Brussels' Mussels
Trip dates: January 25, 2017 - January 27, 2017
We stopped by Brussels for just 2 nights/1 full day in between Berlin and France - pretty much just so I could get some Belgian frites. It was a pretty gorgeous day when we were there and the first time we'd seen the sun in a while, so it was a good day to spend outside despite it being still on the cooler side.
A lot of the sites we saw were centered around the Grand Place, which is a square with lots of historical buildings around it. We also wandered east to the Palace of Brussels and saw a few things in between. Along the way, we passed a whole street of escape rooms and ended up popping in to one. We managed to beat it with just minutes to spare! We also stopped by one of the many used bookstores we saw, where we donated an old book and grabbed a few new ones.
I enjoyed Brussels as it had a more 'lived in' or homey feel compared to Berlin, but it was definitely on the dirtier side and had more homeless folks/beggars around. It felt much more like a real city where people live, rather than a more touristy destination. Lishan wasn't as big of a fan since she has joined Team Norway, where everything is super clean.
Panorama of the Grand Place
Since we had pretty much planned on going to Belgium so I could get some fries, this was one of our early stops! I did a lot of research into what people thought were "the best", but based on where we were, timing, and ease of access, we ended up going with Fritland. It was good, but I wasn't blown away, which is a bit sad. I was hoping to have a transcendent fry experience; perhaps my expectations were a bit too high.
Belgian waffles (gaufre de liege) were also high on our list and ended up being our breakfast. The one we got the first day was super good and had the right crispiness, dense-ness, and sweetness that we were looking for. We got another one the next day but it wasn't quite as good.
Otherwise, this was our first official foray into more French food, so it's a preview of what was to come!
Belgium is also famous for its chocolate, so we had to grab some and try it of course. We saw lots of different shops and somewhat arbitrarily chose Leonidas to go into. We also got a sampling from a more touristy shop because we were just wandering around and they gave out free samples, which drew us in! Noobs.
Besides tons of chocolate shops, we also saw lots of macarons but didn't do a lot of shopping for them since we were going to Paris next, which is supposed to have some of the best macarons.
