Belgium: Beer, Waffles, Chocolate and 'Quick'?

Waking up in a daze, still in Paris, I quickly check my mobile phone to see what time it is. Now, I had forgot to set my phone time ahead an hour when we reached Paris so what I saw was 9:30am and started thinking "Jebus, we gotta get going. We are already half an hour late for check out and could get charged an extra night." Jeff looked at his watch and informed me that it is in fact 10:30am. Thinking that I had left my bad day behind me, I remembered that the trouble did not actually begin until 4am, so infact my day could be just beginning.

We hurried downstairs still in that place between drunk and hungover which I so aptly named "drunkover" while I was in Australia. We had lucked out and we did not get charged an extra night. Now it was time to escape this city and for me to look forward to what would be next... except we had no idea where to go next.

It never even crossed either of our minds that once we got the train station ticket booth we would not have a destination in mind. As what was going to become a reoccuring theme, we were unprepared.

Having no problems navigating the subway back to the train station, we infact made record time. I was still angry and bitter, but most of all I was feeling like a huge jackass for the way I acted earlier, but I never wanted to admit it at the time.

We waited our turn to get up to the ticket booth and the gentleman asked us where we were trying to go. Jeff and I exchanged blank stares and then started to look around the room nervously. After a few moments of silence and an agitated ticket agent, Jeff spewed out "Brussels". Of course, why didn't I think of that. It's close by and we can mend our wounds with terrific Belgium beer, waffles and chocolate. The ticket manager gave us a worrying look and said he had bad news. Oh no, it starts. The bad day is just going to continue. Ticket agent "I have no more 2nd class seats with the under 26 discount available " (being under 26 we get cheaper train tickets on certain seats) "All I have is regular 2nd class for 80 euros or 1st class tickets for 70 Euros. Which would you like?" Jeff and I exchange another blank stare as if we are both thinking the same thing: "The cheapest one, you clod!" and so it was, 2 scruffy backpackers were gonna live it up in 1st class.

We had about 15 minutes to wait until our train started boarding. I went to secure us some water while Jeff watched the bags. When I returned he mentioned that he thought he saw the two Swedish girls from last night just pass by. I'm thinking "cripes, this just doesn't end." but then he finishes by saying how they both looked like absolute garbage and probably didn't get any sleep. Well, I'll take that as a consolation prize. Most swedish girls that I know take alot of pride in their beauty. If those two looked like garbage (and it is REALLY hard to imagine) then that is the only blow to their self-esteem that I needed to put it all behind me.

Things were looking up. The train ride was a very comfy and uneventful one. Free food, reclining chairs and the quietest coach there is. This was the life and it was ours to bask in for the next 2 and a half hours.

We arrived in Brussels in the mid-afternon and I had done some research in lonely planet book as to where to stay. Thinking I had it all figured out we were off to find the metro trains. Within minutes of pulling out a metro map we had just aquired, a gentleman approached us asking if we needed any help. I was taken aback. We were wandering around Paris for hours with a map stretched out in front of us and no one would even look at us and here we are in brussels with a tiny map of just the public transit area and this guy wants to help us. Unbelievable. We found where we needed to be going and found our hostel really quick (which was a boost to my self confidence after the Paris fiascos). The bad news was the hostel was full. Infact the guy at the counter told us that all the hostels in Brussels would be full. When I enquired if there was a festival or something special happening at this time he replied with saying "no, it's just the way it is right now." So our next mission was to find a hotel instead. Just around the corner we found one. Not too grand, but not a hole either. Infact we only paid 20 eruos a night for our own room as opposed to the 27 Euros a night we paid in Paris for a share room (is anyone getting the impression that I wasn't liking Paris that much, yet?).

With ourselves sorted and in a new city we felt it was time to discover some food outlets. We wandered and after a few blocks started to notice something eerie. It was 5pm and everything (yes, everything) was closed. There were no people on the streets and very few cars passing by at which point it hit me... it was a Sunday and in Europe Sunday is when many places don't even open. Ooooh dear. We kept wandering hoping that if we made our way more into the city centre we could find something...anything that would be open. Come on, I'll even eat at McDonalds if I have to! Half an hour into our quest we had found a bit of activity and a small fast food outlet known simply as 'Quick'. The giant red 'Q' filled me hope of tasty delights so we ventured in. It reminded me of Wendy's back home. It was basically the way you would think fast food should be done... fast. It was pretty tasty to boot. After our feast we turned in and slept off the booze from the night previous.

We awoke the next morning to find it raining...alot of rain. This put a damper on things, but also gave me the first opportunity to wear my brand new rain jacket. I was actually excited about this. We started out walking in the same direction as we had done the previous evening and were comforted in seeing that all the shops had opened up and Brussels is not infact a ghost town. Not really knowing what Brussels had to offer, we got on a hop-on hop-off tour bus. Basically, it takes you around to a bunch of different sights and you have the choice of getting off and exploring and then waiting for the next bus to come by, or staying on the bus until something tickles your fancy. The first thing to tickle my fancy was the giant Atomium.

The Atomium is a giant building that looks like an Iron atom and was erected for the worlds fair (or expo or something). Close by to the Atomium is a small theme park called 'Mini-Europe'. I couldn't resist. It's a small walk through park which has a ton of models which i think are about 1/151 of the size of the original landmarks. It has things like Big Ben and the Eiffel tower and all sorts of buildings from all over Europe. One of the last models is a Space shuttle for the European Space agency which actually lifts up off it's launch pad and spews out smoke. The part that had me confused was that after it took off the speakers would blast Daft Punks 'Better, Faster, Stronger' song. I'm sure NASA would have better morale if they got to rock out to a little dance music after their space shuttles launch.

We continued back on the bus exploring sights and buildings we didn't know even existed in Brussels until we got to the main shopping area. It's a pedestrian mall which is like a much more successful version of Stephen Ave. back in Calgary. Here we were able to obtain our Waffles! I got to chow down on a waffle covered in chocolate, bananas and whipped cream. Best 5 Euros spent yet. It didn't stop there. We went and found a chocolate shop and purchased up some fine chocolate goodness and the beer store was right next door. While we didn't buy any beer, we did look at all the hilarious names. Things like Lucifer beer, and Phantom Beer. There was even a chocolate beer called chocolate phantom.

We headed back to our hotel to drop off our bags and then went back out to enjoy some Belgium beer on the patio (as the rain had stopped at this point) of a local pub where we chatted well into the evening.

Belgium had become a city which I was really liking. With it's modern architecture mixed in with the older buildings, it gives the city a very unique feel. Now the girls of Belgium may not be super hot or anything like that (from what we saw) they seem very normal and not too lavish. It almost seems like Brussels does not feed off of tourists like London and Paris do, but instead just try to show them a genuine time. With all said and done, Jeff and I decided to head back to London to plan our next move and leave Brussels behind. I have full intentions of returning to explore the cities of Antwerp and Brugge.

Next stop London...again.