Brussels and Bruges, Belgium

Friday 10th June 2016:

Our Eurostar train was estimated to take around two hours from London to Brussels. Quite amazing really, that a mere two hours on the train and we managed to cross the sea and traverse three separate countries (England through France to Belgium). All passengers were ejected at Lille in France due to a technical fault on another train, and so the changeover process added roughly half an hour extra to the total journey time.

Once we’d made it out of the station, we got in a taxi and headed into the city centre to locate Lauren and Mark. Being Friday night and coincidentally the first night of Euro 2016 football championship, the city was alive with people. We found Lauren and Mark sat at a restaurant adjacent to the elegant St. Nicholas Church and Brussels Stock Exchange.

We headed off to the apartment which was conveniently close to the city centre, and along the way we noticed that while Belgium is already well known for its chocolate and waffles, one of its lesser known specialties is Belgian frites (Belgian hot chips).

The apartment was in a bit of a slummy looking area, although admittedly over the course of the weekend we never felt unsafe nor had any reason for concern. Inside, the quirky apartment had many hallmarks of a European residence – odd design, with an impractical layout and poor use of space. The apartment was arranged in an L-shape, stepping through the front door an unusually narrow hallway lead onto the bedroom area, with a separate bathroom on the left side. Around the corner to the right and through the door was the living area and kitchenette, opening to a Juliet balcony.

The gang was finally back together for the first time in 15 months! As a result, we stayed up talking for hours before finally going to bed, having decided that tomorrow we would head off to Bruges for the day.

Belgian people generally seem to be able to speak in four different languages, Dutch, French, German and English, however also seem to be unable to converse fluently in any one of those languages.

Once we’d awoken, we set off in search of waffles for breakfast and found a café called Peck 47. Here, they didn’t seem to have any sweet breakfast options which, at first, we were a little disappointed by but once we received our savoury breakfast meals (which were essentially eggs benedict but with a waffle instead of bread) our perceptions had changed.

After breakfast, we set off towards the train to Bruges. Along with an entire trainload of other passengers we waited on one platform for a long time, were then advised to swap platforms, boarded a train, were ousted from said train due to a fault, changed platforms again and eventually finally boarded a train that actually left the station. A bit over an hour later and we were arriving in Bruges.

We’d been told by others that Bruges is a pretty city and it lived up to expectations. Composed of cobbled streets, canals and medieval buildings, this is quite an idyllic little city. We made our way to the central square, Markt, and then set off exploring the streets that run off it, visiting many of the chocolate shops hoping for some samples although were only successful in two of the stores. 

On the walk into town earlier, Brendan had spotted from across the canal the Bourgogne des Flandres brewery and its sunny outdoor patio siding onto the water. We ventured in here, but to our dismay the outside area wasn’t open! We stayed for one drink here and then headed around the corner to the 2be Bar and Beer Wall. 2be was packed, clearly a popular weekend venue, and its waterfront terrace offered a serene view of Bruges. We struck lucky managing to score some of the best seats on the canal after waiting for only a few minutes. As we drank beers, we watched swans eating tree leaves.

The brightness and length of European summer days still catch us off guard, suddenly it was nearly 8pm and so we headed back to Brussels. Although it was Saturday night, there was very little open by the time we got back and therefore slim pickings for dinner. The weather had been pleasant up until now however has now taken a turn for the worse, and it was now raining.

On Sunday, we spent the day wandering around the Brussels city centre. We went for an obligatory sighting of the trademark Mannekin Pis, a small and overhyped fountain, as well as visiting some more chocolate shops and waffle stores. The favourite waffle topping we discovered over the weekend was Speculoos, a biscuit-based spread that became a delectable gooey mess when spread on a warm waffle.

After stopping in for lunch at Fritland, we returned to the apartment and gathered up our bags to return to London on the Eurostar.

Highlights:

- Met up with Lauren and Mark for first time in 15 months

- Bustling Brussels city centre on Friday night

- St. Nicholas Church

- Brussels Stock Exchange

- Ate savoury waffles for breakfast

- Day trip to Bruges

- Markt square

- Tasted our way through Bruges chocolate shops

- Bourgogne des Flandres brewery

- 2be Bar and Beer Wall

- Mannekin Pis

- Ate more waffles

- Frite shops (Belgian hot chips)