Belgium Jan. 26-29 - Brussels

WHAT AN AMAZING COUNTRY!!!

Brian and I went to Belgium for a weekend in January with some of our friends. Belgium is just gorgeous and very unique. We went to Brussels and then took a day trip to Brugge. Brugge was really neat because most of the buildings are made of brick and the streets are cobble stone. Brussels was nice too just not as authentic; a lot of cool buildings, especially in the city square.

Jan, Brian, Pat, Brian C. and Guilherme

Also on this trip was Darren and Andy but I don't have a photo of them.

BRUSSELS

On the first evening we explored the city, getting some nice night photos of the Grand Place (market square). We also made sure we got fries with mayo (European mayo, not Canadian); which is so super good! Then a few of the guys hit up a pub so we didn't see them the rest of the night.


The next day we all went for breakfast at a Belgium waffle joint. The waffles were so delicious, I wanted to try them all. This is what I got though:

Wow...I know!


Then the rest of the day Darren went off exploring on his own with his agenda and the rest of us went sightseeing together. We walked around a lot of the city seeing most of the buildings and areas that we planned. Along the way we came across nice parks and streets as well.



Of course we went back to the Grand Place to get more pictures. This is considered one of the most beautiful medieval squares in Europe, full of baroque and gothic architecture. It was pretty sweet. The square included the King's house and City hall, located below:



We saw a lot of popular cathedrals and basilicas: St. Micheal & St. Gudula Cathedral, Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Notre Dame Church of Laken and the Sablon Church.

Basilica









The monuments and areas we went to consisted of the Atonium, Sablon Square, and the Royal Palace and park. I know there was more that we saw but I don't know the names of much more. The Manneken Pis (a weird statue of a little boy peeing - it seemed strange to us that it was a main attraction but whatever) was one of the monuments we saw.

Atonium Model (you can go inside all of the "atoms" where there are different activities in each one, ex. restaurant, children's play area, ect.)

Other than that we spent our time at night in getting fries with mayo and sampling different Belgian beer at a local pub. We were able to try a couple different beers that are in the top 10 in the world, so that was cool.


On the following post you will find out all about Brugge - check it out!