with such an early flight, we reached Brussels ard 9.45am. this is where we start feeling the language barrier, almost everything is in French or Dutch. we only make things/directions out from the little diagram beside d words.

anyway, after 45min of waiting for our luggage, we head for the bus station, following instructions given by our host in Brussels, Bertrand. we need to change to a tram at one of d stops and we had to ask for directions. she started to direct us where to go and which directions to take for the tram, in French and at d same time with lotsa pointing and signing! we didnt understand what she was saying but we understood her directions. it was a rather funny sight i have to say!

on tram in Brussels

Graffiti ads along tram route

we managed to follow d lady's instructions and reached our destination without much trouble. after a short rest at our host's nice home on the 4th floor, we took a tram just to see a bit of d town. we ended up near the Atomium! nice surprise! This Eiffel Tower of Belgium apparently went thru some major cleanup and is now shiny n Bright!

Atomium behind me

we tried to have an early night but we werent very sucessful at all! we spent the night cooking n chatting with our host over dinner.

Brussels' couch, in a spare room at Bertrand's home

Day 10

d weather wasnt much better than yesterday but we started on our walking tour anyway. we walked thru the 'posh' street where all d big brands are (obviously we didnt do any shopping there!). our 1st stop is Palais de Justice. d building is HUGE n really old n wasnt maintained. so it wasnt very nice. but d building was on a higher ground n we managed to get a good view of Brussels city from d back of d building.

we then took a long walk to the Royal Palais de Belgium. apparantly there's 2 palaces, 1 is in d city and d other just outside. or cos we werent allowed in to neither of them so we only took photos outside it.

Royal Palace behind me

we went into the Brussels Park across d palace n had ice cream there! yes we were freezing but eating ice cream! it was cool! d ice cream doesnt melts easily cos of d weather so u can really enjoy it slowly!! there are many statues in d park but none of them were well maintained. some were covered with algae n other slime. d fountains were either dried or really dirty. so it was quite a pity that the beautiful park was not very pretty.

on our way to d Grand Place/ Grote Markt, we pass by this nice little garden Place du Petit Sablon where there's lotsa statues of important people who helps bring prosperity to Brussels. what i cant understand is that ALL d statues has huge calf muscles! every single one of them!

Hotel De Ville at Grote Markt, Brussels in daylight

we walked thru the shopping areas where we had a late lunch... fries! our host had told us earlier that d fries here are excellent n we must really try it! so we did that. they were indeed nice! more chunky n tasty n they dont turn soggy when they're cold! yum!!! after lunch, we actually visited some chocolate shops and of cos we have to buy some chocolate... how can i walked into a Belgian Chocolate shop without buying chocolate!??!?!?? we went into 3 stores n bought something from each shop (all were dark chocolate, my fave!!!). we decided to stop entering chocolate shops cos we knew we will be tempted to buy more...

just going to these few places in d city already took us like 3-4 hrs! the city is not as small as our host told us!! we decided to wait for nightfall so we can see d Grand Place/Grote Markt at night with all d lights. we picked a not so crowded restaurant just behind the main square and ordered mussels. a huge pot was served shortly, with fries (a little toooo much fries in 4 hours). it was really nice to have a piping hot pot of mussels in a cold weather like this! d mussels were really good n fresh and we cleaned d pot out without much effort! guess what we have for dessert?...... yes! waffles!! i ordered 1 with chocolate sauce... very very yummy but a tad bit overloaded with sugar.. ahahahah...

Mussels dinner!

by d time d sun went down around 9pm, i was pretty happy cos i think i won't be able to stuff myself anymore than i did! saw d nicely lit Grand Place/Grote Markt. it was very very beautiful indeed! we were clicking our cameras away like there's no tomorrow! i think we might have taken tooo many... hahah...

Hotel De Ville at Grote Markt at night

me at Grote Markt/ Grand Place

we walked to the infamous monument of Belgium which is very nearby. it is a very small statue actually... lotsa tourist were exclaiming about how small it is! of cos as a tourist, i need to take a photo of it...

Mannekan Pis

we headed home after that... it's been a fruitful day in terms of camera and food! hehehe......

written by  wangyng on April 4, 2008 from Brussels, Belgium
from the travel blog: Hello Europe!!
tagged Brussels and Belgium
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after getting info in d city centre and walking ard a little, we decided to just head for d Basilica.

d metro stop is a fair bit of walk away from the Basilica. we need to walk thru a huge park b4 getting to d Basilica. it was a really long walk (ard 30-40min). we could see d Basilica getting bigger as we get nearer.

