We Wish We Spoke German: Brussels

We spent one night in Luxembourg, then headed on the train to Brussels early the next morning. We weren't sure what to expect of Brussels, as many of our German friends said it wasn't that great. Despite what they said, however, we really loved Brussels! It is much larger than Luxembourg and there was much more to do. It is also nice mix of a modern city, but still with a picturesque, historical city center.

Our hotel was right near the European Union parliament buildings. This is where all of the representatives from the different nations within the European Unions get together to make (or at least discuss) all of the difficult decisions. The buildings are awesome. Our German friends joked that that it where all of their money went haha!

After checking our the EU buildings, we walked about 10 minutes to the city center. They have a really nice main square that is surrounded by several blocks of shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, etc. We spent some time exploring and snapping some photos. There was also a Belgian beer festival going on in the main square all weekend. They had huge tents set up and hundreds of different beers on tap (you can see the white tents in the photo below). However, it was very crowded and the beer was pretty expensive, so we opted to try some Belgian beers in cafes instead.

We also tried some tasty biscuits, or "pain a la grecque" from the famous Dandoy Biscuiterie. These are a Brussels specialty and they were delicious!

Belgium is known for quite a few specialties... including waffles, chocolate, and beer. We tried all three... (Note: They are also known for fresh mussels. We skipped this specialty)

But we didn't JUST eat and drink... We also toured the Royal Palace, went to the Chocolate Museum, spent some time in the park, shopped in the impressive Galeries Royales Saint Hubert, and saw the Manneken Pis, the famous statue (Matt was disappointed in the size of the statue, hence the second photo to show perspective).