Chocolate, Beer, and Waffles

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day (or Singles Awareness Day, depending on your err...beliefs)! Ours was spent together in a country known for it's beer, waffles, and chocolate (in no particular order)--Belgium! Oh my heavens. Seriously, put Belgium on your travel list. It is one of the most beautiful places we've been. I know, I say that about every place we've been, but I haven't found an ugly place yet! Part of the appeal of Belgium was that I knew practically nothing about it. It's far more underexposed than some of the other major cities of Europe.  I will say though, part of my surprise when we travel is because I'm HORRIBLE at world geography. I find something new- and almost embarrassing to admit- every time I look at a map. I have no clue why--I feel like we didn't really learn a lot about the present day world in school. I could be wrong, though. My kids are so much better at it than I am,  but that's what we want as parents, right?!

Our trip started on Friday, Valentine's Day. We arrived in the city around 3pm, found our hotel with ease and unloaded. Our hotel was actually in the heart of the city this time, as opposed to the places we usually stay on the outskirts of whatever town. We were maybe a block away from the Grand Place, and it was phenomenal! I'm normally a big fan of staying outside the city because it's cheaper and you can always just take a train or bus or street car in. But I have to say, having the convenience of just popping back to the room for a bit was fantastic. I think this may be the way to go for future trips. So, we unpacked and headed immediately to the Grand Place (or Grote Markt). Karma and Murphy's Law doing what they do, I had just written a blog post about being prepared, and then I forgot our baby carrier AND umbrellas. Naturally, it rained a fierce little storm. So we schlepped through the side streets of downtown for a bit in the harsh, cold rain, before we broke down and bought the cheapest little umbrellas we could find. That made things a little bit better. Seeing the beautiful Grand Place (and my girls getting along in it) plus Les Galeries Saint Hubert just about negated the fact that we were dripping wet. What it didn't make up for was that fact that my camera decided to go all wonky. Hence, all my pictures were taken with my iPhone.

Les Galeries Saint Hubert and Grand Place in the rain

After we walked around for a bit, we had worked up an appetite. Our first choice restaurant was at full capacity, so we "settled" for a cafe outside our hotel. I say that we settled, but I'm utterly convinced there is no such thing as bad food in Brussels. The restaurant was called Gaufre de Bruxelles, but after seeing the beverage boy who was-I SWEAR-the younger spitting image of John Mayer, it became known as 'Johnny Waffles' for the remainder of the trip. This actually wasn't my nickname--the girls came up with that. We actually ate there twice that night. Once for our actual dinner, then we explored some more and went back for waffles and beer. This is where I fell in love. With a beer. If you know me, then you know I normally cannot stand the taste of alcohol. I enjoy wine, but it has to be a sweet wine, like Moscato. I decided to try a cherry flavored beer, thinking you either do cherry very, very wrong-like cough syrup, or you do cherry oh-so-right. This was the latter. It's called Kriek for any of you who might want to sample some when you're in Belgium. It was delicious enough that I'm pretty sure that was the ONLY beverage I consumed for the entire trip. Also, very unusual for me to have more than one of anything.

Pictures really do more justice than my words ever will! 

 "Johnny Waffles"....Are you drooling yet? I was! 

Saturday we spent the day exploring the city by foot. We headed to the St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral first. It was so beautiful inside. I always feel a little strange to go into churches and cathedrals to take pictures and poke around, but we do it anyways. The stained glass windows in the places we visit never cease to amaze me, and this cathedral was no exception. We did see other places that day, but many of them were as we were walking by or just from the outside.

 Sunday we ventured out to the Atomium. Personally, I had never heard of it, but that shouldn't surprise you, since I didn't even know they spoke French in part of the country! Well, the Atomium is billed as "Belgium's Eiffel Tower", so of course we wanted to see it! When it came into view, I don't think any of us were quite prepared for just how imposing it is. Built for the 1958 World's Fair, it soars into the Brussels skyline at 335 feet, and you can't help but be blown away by its magnitude. Just imagining this giant monument being erected into the sky for the fair, sent my little brain into a whirlwind. Granted, updates and overhauls have been made to it in the last ten years or so, to add the museum and what not. Once we had explored all the different spheres of the museum, we decided to head to the very top sphere and have lunch. At first, we were turned away because we didn't have a reservation, but we managed to sweet talk our way in. (Really, I said "but the baby can sit on my lap." A four top was available!) I'm not sure I've ever had a fancier (or pricier) waffle in my life! They even served the kid's drinks as if they were spirits. Definitely an experience!

The very last thing on our 'to see' list was the Manneken Pis. It was one of the obligatory sights that everyone must see when in Belgium. Personally, I didn't see the appeal. I have a little boy--I'm no longer impressed with potty talk. 

Hopefully this post makes sense--it's taken a few days to write! Today we are off to celebrate our little man's birthday with friends--I can't believe it's been two years already!!