Brussels, not Bressels

This past weekend I went to Brussels, Belgium. My friends and I booked it a couple weekends ago because the flights were to cheap (only 80 euros round trip!), but we weren't entirely sure what it would be like. We were pleasantly surprised by our awesome and yet totally weird weekend.  I also wanted to go because the main language spoken in Brussels is French.

Grace, Laura, Olivia, me and David

I went with my roommate Laura, and our friends David, Olivia and Grace. It turned out to be an awesome and easy-going group to travel with. We left Friday morning, and let me tell you, getting to Brussels is a bitch and a half. Summary: hour bus from Florence train station to Pisa, hour and a half flight from Pisa to Brussels, then another hour bus ride into the center of Brussels, and then a metro ride to our hostel. But we made it with no major hiccups and got to our hostel by about 4:30.

Laura snuggled in our hostel

After arriving at our hostel Friday, we went in search of food. We soon realized we were staying in the Arab district of Brussels and our first choice of a restaurant led us into a massive and completely empty restaurant with very formal decor. Needless to say we bailed without cracking the menu, and settled on a cute bar/restaurant where we hunkered down for a few hours. I tried 3 different types of beer, and my favorite was the strawberry beer that my friend Katie suggested I have. It was delicious! We all ordered food, and had a delicious dinner. I just had a salad nicoise since I wasn't that hungry, but David and Olivia ordered steaks that came with an excess of fries, so I had quite a few of those.

Biere Framboise (strawberry beer)

Salad Nicoise

After dinner, we went back to our hostel to regroup and find a place to go out. The concierge at the hostel suggested an area with a lot of bars with loud music so we wandered in that direction. We went to an Irish bar first, and I of course got hard cider. It's so hard to find in Florence, so I always get it when I can. Then, we went to a more crowded bar and then wandered into a gay club where we spent the majority of the night dancing and having THE TIME OF OUR LIVES, as Olivia would say.

The next morning we left the hostel by 11am, thus not abiding by their bizzare 10am-2pm lockout policy. We wandered in search of food, namely waffles, but as we had no idea where we were going ended up walking through the business district of Brussels where all the restaurants are closed Saturday and Sunday. We ended up eating at a Halal place a block away from our hostel after an hour long walk. I had a falalfal wrap and french fries that were both delicious.

David's Batman symbol hamburger!

After regrouping, we got waffles (finally!) and went to Mini Europe! It is exactly what is sounds like: miniature versions of a bunch of major monuments in the EU. It was possibly the most hilariously bizarre thing I have ever seen in my life. It's definitely something to see, if you ever get the chance.

Belgian Waffles!

Mini Europe!

The normal-sized Pisa group at the mini Pisa!

Chloe the winemaker! (they had these things everywhere)

Laura and I in enormous wooden clogs

Saturday night we went to the old town of Brussels, and went to a place that the NYTimes recommended for Moules Frites (French for Mussels and Fries). Laura and I had only been talking about them since Friday morning, so it felt like a long time coming. I got Moules Speciales, mussels with celery, onion and butter, and it was delicious. They come in a VAT with a bowl of unlimited french fries to accompany it. You eat the mussel using the shell, and dip the fries into the liquid on the bottom of the vat, and I ate every bit. It was one of the best meals of my life.

In the Old Towne of Brussels

Moules Frites!

zee group at dinner (Chez Leon)

After dinner we wandered over to the Old Palace and it was gorgeous. We saw the miniature version at Mini Europe, so it was cool to see the real thing the same day. It was some of the most ornate and beautiful architecture I have ever seen. Then, we went in search of Belgian chocolate, which totally lives up to the hype.

The mini Grand Palace!

The real Grand Palace!

chocolate chocolate chocolate

After a relaxing evening we crashed at our hostel to wake up bright and early in the morning to head back to Brussels. Due to our combined effort, we missed our bus to the airport and had to take a shuttle in a cab, but it was only 13 euro so it didn't break our wallets. Other than that we successfully made it back to Florence by 2! All in all a weird but lovely weekend.

New thing: Moules Frites