Arrival in Brussels

My tailbone was sore – 4 hours of being seated can have that effect – but I was relieved, I was finally out of the plane. Said an adios to my new friend, Carlos (whom I’d probably never see again), met P and C.C., got my luggage and caught a taxi to our hotel.

After we checked in, we dumped our luggage in our awesome rooms… that deserves a pause… they were great… king sized.. very comfy double bed, lovely bathroom (just had to have a shower just for the sake of it)… well I won’t go on.. lets just say it was really nice..




End of pause… and we were off to Brussels centre. Possibly nothing exciting – I mean my impression is that of a rather dull place judging by the dull, cloudy overcast sky!

Talk about being wrong! As we walk out of the train station in “Bruxelles – Central” I started noting and absorbing the newness (well, new to me) of this city’s atmosphere; alive with people, and yet so villagy in it’s own way. We couldn’t help but think about our stomachs and also to get to Gran Place which we´d later in the week define as one of the most beautiful piazzas at least in Europe.





Walking to, in, around and away from Gran Place is a feast for the eyes, but also your nasal senses – you are instantly welcomed by the scent of Belgian Fries (the original French Fries as one of my soon to be friends, Tom, explained to me), Hot waffles (plain, with hot chocolate syrup, with panna, with sugar, with berries, with ice cream… if I haven’t got you drooling I’d start wondering from which android planet you came from), expensive fragrances, delicious Belgian chocolates, and Belgian chocolate fountains…

Snap out of it.. back to the Gran Place… it’s beautiful.. wonderful.. surround on each of the 4 sides by monumental buildings with decor so detailed it seemed as fragile as a sugar made version of them. The pictures don’t do it any justice but have a look, below:




Having recovered from the awe we felt, we took heed once again of our grumbling stomachs. We went round Brussels centre streets, took a few pictures but still couldn’t decide where to eat. We went back to Gran Place and found a warm, cottagy restaurant, which however charged like we were eating at a high-end restaurant. It was a rib-eye steak for C.C. and duck in Krik (a cherry based beer) sauce for me and P, followed by a delicious crème brulée for me and a Belgian waffle for P. C.C. took his Belgian waffle off the street…they tend to be better.

We went around a little bit more, I bought my Belgian Frits (kemm jien hanzir!) – quite expensive but well worth it, and then we also sat down in the centre just to absorb a bit of the calmness and Belgian evening feel… till we decided to retire back to our hotel rooms as it got late, and we had to wake up early the next morning.