Blogs from Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium, Europe - page 65

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Europe » Belgium » Brussels-Capital Region » Brussels May 24th 2006

Geo: 50.7944, 4.50339Had a sleep in this morning. It is so good not to have to rush. We walked to the supermarket to get some breakfast. On the way out of the hostel, we noticed a sign that said Van Gogh worked in this building in 1880-81. We went back to the Grand Place to take photos. Again the weather today was quite average, rain, sunshine, rain was the pattern. The buildings here are very decorated with lots of gold. We then saw one of the earliest shopping arcades in Europe. The shops in here were expensive- as can be expected. Continued walking and came to the cathedral of St Michael. Where I paid money to see the archeological remains underneath, it was a rip off - I saw some old bricks. Walked through the unimpressive ... read more
02 Part of
03 Town Square
04 Mannekin Pis

Europe » Belgium » Brussels-Capital Region » Brussels May 23rd 2006

After the briefest of interludes, the blog is now beginning to catch up to the various ICE trains transporting me across continental Europe at an ever so hectic pace. I am now in Berlin, appropriately sitting amongst a larger variety of hair colours than nationalities. But before relating to you any East German adventures, it seems only right that I should re-trace the steps already made and the 1000 odd kilometres, Europe thankfully being metric, travelled. This little entry will as a result deal chiefly with the Belgian leg of our adventures... Upon leaving the UK we once again spent a long time travelling across London and on the Heathrow tarmac and very very little flying to our given destination, Brussels, heart of the new (de-constituted?) Europe. We met some American fellw travellers on the plane, ... read more
Americans!
Pische Heads
Chocolate and Beer

Europe » Belgium » Brussels-Capital Region » Brussels May 23rd 2006

Geo: 50.7944, 4.50339We got up early this morning, packed and ate our included breakfast. Outside the hostel is the bus stop, so we caught it to the train station. Bought tickets and boarded the train for Brussels, the capital of Belgium. The train ride was good and short. Once in Brussels we had to catch the metro and change lines to get to our hostel. Then we looked at a map on the street to find the way to the hostel, little did we know that the 'You are here' dot was in the wrong spot!!! We ended up walking down hill in the wrong direction, once we realized we had a 10 minute walk uphill- very annoying with a heavy pack. The hostel seemed okay- could be worse. Got the metro to the main shopping ... read more
02 Mannekin Pis
03 Chocolate
04 Decorative

Europe » Belgium » Brussels-Capital Region » Brussels May 19th 2006

Brussels & Brugge (19th-21st May, 2006) It all still seems to be about the food! Fruit Beer The Grand Place (main square) is where we started our Belgian beer sampling. Cherry, strawberry and apple beers were all very popular. Belgian Chocolate Brussels and Brugge were chocoate heaven! The rules for the weekend were; 'you are not permitted to walk past any chocolate shop under any circumstances.' Brugge A georgous town about 1 hour out of Brussels by train. We enoyed a boat trip along the canals. Lace Work We were facinated by the work of some of the women we watched making lace. They have amazing co-ordination of their fingers. A piece of lace work can take them years to complete. Mussels and Frites Mussels are very popular in Belgian and must be served with Frites ... read more
Grand Place in Brussels
Bruges
The Canals of Bruges

Europe » Belgium » Brussels-Capital Region » Brussels May 19th 2006

Its all a bit Dejavu. Or however its spelt. Here I am back at Heathrow, back on a BMI plane, and back to Brussels, although I am not being whisked off to a castle in Holland to try and decipher the conversations of a 30 strong dutch family, I am begining my month long trip around Europe with Tan and Brooke, and what better place to start than the EU capital, even if the Lonley Planet says it has a reputation for being boring. What do they know anyway?!? To take our minds off whether or not the turbulence in the mini mini plane meant we were going to die, we listened into the conversation of 2 American travellers who were sitting behind us who claimed that although the first and second series of The O.C ... read more
The Butcher Street
Manneken Pis
Our New Friends


Hello everyone, Brussels seems to be a city of contrasts. It is the centre of the European Union--a case of good news and challenges. The city has only 1,000,000 people, but 3,000,000 work there. That means all these people use the infrastructure, but don't contribute to taxes. They call the buildings that occupy most of the city "Euroland" and they occupy 2,000,000 square metres of office space. In the next ten years that is expected to grow by another 1,000,000 square metres. Each member country is entitled to the same number of staff and they keep adding countries. The good news for the residents is that Brussels has more restaurants than any other city in Europe because of all the expense accounts. Nobody will put money into buildings that are close to Euroland--good chance that they ... read more


I really don’t like Heathrow. I have a complaint for every time I have been there. Of course I have managed to arrive there twice and not be chucked out of the country like my friend Adriane was. Nevertheless after waiting at least half an hour in the never ending queue of riffraff who didn’t have English or EU passports (an Indian guy behind Brooke and I was genuinely surprised that we didn’t have our own commonwealth queue) I still was treated suspiciously by customs, and I thought we New Zealanders had a reputation for being a good sort - maybe I have Adriane to blame for this? Or maybe the English think we are still sore that they ruined our dairy trade decades ago and will reap our revenge from inside. Either way the woman ... read more


We just spent a weekend in Brussels, the exciting capital of Belgium, which served as a good central point for a reunion with some of the European-based guys we travelled across America with. After a day enjoying the city we took a day trip out to Bruges which was just as thrilling.... read more
Moules and Oysters
Park and fountains oppostie the Royal Palace
DIY Hot Chocolate

Europe » Belgium » Brussels-Capital Region » Brussels April 17th 2006

Before I left Brussels for Amsterdam I took the tram up to the Atomium, which has recently been restored. The tram went through a forest and under bridges, I felt like I was in a Disney ride. The Atomium was incredible to see- all shiny and reflecting the sky and earth in its balls. It's not an accurate depiction of an atom, but that hardly matters. It's a nifty piece of engineering.... read more
The Atomium from underneath
Atomium self-portrait

Europe » Belgium » Brussels-Capital Region » Brussels April 16th 2006

Hi all! Just a short entry to wish everyone a Happy Easter or Joyeux Paques as the French would say- with an accent in there somewhere. I am currently in Brussels, enjoying myself immensely. I went to Luxembourg City today and had a wonderful time. I'm doing this trip alone, so I have only myself for entertainment, but I'm meeting nice people as I go. Pictures and more details when I return to Aix! In a few days I get to see Margalit again! So excited! Hope all is well and au revoir! Only three weeks left!... read more




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