Friday, July 13. We got up at about 5:30am... so early again. For this trip there were six girls, Kati and Alex (my roommates), and Chelsea, Jordan, and Elle (these three live in my flat). We took the EuroStar to Belgium. I am pretty sure I slept the whole way there because the ride felt like only 15 minutes instead of 2hours. (In case you don't know, the EuroStar is a fast train that goes under the water in order to get to mainland Europe.) When we arrived in Brussels, Belgium we followed the tour guide onto a chartered bus. Since our hotel rooms were not ready yet we took a tour of the outskirts of the city. We saw their equivalent to our White House, some extravagant Chinese buildings, and the Atomium. The Atomium is a huge metal structure that is in the shape of an atom. It was created for the World’s Fair in 1958. We stopped at the Atomium, took some pictures, and continued on our journey. Our next stop was the center of Brussels, at the Grand Place (Place is pronounced like plaz). This was the prettiest part of Brussels because it was a huge square with tall buildings with great architecture. In this square there is Belgium’s largest museum and there is a Chocolate Museum! We walked around the square for about an hour before heading back to the bus. The first thing I did when we were given free time in the square, was a hunt for Belgium Waffles! This was not a difficult task at all. There are so many waffle places all around the square. They were the best waffles I had ever had. The waffles seemed to have a little sweet crunch on the outside; I am pretty sure it was coated in caramelized sugar! Mmmmmm!!!!!
After checking into the hotel we met the tour guide to go on a little excursion. Thankfully the hotel was within a 10/15 minute walking distance to the Grand Place. The very first stop we made on the walking tour was to see the Manneken Pis. This is a fountain statue that’s only about two feet tall. It is of a little boy peeing… that’s were the water comes from. The story behind this statue seems to be a little fabricated, but here it is. There was a fire that started and it was going to burn down the whole town, but this little boy peed on the fire and put it out. Therefore the little boy saved the town and he is the town hero! This is the most common story behind the Manneken Pis. After taking a couple of pictures we worked our way back to the Grand Place.
In the Grand Place the whole tour group stopped to have a drink in the square. Thankfully we had the best weather while in Belgium so we were able to sit outside and drink our Raspberry Beers! (If you have never tried a raspberry or cherry beer before, you should! They were really good!) We all thought about having dinner at this little restaurant, but decided not to because the prices were high and there was a little selection. Once the entire first round was gone we picked up and moved on. The next stop was a restaurant where I tempted the traditional Belgium dish, muscles. I have to say I was sceptical at first, but they were the best muscles I ever had. The service was really slow, so once dinner was over it was late and everyone headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.
