While we had a rocky start to a place with little to no expectations and very few tourist attractions; Brussels, Belgium turned out to be pleasantly surprising and one of my top places to visit. Basically, just a blog about waffles and cafes.
DAY 18: JULY 18- TRAVEL TO BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
The Worst Part of Our Trip
Our flight was ungodly early so we woke up at 3am and walked to the train station and made it to the airport. They pulled my bag aside and made me throw away my sunscreen, dry shampoo and wrinkle release even though I had been traveling with it for the past two weeks. We got to the gate and they didn’t have any seats at all so everyone was sitting on the floor.
While waiting to board, we noticed a family checking their baby’s forehead thinking he is sick. Next thing we know, we start boarding and he is throwing up all over the floor as we’re in line to board. The dad wipes it up with napkins, really just rubbing it around and leaves it on the floor as if that’s the garbage. No one said anything to them, they didn’t say anything to anyone. We were praying they didn’t sit near us on the plane. We were boarding in the back of the plane and they were boarding in the front so we thought we were in the clear but of course they somehow end up sitting right next to us.
As they are getting on the plane, the dad is holding him facing away from him and towards strangers. Of course, the baby throws up all over the people in front of us and the floor. The family didn’t even care, just kept going about their day and didn’t even say sorry. The dad’s shirt is covered in vomit as he passes the baby to the mom. She had the isle seat and was holding the baby facing us. You would think they would have some sort of wipe since they have a baby. Nope. I gave the people in front of us the hand wipes I had in my bag. Haley gave the mom one of her plastic bags she keeps in case she needs to throw up but she just tucked it away in the pouch of the seat in front of her.
We were anxious the whole flight that he might projectile vomit on us on a flight that we were relying on getting sleep on since we couldn’t check into our airbnb untl 4pm and we had been up since 3am. When we landed, he threw up even more and we waited until the whole plane cleared to move so we didn’t risk touching anything. Of course, once they got up some random guy decides to put his bag down directly in it and continued to sit down there to wait to get his bag. Completely clueless to what was going on. We felt ill. All of this before 8am.
Killing Time
From the airport, we found a train to the city center and rode it for thirty minutes. Once we arrived, we walked to a convenient store Juan found to leave our bags and went to get breakfast. It was a Monday morning and the city was so quiet. I guess no one works? We ate at a cute cafe called Woodpecker and I got a banana smoothie and avocado toast. I loved it a lot there. Our Airbnb check in was hours away so we walked around Brussels going in and out of stores. We went to Flying Tiger and I got a coconut bowl. At H&M, I got a romper for 2 euros and a Giants sweatshirt for 6.
*Note: I don’t know how Juan found this place to leave our bags or why we trusted all of our things with this man but we did and it worked out, thankfully.
After, we walked to a park to just sit in the shade and actually ended up finding another location of the restaurant we went to that morning. It was so hot so we sat in lounge chairs they had, listened to music and slept a little while Haley and Emma watched stranger things. I decided to order sweet potato fries and a vegan cookie. I wasn’t really that hungry so I don’t know why I did.
Exploring More
It was finally time to go to our Airbnb. We picked up our bags from the man holding them and walked to our Airbnb. Everyone settled in, changed and laid down and I went in the stairway to call my family for the second time of the trip. For dinner, we ate at a Belgian restaurant. I had shrimp and leek risotto. It was good but I low-key wished I ate meat for their style food. There were so many more options that all looked so good. For dessert, we got waffles and churros. We explored more and got our pins. Once home, we watched an episode of Stranger Things together on the couch and went to bed on the later side.
*Note: Haley had never seen stranger things so we were watching from the beginning and were addicted, clearly
DAY 19: JULY 19- FULL DAY IN BRUSSELS
Walk, Eat, Sleep, Repeat
Our day started later, like 11:30am, and we didn’t leave the apartment until 1pm. We ate more waffles for breakfast at Maison Dandoy. I got a waffle with chocolate sauce and strawberries. Then, we walked to find the Mannequin Pis. It was smaller than I imagined. We walked to Delirium to get a meter long flight of beers and fries. The statue of the girl peeing, Jeanneke Pis, was right there. It was 105 degrees so we stayed outside for as long as it took to finish that and walked around for a little bit and went back. We relaxed inside until dinner watching Stranger Things.
For dinner, we went to the Blue Restaurant. I got a veggie panini. It was good. Me, Haley and Emma walked to get another waffle. We found a rooftop bar a woman suggested to us but it was full. I got a Nutella, strawberry and banana waffle. It was so good. An American man we passed on the street told us we had to go to the square, The Grand-Place, at night so we did. It was pretty but nothing super special. Then, we went home, showered, watched Stranger Things and went to bed.
DAY 20: JULY 20- FULL DAY IN BRUSSELS
Saying Bye To Emma
For once, we actually woke up at a decent time because Emma had a flight to catch. She was meeting her family in Hungary until we would all meet up again in Croatia. We got ready and went to a cafe called Crème where they had an awesome selection of food and the inside was so cute. I had a cappuccino and an acai bowl. It was so good, I also really loved this place. Now that I think about it, I think I only liked Brussels so much for their cute cafes.
We walked back to get Emma’s stuff and walked her to the train station. Juan, Haley and I took the metro to see the Atomium. It was kinda far but cool to see. There wasn’t much around it so we took scooters back to the metro. When we got back to our area, we walked to the rooftop bar the woman had suggested to us the night before, Solar. Here we got non-alcoholic drinks and humus twice while we sat there talking for a few hours.
*Note: I tried tagging Solar but it says Permanently Closed, don’t know if that’s accurate
Being in Belgium, we had to get some chocolate so we made assorted bags from a shop. Juan got a haircut and Haley and I went back to pack. We met Juan after his haircut and walked around to find dinner. After circling the area many times, we found a place in the square and ate there. I had a quinoa veggie salad. It was cold and rainy so we were itching to get back to the apartment. When we finished, we ended the night early and went home to have our leftover chocolate and watch Stranger Things.
