Les vacances de Toussaint have come and gone - in the blink of an eye! Returning to Gerardmer today it felt as if I were arriving for the first time because everything looks different - the leaves are in full color, the forests seemed to be on fire; all orange, red and bright sun shiny yellow (which was very nice considering the gray, cloudiness of the day).
So let's begin with a preface: At first we (Michelle & I) had planned out the vacation Colmar-Strasbourg-Brussels-Amsterdam, but at the last minute decided to switch it up a bit and just visit Brussels and Amsterdam, giving us more time in each city (and also leaving the Colmar/Strasbourg visits for Christmas markets!) I think this was a good call in the end, giving us more energy to give to each trip and was much easier travel-wise, as well as a bit easier on our wallets. Monday morning (October 25) I left Gerardmer for Nancy, where Michelle met me at the train station and we set off to finish up last minute plans for the trip. In preparation for our departure we had hoped to CouchSurf- a great way to meet locals, see a more personal perspective of the city and get a free place to stay. But we were not receiving many responses from hosts, so we were panicking about where we were going to stay (but also excited to see how resourceful we could get). Another way of saving a dime in Europe (at least from France) is to join co-voiturage- a kind of formal hitchhiking site, where people put up where they're driving to and for a small fare you can get to your destination!
We got a very nice response from a guy named Mago who was able to take us in his Mercedes to Brussels. Saving time and money, we made it to Brussels early Tuesday (October 26) afternoon. First business at hand: find the tourist office. Not as easy as one would think! And we wandered aimlessly around for a good while with our big packs trying to find a tourist office. This did, however, give us a quick look of the city we would be visiting. Luckily, on a whim I had emailed Elfa Kere, an American-Latvian living in Brussels. She was free and would be able to host us the first night in Brussels. So after we finally found the tourist office, which was located at the Grand Place, we made our way to Elfa's apartment to drop off our things. We were met by Elfa's husband, Andris, and after chatting a bit, Michelle and I peaced out to go see what this city had to offer!
We found Manneken-Pis, the cute statue of a little boy who pees and gets dressed up for any and all occasions in Brussels. And then got sucked in to try a famous gaufre (waffle), which are on every street corner, tempting every sweet tooth. Best eaten plain, with sugar sprinkled on top. But my favorite was definitely the gaufre Liege, which was plain with a crackly sugar coating, which was delicious! If you prefer, there are also the “tourist” waffles, which are covered in Nutella, bananas, strawberries, whipped cream, oh whatever you can imagine. But to really see what the fuss is about, I suggest just eating it plain.
That evening we had dinner with Elfa and Andris, and soon after headed out to visit some bars. Elfa was a great host, we drove by the EU Parliament and got to see some local flair. In preparing for my trip to Brussels, I knew I wanted to try as many beers as possible- and I think I came pretty close to succeeding. Through out the days we were there I drank: Panache, Chimay Bleue, Leffe blonde, Vedett, Orval, Mort de Subite (Kriek-Cherry flavored), Delirium Tremens, Delirium Nocturnum, and some sort of Brussels special white beer that I can’t remember any more.
The next day we visited Elfa at work and had lunch at the EU Commission canteen! Brushing shoulders with the big shots that make the big decisions for Europe. Pretty cool. She works with the European Action on Drugs and her office has a wonderful view of the European Parliament building. After lunch we checked into our hostel, which was very close to Elfa’s apartment and didn’t take away too much from our visiting time. The day ended with us taking a fabulous walking tour of the more diverse areas in Brussels, where we saw “Little Africa”, the Park Avenue of Brussels for shopping, the Palace of Justice and other great places. After the long walk we stopped for drinks at Christine’s suggested spot- Celtica- where happy hour was from 1pm to midnight! Score! Delicious draft beers for 2 Euro!
Our last full day in Brussels was packed. The weather was on our side, it was on the warm side of cool, a great fall day and partly cloudy. We really wanted to see the costumes of Manneken-Pis, so we ventured to the Museum de Ville, which had a lot of information about the history of Brussels and its evolution (but wonderfully balanced with modern day photography of the city, which I loved!). At the end of the tour is a room of the many costumes of Mannequin-Pis. Wow! This kid has more outfits than I do and the most extravagant get ups I have ever seen. Every culture, every event has its special costume made and there is even a committee, which decides on the costumes for the little guy. Although not in the current exposition of costumes, there is a little Latvian costume that was made and I found it on the computer library of costumes.
Other people had also suggested the Musical Instrument Museum as a potential visit during our stay. AMAZING. First of all, the building on the outside is quite exquisite, with intricate music notes and details that could only be appreciated up close. Upon arrival (and after paying the entry fee) you receive a pair of headphones and are instructed to stand on the numbers in the exposition. Okay… hmm. Well, it turns out that the headphones are synced with sound clips that correspond to the instruments in the exposition. So that when you stand in front of an instrument display that has the headphone symbol on the floor, you will listen to sound clips of that particular instrument. It brought me back to my world music class, in which we discussed various instrument types and had to memorize their sounds and categories. What a great, interactive way to learn about music! I think my favorite moment was getting to hear the sound of my weight. Standing on a platform put the pressure of your body weight onto a cord that you plucked to hear what you’re “sound” is. I did feel there was something left to be desired in actual descriptions of instruments and of where they came from/who played them/cultural uses in society, but all in all I was a satisfied customer.
Another of the “must have” things in Brussels are of course the fries! For this we were suggested to go to Maison Antoine, a little shop in the middle of a square, a bit of a walk away from the center of town, but absolutely worth it. Stand in line and receive your paper cone filled with fries and doused in whichever sauce you desire (I had mayo and tartar maison). Michelle’s only mayo order had so much mayo that you couldn’t see the fries. Heart attack in a cone? I think so. Was it worth it? Absolutely! Another sauce that we’ve enjoyed is Samurai sauce, which is a spicy mayo-ish sauce. Great in small amounts, but when on a sandwich or covering fries it can be a bit much… For our last night in Brussels we went to Delirium bar. A bar with a menu of at least a few hundred beers and a constantly changing 20+ beers on tap. Needless to say, it was packed, smoky and quite uncomfortable, but well worth it for the beers.
Overall remarks about Brussels: it’s a very livable city and I could see myself living here. Full of diversity, cultures coming up at every corner and you never know what language you should speak- French, Flemish, English? Well, almost everyone speaks English, despite the dubbing of English language television channels (like in France, the government chooses to dub the shows in their native language to keep English from taking over, but this also takes away from the natives learning a more modern English speech). It was the perfect size for me, small enough that you could reach everything by foot (some walks obviously longer than others, but we had time and that way we could see more!), but also had the big city feel that I love. It was professional by day (think European Union, etc), party and fun by night (think Delirium). What’s all the fuss about the chocolate? Although we didn’t actually try any of the chocolate from the shops (too expensive!), we did get some bites from the super market and yes, it is quite melt-in-your mouth goodness. My fave was Cote D’Or. Architecturally it was a dichotomy of old historical buildings and modern ones. The description from our tour guide says it all: “Brussels is ugly, and we love it. And if we don’t love it, we live with it. So don’t be surprised that we build a terrible apartment block next to an Art Nouveau jewel, or a pseudo-classical monster in front of the Central Station.” –Use-It, Tourist info for young people
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