Last But Not Least...Brussels

Sad to leave Berlin, but excited to see Brussels we hop on the train and head to Belgium. The train ride was uneventful and I slept pretty much the whole time and we arrived in Brussels at about 5:45pm. We eventually found our hotel (not hostel!) and were pleased with free breakfast, our own room, our own bathroom, and other hotel like amenities. Although there wasn't air conditioning =/ That night we didn't do much, just walked around and got some waffles! They were delicious!! We ventured into the Grand Place by accident. It was quite pretty and not too crowded, so that was nice. I got myself a doner kabob (popular over there) and we just relaxed for the evening. It gets dark late there (much like Paris at like 10pm) so it throws us off a bit.

On our full day in Brussels we woke up and got breakfast, and headed out to our first stop - The Mannequin Pis - Brussels most giggled at sight, and perhaps its most famous. When we got there we had a laugh because it was the smallest little statue! It was quite overrated, but something we had to see. After that, we went to the Hotel de Ville, which is just a fancy term for Town Hall. We took a tour and learned a bit about Brussels history and saw where official meetings take place and stuff. It's cool because they still seem to do things quite old fashioned-ly. They still have a King/Queen too, although they don't have like ultimate rule.

After that, we went to the Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate!! How exciting! The museum itself was just like a little history of chocolate, where it comes from, how it's made, and why it's better in Belgium. But the best part was that we got free chocolate samples! YUM! I definitely took more than you were probably supposed to, but hey - When in Belgium! We saw some guy make some chocolate stuff, which was pretty cool.

After that it was funny because we were pretty much done with everything we wanted to see and it was only 2pm. I didn't believe people at first when they said you could do Brussels in a day, but you really can! We got some French Fries because they were invented in Brussels - they tasted like most fries, but it was exciting nonetheless.

Then we shopped around a bit. We went to several souvenir shops, chocolate shops, and beer stores looking for gifts. We figured we'd buy most of our gifts in Belgium since it was our last stop. I bought A LOT of stuff and my backpack was ridiculously heavy. After I got home, my parents were amazed with how much I kept pulling out of my bag! I had about 12 beers (all but 1 were gifts) 6 boxes of chocolate, 13 shot glasses that I had collected in each city, and a lot of other little stuff. One might wonder how I managed to fit 12 beers on a plane...well, I purchased some bubble wrap and put them in my backpack, because obviously, I couldn't carry on that stuff. My backpack was pretty much all full of beer and chocolate wrapped in clothes, while I carried around in plastic shopping bags clothes and toiletries and stuff. It was quite the scene and quite heavy! But I made it back with not a single thing breaking - although, all my chocolate did melt together.

Anywho, after shopping we got some more waffles - I think I gained a million pounds on this trip despite all the walking. That night we watched the USA vs. Brazil soccer game at an Irish bar, but unfortunately they lost =( We headed back to our hostel, showered, and watched a movie that I named Bears, and then went to bed.

Our second day was spent on a day trip to Bruges. We hopped on a train at about 11 and it only took about an hour and we were there. We walked out of the train station and headed to the brewery. At the brewery we took a tour. We saw how the beer used to be made and even got a view of the city from the top. Afterward, we got a beer - it was good! I have discovered on this trip that I'm a fan of wheat beers, or hefeweizen.

After that we walked around for a bit, I got a waffle, and we headed to the Markt square. It was pretty, but we didn't do anything there. We then headed over to some other square (Burg, I think) and sat on a bench. I had to go to the bathroom, so in an effort to find a place that didn't cost money, I wandered into a church. It turned out to be the church where they supposedly have a relic containing Jesus' blood. It was this big silver statue thing, so you can't be certain. And they didn't have a bathroom.

After finally just paying for a bathroom, we headed to the park where we fell asleep for 2 hours in the grass - lol. We came all the way to Bruges to sleep? I guess so. We woke up to these guys kicking a soccer ball over our heads - a bit scary!

There wasn't much else to do, so we headed back to the station. Along the way, I got some chocolate and were back on our way to Brussels. We took it easy once we got back, and this is when I attempted to pack. It was quite the task, but I did it successfully!

I suppose I will include our last day in Paris as well because it's quite the story. So we headed to the train station with all of our bags. I had my backpack, which like I said was pretty much just full of beer and chocolate, another bag with random things I couldn't fit in my backpack, a purse full of all my shot glasses and magnets, and my orange backpack with like 2 books and other things. HEAVY! We have some trouble once we get to the train station - we need reservations to get to Paris. We tried to make the 11:15 train, but the line was so long that we had to wait for the 12:15. Our bags didn't get any lighter and we had to pay 26 Euro and they didn't have 1st class available - Lame.

We eventually made it to Paris though and we immediately stored our bags at the train station. We went to buy a metro ticket to get closer to the city's center, but the machines were so confusing! It wouldn't take our cards and therefore we needed about 12 euro in coins - NOT easy to come by. Plus, we weren't even sure we were buying the right thing.

Finally, we get it sorted out and head to the Notre Dame area to do some shopping. We got our Paris souvenirs, pashminas, and I bought a dress from H&M! I felt European. By this time we were so hot and beat we got some food and decided to just make our way back to our hotel since it was near the airport. This is when everything started to go wrong. We get our ridiculously heavy bags and make our way to RER B - the train that goes to the airport. There were so many sketchy people there, we were a little confused. First, we got on the wrong train, which usually isn't a problem, but for some reason it stopped for like 10 minutes. There was no ventilation on the train and we were so tired because we had to stand with our bags on. Then to top it off, some scary guy started smoking directly into my face! I never thought we were going to get moving, but thank God, we did. We got turned around and back to the right spot only to find that there was a problem and the trains weren't running. We waited and waited and waited, all the while more sketchy people started to build up and we had no idea what was going on! When trains DID come, there was no way we could fit because people were literally falling out of the door it was so packed!

We retreated upstairs for a bit to try and wait it out. Luckily, after about 2.5 hours after we originally arrived at the station, it cleared up and we FINALLY got headed in the right direction. And God was on our side at this point, because we ran into some Canadian ladies and their kids who were staying at our same hotel, so we just followed them through finding the shuttle. Which was a good thing because we would have never found our way on our own! Everything went smoothly after that and we finally got to throw all our bags down, shower, and relax in the AC. I thought that that moment was never going to arrive after the day we had. We passed out and woke up in the morning and went to the airport. We didn't have any issues and made it back to Dallas safely without anything breaking - a miracle!

This was by far the best trip of my life and I can't wait to go travel again! It was the opportunity of a lifetime and I'm so glad I had the chance to do it! It was quite bittersweet returning home, but I'm so glad we made it through the whole trip safely and happily! Thanks for reading!

Love,
Chelsea