Today we woke up and headed out to see a few different things around Brussels. We started by heading to a place to get some fries. Apparently these are supposed to be some of the best fries in the world. The street vendor that we had originally set out to see was closed today (many businesses seem to close on Saturdays), but there was a snack shop called Snack La Couronne next door. We went in, and the guy there had a bunch of different things on the menu. I got a burger, which was essentially these two thinly-sliced Halal beef patties on a French baguette, and some great fries. I also tried this drink called Tropico, and it was great! Both of us ate, and had four drinks for only 10 euro, which is amazing given the price of food here.

After our snack, we headed to the Basilica of Koekelberg, or the Basilique as it is known here. It was an astonishing beautiful, and huge cathedral. The interesting part about it was that it wasn’t lavishly ornate and trimmed with gold this and gold that like many of the cathedrals I have seen. Mainly, there was a lot of nice woodwork and some granite and marble. It was quite a remarkable building.

Then it was off to the Atomium, which is arguably the hi-light of Brussels (although some would say that title belongs to the Manneken Pis). This huge and futuristic building is shaped like a gigantic molecule, and the atoms (orbs) of the molecule are rooms with museum-like exhibits. It was a little pricey to go into the Atomium, but the view from the panorama was really neat. Given my fear of heights, though, I couldn’t get very close to the windows (just like when we visited the Rhine Tower).

After the Atomium, we headed back to see the Manneken Pis? Why would we want to see it again you ask? Well, since he wasn’t dressed up in honour of Elvis yesterday, we wondered if he would be dressed up today. He was! He was dressed up as the chief of the Meyboom Fanfare. Not only did we get to see him donning this costume, but we also saw the guy come turn off the fountain, remove the costume, and start it back up again at 17:00.

We also had to stop in and see some of the world-famous chocolatiers that reside in Brussels. Some of the places had insanely expensive boxes of chocolates, but I could almost justify spending the money because they were outstandingly delicious. 😉 We then headed to dinner, but out of the seven places I looked up all seven were closed (either indefinitely, or for the night). So, we went back to the hotel and asked the owner for another recommendation. We ended up walking to this Chinese place up the street. The menu was completely in French with a Dutch translation, but no English at all. It was interesting to eat Chinese from a place with no Chinese or English on the menu, but that was playing English-language Disco music and oldies.

Anyway, tomorrow we had back to Düsseldorf tomorrow, and then take the flight back to Dublin. We are hoping to find something fun and exciting to do on the way back, since the flight isn’t until the evening.

Today we woke up and got ready to depart Amsterdam for Brussels, Belgium. As there was construction, the trip down to Brussels took slightly longer than expected, but it wasn’t really a problem considering we were still early. We arrived two hours early for check-in at the hotel, but fortunately there was another guest who called the manager so we could get checked in. This hotel isn’t like the other ones in which we have stayed. It is called Budget Flats and it is more like a studio apartment; there is a refrigerator, microwave, closet, table and chairs, couch, and a little backyard. Amazingly, with the internet usage, it still cost us less than some of the other hotels.

The manager of the hotel suggested that we not drive our car into the city centre, but I couldn’t understand why. The public transportation here didn’t seem as nicely done as in some of the other cities, so I thought we would drive. After about 10 minutes of driving, I understood why we should have taken the metro. There are no stop signs or stop lights at many of the intersections, and people just seem to drive however they please. Other cars pull out whenever they feel like it, pedestrians walk in between cars, and traffic is insane! Couple those things with my poor understanding of the city layout and there is quite a problem.

Anyway, we actually made it to the city centre and found a parking place. The first stop there was the infamous Manneken Pis, which is arguably the busiest tourist attraction in Brussels. If this is THE thing to see in Brussels, we had better find another city to visit tomorrow. It is basically a small statue / fountain of a kid peeing. That is it. Yup, there is nothing more. So, we saw it, looked at each other, and tried to figure out what all the fuss was about. I was a little disappointed as they usually dress him up in costumes for special occasions, and even though they said that on 08 January he would be dressed as Elvis in honour of the King’s birthday, he was not. 🙁

After the anticlimactic statue, we found a little waffle stand to get a snack. (If you didn’t know, Brussels is known for waffles, chocolates, fries, and beer). There are two types of waffles: Leige, which tend to be sweeter and eaten by hand, and Brussels (or Flemish), which are more rectangular and typically eaten with utensils. We had the Leige style, and I had mine with white chocolate as a topping. It was delicious, but a bit difficult to eat as the warm white chocolate kept running off the side and down my arm, while the powdered sugar flew all over my jacket and gloves.

After our waffles, we found a chocolate shop called Neuhaus. The owner of this shop invented the Belgian praline, which is a chocolate-covered nut (pecans, walnuts, et cetera) or even a nouget-like filling. We didn’t buy anything though, as there are many other chocolatiers to see in Belgium.

I couldn’t find the African restaurant at which we wanted to eat, so we settled on going back to the hotel and seeing what places were close by. The owner of the hotel recommended an Italian place right up the street called Il Sipario. We went there and told the owner that it came recommended. The meal was exceptionally light and delicious. I had a simple penne with red sauce, garlic, onion, and basil. For dessert I had a Zuppa Inglese, which is an Italian cream cake with Alchermes (a liqueur) and layers of custard and sponge cake. It was also excellent, and seemed to have a slight toasted coconut taste and texture to it.

Tomorrow we plan on seeing some of the sights around Brussels, and then possibly venturing out to neighbouring cities like Geel and Bruges.

Today started off with a trip down to Centraal Station in order to catch a different tram than our usual ones. We firstly went to the Purse and Handbag Museum. While not my first choice of museums to see, it turned out to be fairly interesting. The exhibits had a bunch of information regarding materials and methods used during different time periods, and for what purposes the bags were used.

From there we then made our way to XtraCold, the ice bar. This bar itself is made completely of ice, and it is located right near the Amstel canal. Though it seemed like a neat place, we couldn’t justify the 20 euro cost to enter the bar, even if it included two drinks. So, we took a gander at some of the pictures of the inside of the bar, and then headed out.

Next we went to the Anne Frank House, which has been mostly converted into a museum as well. It was very interesting as it included many of her writings, and also allowed us to see what the house was like while the family hid from the Nazi invasion. One really interesting connection was that one of the family members was sent to Neuengamme, which is the labour camp outside of Hamburg that we went to see a few days back.

After the Anne Frank House, we made our way back to Centraal Station to catch the 21 bus to a coffee house called Barney’s. However, we couldn’t find the place, and the address I had was apparently not correct. It would have been neat to see, but we were okay without it.

On the way back from Centraal Station, we decided that we would just walk down the main stretch and choose a restaurant that way. We stopped at this Argentinian steakhouse and ate. As we have found in many other places here, the water is not free, and the food is usually very pricey. The meal was pretty tasty though, and my baked potato was massive! After dinner, we walked over to the other major street that runs north to south—Damrak—and looked for a bakery. We didn’t find one that had nice looking pastries, but on our way back to the 2 tram, we did find one. Stopping in, I had a glass of Chinese Blossom tea (strength of an English tea, but with a little more fragrance, like Jasmine) and a slice of apple pie. Both were great.

Now, I am getting things ready to depart for Belgium tomorrow. I certainly enjoyed my stay in the Netherlands, and I hope that things go equally well, if not better, in Belgium for the last leg of the journey.