Onto Belgium

Day 8 - France/Belgium
We slept in rather late to catch up on the sleep we'd been missing so much of. After that, we decided that we didn't really have much of an interest in seeing Dunkirk, which was about an hour away by train, since we'd already seen a lot of WWII beaches, so we decided to head to Brussels early. We ate lunch in Lille before going to the train station. All we really saw of Lille was the hotel (which I don't even remember?) and the metro system, which was VERY clean and impressively well-organized, with a lot of clearly marked signs, something that a lot of other cities lack. I got a really good impression of the city just by their metro system (and by the fact that they had a statue of a demon baby riding a dinosaur in the middle of the city). We then took a train to Brussels and got there fairly early in the afternoon. We checked into our hostel and made our beds before going out for dinner, to a local pizzeria that was pretty good. We spent the rest of the night at the hostel, not doing much noteworthy. End of day 8.


Day 9 - Belgium
We got up rather early to go to a flea market that we thought would be interesting. After eating the free breakfast and getting lost for a while, we ended up at the flea market, which was like a massive garage sale. They were selling everything from fabric and clothes to chandeliers to chairs and plates. There was a lot of really cool stuff, although we would find very little use for it, probably. After the flea market, we were hungry for some real Belgian cooking, so we went to get fries (a Belgian specialty!) with sauces: tartare for Gabrielle, curry-ketchup for Katharina, and American for Sharp. We had still not had our fill of Belgian cuisine, so we went to a restaurant for a true Belgian waffle (gafle or something, in French). But there was yet another Belgian classic - chocolate, obviously - that we hadn't sampled. We quickly rectified this with a visit to Chocopolis, a homemade chocolate store with all kinds of gourmet chocolate that we enjoyed exploring, sampling, and eating. With our stomachs finally full of the essence of Belgium, we walked to the Grand Place, which was a masterpiece of architecture. Rebuilt after Louis XIV bombed the city in 1695, the guildhouses that make up the square are gorgeous and very intricate. At Katharina's urging, we then went into the Museum of the City of Brussels, located in one of those buildings, which is a synopsis of the history of the city. Brussels does not appear to have a very interesting history, but there were some cool pieces of art in the museum. We also got to see the many costumes of Mannekin-Pis, a 400-year-old statue of a small boy urinating, sometimes costumed, that has become a Brussels landmark. Pretty much every country has donated costumes for the statue - there are over 800 in total - which are really cool, often consisting of native dress and, in the case of the Ukraine, even a mustache. Inspired, we left the museum to go see the real Mannekin-Pis, which was interesting, although rather smaller than we had all expected. After this, we were all tired, so we took our flea market/chocolate store purchases back to the hostel, where we napped for a couple of hours. Once we woke up, we were hungry, so we went for dinner to a really good Thai/Vietnamese place near the Grand Place. After contemplating and rejecting the idea of exploring the nightlife, we decided instead to come back to the hostel, where we now sit writing this blog.

Day 10 - Brussels/Bruge

This morning was not the best as far as noteworthy experiences are concerned. Because Mom suggested that I was being too bossy with where we were going/seeing, I acquiesced to Gabrielle's request to go to mini-Europe - "bleh" is all I have to say. Basically, you pay 12 euro to go see miniaturized models of famous buildings in Europe. While we did see the P&O Ferry that took us across the English Channel to Dover, it certainly wasn't worth the 12 euro we payed - whatever, I wanted to prevent the mutiny Mom foresaw. After leaving mini-Europe resentful (at least, I was), we decided to have Belgian fries for lunch before leaving Brussels. (FYI, I didn't know that fries originated in Belgium - they are just called French fries because the people who made them SPOKE French. So suck it, France). We found some - they were delicious. Sharp goes for the traditional ketchup, Gabrielle enjoys tartare sauce, while I stick with the very very good curry-ketchup. Then we picked up our stuff from the hostel to get on a train to Brugge. Upon arriving in Brugge, we had to walk approximately 20 minutes to our hostel called the "Passage." This was the first "legit" hostel we stayed at, given that there were 6 beds in one room. Turns out, we would forego the traditional hostel experience because our roomies never showed. After dropping off our stuff, we went to explore Brugge. It didn't take us long to realize that we really liked this town. First off, it is VERY walkable. It is small enough that you are never more than 10 minutes from the city centre. And the Grand Place (city centre) was quite beautiful - in fact, very beautiful, medieval architecture defines this city. A canal meanders throughout the town - altogether, it is a very pleasant place (We'll be back). After arriving at the Grand Place, Gabrielle had to run back to the hostel. In the mean time, Sharp and I sampled the fries of one of two rivaling fries places - they have been rivals since 1898 (personally, I think the fry place on the right is the best). After meeting back up with Gabrielle, we went in search of an ancient candy store run by a 91+ year old woman. We found it, tucked away in a little street next to the Jerusalem Church. I bought what looked like a licorice stick, along with anise drops. The other two bought an assortment of candy as well. However, as we proceeded back to the main street, I took a lick of my licorice stick. It wasn't licorice. Perhaps I should have been more weary of my candy choice when the woman pointed to her stomach when describing the stick to me. I made Gabrielle and Sharp lick it (it was bitter and turned your mouth brown) and we were all prepared for the effects of this possible laxative. Fortunately, we were all fine...I have tried to get used to the taste. But alas, I can't - it tastes like paint remover. And, in all honesty, it could be paint remover. After going to the ancient candy store, we went back to the center of town looking for a place to eat. Surprise, surprise - the city that is so incredibly beautiful is also incredibly expensive. After meandering around, finding a park full of metal horse figures (Sharp actually looked in the butt of one of the horses and found a note written by another Euro-trip traveler - no worries, we took a picture of it and put it back into the horses butt), we also found a reasonable place to eat. We then went back to the hostel, having dessert (real Belgian waffles) in the restaurant downstairs, and turned in fairly early.