Elizabeth Park, leading to the Basilica Koekelberg

when we finally enter the compound of d Basilica, we can feel it's really really is H U G E !!!!!!!! i cant describe how HUGE it is in words! after a few pic (everyone looks tiny in photo), we head for d exhibition entrance.

Basilica Koekelberg

it's ard 4pm by then n did we get a surprise. there's a looooooooooong queue to get d tickets! d queue was sooooo freaking long dat we couldnt see d start of it (it was in another room). we were trying to decide if we shd see d exhibition or not. we ended up queuing almost 1.5 hrs to get d tix n another 30min to enter d exhibition ( it was way too crowded to let everyone in at d same time). by d time we actually enter d exhibition, it was about 5.45pm! it's a pretty big exhibition talking abt Da Vinci as a man, an artist, an architect and scientist. it was pretty detailed... there's his art work, his architectural work and his inventions. let's say i know him quite well now...

The Last Supper at the Da Vinci exhibition

we finish d exhibition ard 8pm. our host Bertrand n his girlfriend Prisca waited for us to have dinner cos we are going to try d Thai takeaways near his home which he said is really gd. we gave him a chopstick d night b4 as a thank you gift and he was really happy with it. he was using the chopsticks. he had mentioned he will display d chopsticks in his kitchen cos he likes it so much. dinner is good n we had a nice chat.

Me, Prisca n Bertrand

the next morning, Prisca was heading home n she dropped us at d antique flea market near where she stays. this would be our last stop b4 we take d evening train to Brugge. there's a lot of nice things at d mkt but i cant buy any. i really wanted to buy d camera but carry it on d 3 mth trip would be a nightmare! and in d end, i probably have no place to display it at home anyway.

at d flea market

Brussels' couch, in a spare room at Bertrand's home

as we walked home fr d flea mkt, we head to this italian restaurant which was recommended to be cheap n good. unfortunately for us, after a 30 min walk, we were greeted by a dark interior and tightly shut door. what luck! we ended up going to a nearby fast food restaurant QUICK (the Belgium version of Mc Donald) b4 heading back to pack.

so this ends our time in Brussels. til d nx town.....Brugge.

written by  wangyng on April 5, 2008 from Brussels, Belgium
from the travel blog: Hello Europe!!
tagged Brussels
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Yesterday we spent walking around Liege, Belgium with the bestest tour guide evar. The whole reason we went to Liege was to pick up a ring Steph had made for James. He saw it online and sent her an e-mail asking about it...a few months and few thousand miles later he has a new ring and we have a new friend.

The coolest part about walking around with Steph yesterday was the conversation, talking about world politics, the history of the region, religion, you name it we covered it.

Though, i have to admit, I think there's a little sadist hiding inside her because she suggested we go up these stairs...and then we did.

I kid, we went up those stairs for this view :)

So James and I have been taking note of the graffiti we encountered on this trip and so far our analysis is this....

Ireland blows, Scotland had none to speak of, and Belgium takes the gold.

In Ireland the graffiti was just single line name scribbles, no talent whatsoever. Here, its just stunning. I have a love hate relationship with graffiti too, it makes me sick when people deface beautiful or historically significant buildings. Ugly blank city walls on the other hand..spray away.

So this counts more as a mural...but seems like a fitting testament to the caliber of street art here.

Art in general seems huge here. Walking in Liege and even today here in Brussels its just gallery after gallery, and world class stuff too. Everything from modern to ancient art is on display here. And oooh man the ancient art....Steph suggested we go into this 'antique' store. I think that word has a whole different connotation here then it does back home. If i had a i million dollars I'd still be walking out of there with a lot less then i wanted to.

Egyptian idols, fertility statues from god knows where, classic red and black roman vases, swords from the roman legion, old oil lamps, and masks to name of a minute part of this guys collection. I'd have brought some masks home for ya Neal but yeah I'm missing that aristocratic heir to some foreign throne in my family tree.

So next up for us is Spain. This wasn't a planned thing but we were blowing through money way to fast in Europe and honestly we don't feel like we were getting what we wanted outa of this trip hopping around tourist areas so much. It's time to dig in a bit and really get to experience a different culture. And start collecting recipes...I haven't done nearly enough of that yet on this trip but i think i need to compile a little cookbook when we get home of foods from around the world shrug

YAAAAAAY our luggage just found us....damn i have to lug that heavy pack around again.

Ok been babbling long enough...next update will be from Spain!!

Keep up the comments...we check for them often and giggle over them all missing you less with every word /cheeseoff

Love and hugs and kisses and all that fun stuff!

written by  Slade's Elucidation on July 8, 2008 from Brussels, Belgium
from the travel blog: Slade's Elucidation
tagged LostBags, Brussels, Belgium and Liege
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