out of there ASAP. Unfortunately, the hostel wasn't close to a Metro line, and although it looked walkable, some switched-on navigation would be required. I decided that
Grand Place
Brussels' magnificent main square where the town's markets used to be held. I was too tired for this, and we took a cab to the hostel, although Davies was worried about the fare. I was beyond caring too much, and knew that it wasn't too far away so wouldn't cost too much. It ended up being 7€ which was OK - it got us there quickly and it was late enough already.
Luckily, the hostel didn't cancel our booking despite the fact we arrived at midnight - they are open until 1am, so if we'd arrived an hour later we might've been screwed.
This was an HI Hostel though - which meant to our immense despair and frustration - that there is a lockout, and we would have to leave the room at 10am the next day, and would not be able to get back in until 2pm. We were exhausted. The only thing we wanted to do the next day was sleep, and to be denied this basic human right was absolutely gutting and we were furious.
Perhaps rather petulantly, the next morning I deliberately took my time and didn't leave the hostel until 10.30am and got a telling off from the hostel staff - whatever.
After a healthy breakfast
Galeries St Hubert
Europe's oldest glass-covered shopping arcade. consisting of a burger and pommes frites from the nearby friterie, we started our exploration of the city.
Having been here before I wasn't too fussed as to where we went, and pretty much left it to Davies as to where he wanted to go.
After passing the spectacular Palace of Justice which is still under restoration like it was last year, and the Notting Hill-like shopping district of Sablon, we headed straight to Brussels' main attraction - the Grand Place.
I am not exaggerting at all when I say that Brussels' main square is quite possibly the most spectacular main square in Europe. Completely cobblestoned, every single building surrounding it is magnificently in character.
The main feature of the square is the gothic town hall, so intricately designed that it reminds me of very much of the Rathaus in Munich. At night, the lighting makes the town hall look spectacular. The rest of the square is surrounded by beautiful gold-decorated guild halls. Just off the Grand Place is a statue of 14th century hero Everard 't Serclaes which we rub for good luck, before we come to the famous statue of Mannekin Pis - a tiny statue of a
The Mussels From Brussels
Very small, but very tasty. small boy doing exactly that.
It was 2pm by now, so we were allowed now to go back to the hostel to sleep, which was exactly what Davies wanted to do. Meanwhile, I retraced by steps and went to the exact same internet cafe I went to last year on "Greek Street", just off the Grand Place which is full of Greek restaurants.
Meeting up with Davies after his siesta, we then hit the Galeries St Hubert, Europe's oldest glass-covered shopping arcade where we ducked into the Neuhaus chocolaterie - I'm sure the chocolates are delicious but they were priced a bit beyond our modest backpacker budgets unfortunately.
It was then time to sample some "moules au vin blanche" at one of the many restaurants around the Grand Place that had hawkers almost begging us to come in. We settled on a place offering a set menu for 11€, and the mussels were delicious. The meal was perhaps a little light, but I made sure I grabbed a waffle with ice cream, cream, strawberries and chocolate - quite possibly the most difficult thing to eat while walking. When my plastic spoon broke, it became a nightmare!
Travel fatigue had finally
Parc de Bruxelles
Brussels' main urban park in the centre of the city, which is surrounded by the Royal Palace and the Belgian government. caught up on us, and it was an early night for us before we left for Paris the next day.
The fact that our roommate and Davies snored all night didn't really help matters - by this stage I was over hostels and was really looking forward to having my own room again.
We went for a walk around Brussels the next day taking in the Parc de Bruxelles, the Royal Palace, Belgian Parliament and the well-kept Jardin Botanique.
Our final act in Brussels was the purchase of 60€ worth of Belgian delicacies from a supermarket as part of a Belgian gift package for Bertrand, Davies' friend who we would be staying with in Paris.
Being as tired as we were, it wasn't the most eventful time in Brussels for us, though admittedly there isn't too much to do here. I definitely had a more fun time last year.
My rail pass finally expires today, and so it's on to our final destination - Paris, for the Rugby World Cup Final.
If we wanted a more eventful time there, we were certainly going to get it...read on find out what happened ;-)
Cheers,
Derek
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