Day 11 - Bruge/Amsterdam

Okay. Today is best described by the amount of calories we consumed. And let's just say, we doubled caloric intake recommended by the surgeon general. The day began with a trip to a bakery where Sharp had a sweet roll and an eclair, Gabrielle a croissant, and I a roll. But we were still hungry and went in search of a famous pancake restaurant - alas, they were closed. So, instead, we found a place where we ate a little raspberry and lemon tart. After breakfast, we sought out the church which houses one of the only Michelangelo statues NOT in Italy (a family in Brugge bought it back a couple hundred years ago and gave it to the church, which was quite beautiful). It depicts the Madonna and Child and, of course, is done exquisitely. Close to the church is another highly recommended candy store called Zuchero, one that makes its own candy in several different flavors. Sharp and Gabrielle fell in love with it and the flavors so, naturally, we sampled and they purchased. Then, seeing as Brugge is very much a place for shopping (it reminds me of Greenwhich in Connecticut in that it is old but really nice/expensive), we went shopping. Of course, all we could afford was in H&M, and Gabrielle found some interesting things. After shopping, we had lunch (which wasn't too bad for us - I had soup, Gabrielle pesto pasta, and Sharp a Croque Monsieur). Then we visited the Basilica of the Holy Blood (a chapel in Brugge that houses a relic brought back to Brugge during the Crusades - it is a vial said to contain drops of Christ's blood). It is only brought out to be worshipped at certain times (obviously, it is very valuable to the Church). We, at first, were in the wrong chapel - we soon found it though. Both Sharp and I went (one at a time) and prayed over the vial. Supposedly, the blood turns from solid to liquid every time a person places his/her hand on it. The priest who watches over the vial wipes it every time a person goes to pray over it with a white cloth. All in all, it was a very cool experience - for all of us. However, we still hadn't satiated our desire for candy so we went back to Zuchero (not really, we wanted to go see the live demonstration of how they make the candy) and, naturally, sampled more candy. Now, thoroughly sick and our train to Amsterdam imminent, we decided to be suicidal and get one more batch of fries (our last Belgian fries). After that, our stomachs were truly barking at us. To make matters worse, I forgot the exact time of our train (I thought it was 10 minutes later than it actually was). So, we had to run to our hostel and get our stuff and go on to the train station. Sharp and Gabrielle were sure we wouldn't make it...and, justifiably, we were really far away and had no time. With our packs on, we turned a 20 minute walk into a miserable 12 minute run/walk. We arrived at the train station at 4:21 (the train was at 4:20). We ran to the platform and the conductor saw me and laughed. He kept the doors open a split second longer and we were all able to get on. We stepped on and the doors shut 2 seconds later. WE MADE IT THOUGH!!!!! Exhausted, hot, and probably smelly, we settled down for a 3 1/2 hour journey to Amsterdam. We got to Amsterdam around 9:30, found our hotel (2 stars - we didn't want to stay in a hostel - sketchy sketchy), and were hungry again. We went to a pizza place, which was quite good, and I had a salad to try to compensate for that day's intake of trash. Seeing that we were only staying one night in Amsterdam, we decided to brave the Red Light district after dinner - it was mayhem. Note: turn off your flash on your camera. I was taking a picture of Gabrielle and my camera flashed. The prostitute behind the window got really angry and motioned to stop taking pictures (she wasn't attractive at all - not sure why she thought I wanted to take a picture of her). Anyways, I sped away with Sharp and Gabrielle. Sharp maintains that the hookers didn't really seem like people. What was more entertaining than the hooker shops though were the "party boats" that kept passing on the canal. They were filled with drunk, high people dancing (ridiculously) to techno music - it was hilarious to see these people just act absurd. Next to the red light district (which is only a street/block - I was unimpressed) is a Church, which I find ironic. After walking the red light district (trying to prevent pickpocketers all the while), we went back to the hotel and crashed. Amsterdam is kind of terrible at night...Sharp isn't a fan and I'm not really, especially not at night.