Belgium - Bruges, Gent and Brussels

Just when you think the frustrations you experienced in Paris were over, they seemed to continue at the Paris Nord train station - the station which we had to take our train from Paris to Bruges in Belgium.  I have never been in a slower line up in my life - ever! We needed to make reservations for the train to Bruges and I kid you not, we waited in line for over 2 hours.  It's not like there were 100 people in front of us, maybe 15 people at most.  Because of the lengthy delay, we missed the train we anticipated on taking and had to wait another 1.5 hours after we made our reservations for the train. C'est la vie!

Bruges
Once we finally arrived in Bruges, it was smooth sailing - just the way I like it.  Bruges is a beautiful city filled with medieval architecture. It seemed like everyone rode a bike in Bruges as their main form of transportation. Bikes were parked everywhere. The city centre is quite small and everything is easily accessible by foot.  There are 2 main squares - Burg and Markt.  They are lined with restaurants and cafes galore on the bottom level of beautiful buildings.  Here are some pictures from Bruges!

Huge selection of waffles and toppings.

When in Belgium, you must eat a Belgian waffle....so we did!

Gent
The following day we went to Gent and Brussels.  Gent is a pretty neat city (but I prefer Bruges).  Gent is bigger than Bruges and has more shopping & eating, whereas Bruges was smaller and while it was touristy, I liked the vibe in the city.  I spent the morning in Gent exploring and getting lost! I also tried Belgian fries - because of course you must when in Belgium!  Matt visited Sint-Baafs Cathedral to look at the world-famous Adoration of the Lamb painting.  I read about the painting beforehand and it didn't catch my interest, but apparently it was quite impressive. 

Here is a pic of a replica of the Adoration of the Lamb painting in which Matt was allowed to take a photo of:

We also bought a small sample of Belgian chocolate from Leonidas.  We both agreed that it was the best chocolate that we have ever had. It tasted like chocolate - creamy and smooth and not sugary at all - like the stuff you get at home. 

Here are some pics from Gent:

Check out how many bikes are parked at the train station! Whoa!!

LOL! This is literally one giant bike. Tourists would pay to ride the bike together - music would be blasting and they would be singing along.

Belgian fries - What is with mayo and fries? Matt also had mayo on his fries the night before in Bruges so I though I'd try it.  I did not like it! I saw people everywhere eating mayo with their fries and thought, "What am I missing out on?". Turns out I'm only missing out on the extra calories. I'll stick with lightly salted fries or some ketchup!

Belgian chocolates....to die for!

Brussels
After our afternoon in Gent, we headed to Brussels where we booked a hotel for the night.  Once we checked in, we re-organized our luggage again, showered and went to sleep.  Oh, I must tell you about the bathroom mirror - there is a part of the mirror that has a heating element behind it so that it does not fog up! Once you get out of the shower, you can see yourself clearly without having to use a blow dryer to get rid of the window fog.  Note to self - install heating element behind future house bathroom mirror.

There were only 2 main things that I wanted to see in Brussels - Grand Place and the Manneken Pis. When we first arrived at the Manneken Pis, I was surprised for 2 reasons. Firstly, it is so small!! I always thought the statue was much bigger. It looked to only be about 12 inches high.  Secondly, it had clothes on!! Cute!

For such a famous statue, it's so tiny!  Next photo shows a close up.

On to the Grand Place. Once we turned the corner and entered the Grand Place, I literally lost my breath.  Wow, it was captivating.  These pictures don't do it justice, you just need to see it for yourself.  There really isn't much to see in Brussels...except the Grand Place makes it worth a stop!

I need a wider lens to capture what I want!  That will go on a Christmas list :)

Brussels Town Hall

Maison du Roi (King's House)

 Here are some other pics from our stint in Brussels:

Monstrous church

Streets of Brussels

Check out the detail on the Brussels Town Hall!

Palace!

Me in the Grand Place...and tourist in the background :)

Matt enjoying his Leonidas chocolates on the train! Have I mentioned that we have first class tickets? Our train rides have been awesome for the most part.

On to Amsterdam!