Bier, Chocolate & Waffles......Thursday
Having a train to catch is a fantastic incentive to get off work on time! It was a bit of a mad rush day at work, but once I'd left work on time and made the train at Billericay, I definitely felt relaxed and ready for a great weekend. We took the Eurostar again having got a pretty good fare, had our packed picnic of chicken sandwiches and a coupla beers... yum!... and were in Brussels before we knew it.
The train arrived in at Midi Zuid, so we needed to work out the Metro in order to get to our hotel... We didn't have too much trouble though it would have been a bit easier if we weren't so tired!. Little things like looking at a map and working out line we had to go on... getting down to the platform and realising that neither of us had remembered which station we needed to change at! Still, after a couple of very helpful directions we were on our way!
The transport system itself is a mixture of undergound tram network, metro and buses... Services are really frequent though I found most of the stations felt dirty and smelt a bit...
Our hotel, The Royal Windsor, was in a fantastic location, right between Grand Place and Centraal station. There are heaps of restaurants, bars etc right round the corner. The casino was across the road, but we didn't venture in there.
I would say there was about a 10min turnaround between check-in and sitting down for our first bier!. Even though by this stage it was about 11pm, most things were still open and there were still heaps of people about. The little street that we had headed down had heaps of Greek cafes and the pubs advertised the prices of their biers in their windows... Where was the cheapest Stella?,,, that's where we headed! After I had had a coupla Duvels (one of my favourite beers), & Matt had 1L of Stella (!) ... we were both practically sleeping sitting up!
Friday
Early (well, not really but it felt like it) wake up call at 9:30 when housekeeping banged on the door! ... Still glad they did otherwise I think I could still be sleeping!
We headed out for breakfast (no way were we paying the 29 Euros... each... for the hotel breakfast!!) mmm pancakes!!!.... then just wandered around for a bit ... through the Gallerie St Hubert (a glass roofed arcade), through the Tin Tin Boutique... and, of course, lots of chocolate shops... so so so many! And they all offer you a taste! mmmm... though by 12 I think I'd had enough!
We went through a little chocolate museum that was just off the Grand Place, which had a history of how chocolate came to Europe, where the cocoa bean is grown and the process from bean to chocolate bar... and, of course..., some free samples! It was quite a good little museum actually, I think it cost about 5 Euro each to get in...
After a walk past the Manneken Pis (yep, as it sounds, it's a statue of a little boy emptying his bladder.. have since tried to find the history of the statue... but there seem to be quite a few different stories....).. we then decided to head away from the main square and jumped on the Metro out to the Atomium.
The Atomium is a huge sculpture (height 102m) that was built for the World Expo in 1958... kinda strange really. Though you can get a lift to the top and get great 360 degree views around brussels. They had a flying fox set up from the top of the Atomium... for one thing, I'm not that into heights... but it also really didn't look all that safe which is my main reason for not giving it a go!... It was hooked up to the front of a truck.. and the only thing stopping you from hitting either the front of the truck or slamming into the ground was the reliance on a couple of guys who "at the right time" would pull on a rope connected to a stopper thing and run in the opposite direction... No thanks!
I would not call the Atomium itself a 'must do', but it was a great way to spend the afternoon. Some of the spheres are set up as exhibition halls - the more interesting ones were the ones on the expo itself. There was one bit on 'interesting expo facts'.. how many visitors, how many beers etc.. but also that 20 people gave birth and about 4 people died... was a strange mix of facts!
We had a late lunch nearby at a pub 'La Leon'. I had a lovely Flemish Carbonade (like a goulash i guess) and matt had some snails and crayfish. Was a great, sunny and warm day and it was great to just sit with a couple of beers and watch everyone go by (there were some strange ones!)
We decided to have a walk past the European Parliament and the Royal Palace before heading back to Grand Place... the Royal Palace was not guarded at all... which I would have realised had I done any research before heading off... The Royal family don't use it as a residence anymore, it's mostly used for large receptions and to accommodate any Heads of State...
Had a late dinner tonight, at a pub off the main square... Matt had a huge pot full of Mussells (I had a couple, just to say I'd had some Mussells in Brussels... though I just don't get the fascination in them)... I thoroughly enjoyed my Schnitzel and Hoegaarden.... what was even morrree yummy were the waffles we had from a little kiosk... mmmm...
Saturday
Another pretty relaxing day today... went to Autoworld, which is a museum housing, well, cars! The collection was quite extensive, though I have to say, I didn't get as much out of it as Matt did. Specially the Citroens... I still think the way the lowered the back and covered the rear wheels is fairly ugly.... still Matt seemed to think they were quite well... oh well, the world would be a boring place if we all liked the same things!
The actual building and the parks surrounding the museum where really quite nice though!
From there we headed somewhere more my style... the Cantillon Brewery, apparently the last functioning brewery in Brussels. The beer has a very distinctive taste - quite acidic and more like wine than a traditional 'lager'. Quite refreshing though not something I could see myself drinking regularly. The brewery is still run by the same family that established it, and you actually meet the family, including the brewer which is quite unique.
The area the brewery is in is definitely not the nicest part of Brussels... and when we decided to walk back to our hotel, we definitely saw another side to Brussels! still we stumbled across a really nice little piazza which had a cool little pub serving really nice burgers (and frites in little terracotta garden pots)... I noticed across the road was Comme shez soi.. or something like that... which is one of Brussels' best restaurants.. well outside our price range!
We had a mini pub crawl for the rest of the afternoon / evening trying lots of different biers. (Affligem, Judas, Jupiler, Kwiek, Kwak, Maredsous, Chimay, etc etc!).. sat at a bar on one corner for a while, watching the little community of buskers and beggars operate... quite amazing what you see when you just sit and watch for a while! ... quite the little operation!
Sunday
- Quick breakfast and last wander round the shops before heading for our Eurostar back to London... damn!
Monday
- diet starts !! ... and we saw Fast and the Furious 4 - a welcome return to the good ol FF (but still plenty of those cheesy lines)!
