My weekend experience in Brussels.

After getting into our brand new shiny exploring clothes, we were all ready to hit the Big City of Brussels. Looking back on it now, I don't think we quite realized how much we were being "babied." The hotel staff spoke English to us. Our rooms were incredibly nice, if cramped. We were offered a free dinner. And if we ran into any difficulties out, everyone was able to switch to English effectively.

Anyhow, the experience then was quite different. We all found our lodgings to be cool, but most of us couldn't understand why they were so small!

It didn't bother us enough though, because we intended to spend every waking moment walking the deliciously cobblestoned streets of Brussels. Just walking around alone was a wonderful experience. Upon arrival it had just rained and the air seemed refreshingly cool and the modern streetlights and shop signs reflected off of the ancient cobblestone roads. Everywhere we looked women and men and children were bundled up and it seemed as if they all had personal fashion designers on their side. The smell of cooking waffles would waft towards us at any turn, and if not that, then the smell of potatoes in a fryer.

While exploring on the first day, we all kept in mind that BXL is currently in the season for "winter soldes" or sales. We were told that unlike in America, when a sale can happen at any particular time for any particular store, that in European countries it is common to have only winter and summer sales. I think we all did very well keeping our money in our pockets that first day, and were all just glad to not be caught on a stuffy airplane. Not to mention, that it was pretty helpful that dinner was free. We were all taken out by one of our coordinators to a place called The Marmiton.

It was such a gorgeous but tiny restaurant. Soft white curtains, red cushioned wooden chairs, gold poles reflecting the white christmas lights left in the window. The menus they gave us were enormously large and our budgets allowed us three courses! I ordered prawns which came out in a rich buttery sauce, rabbit which was cooked in a cherry beer sort of gravy, and cream puffs filled with ice cream. Needless to say, even though we were half a block away from our hotel, the return journey was pretty tough! It was nice to be able to eat and drink with our new friends and have a traditionally European lengthy dinner.

As for the saving money, well the second day made it a lot harder!

We found breakfast in le grand place, or grote markt, at a small place called Aroma’s. We think it might have been for tourists due the to location and the menu being in English but I successfully ordered in french a plain croissant and hot chocolate, no whipped cream. It was really good, but sad to find out later we could have had free breakfast at the hotel. But nice to have breakfast out and with new friends. They were taking down the Christmas tree at the time. The streets and the square are made of cobblestones, which they broke up and dug down into for the tree base. It’s quite strange looking but the cut up tree smelled wonderful!

Also, I got my first waffle! Une gauffre liege, or a small take-a-way waffle. I picked chocolate. Here I am with Anna and my brand new waffle when we discovered the Mannekin Pis.

The Mannekin Pis is absolutely famous in Belgium, and therefor always shockingly small to travelers. It is a little tiny statue that pees into a fountain, and was a commentary on the need of a fresh and clean drinking water system in Brussels.