Brussels and Bruges

Waffles, Beer, Mussels & Frites and Chocolate - the specialties of Belgium. And let me tell you, I was not disappointed at all on this trip! My school hosted a trip for us to go to Brussels and Bruges this past weekend and despite the chilly weather I had a great trip. We had to leave super early Saturday morning to ensure we made it to the train station on time, thanks to the lovely greve (aka Strike). Luckily we made it the metro and had a nice train ride to Brussels. After dropping our luggage at the hotel we went for lunch. I had the most amazing pasta carbonara - so creamy (I wanted Mussels but couldn't find a place we wanted to go to) and a raspberry flavored beer. It was so good! Then we went to this amazing waffle house! THe best waffle - sugar baked right in the batter. MMMM delish! Then we went back to our hotel to hang out in our room (complete with a flat screen TV and mtv! so excited!!!). That afternoon we went to a cute tea house, had more waffles and some famous frites! Then we freshened up at the hotel and headed to a restaurant for a group dinner. We had this fun salad - only green vegetables (peas, sprouts, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, avocado mush, asparagus and green beans), chicken in a pastry shell (I'm so not good at describing food but it was pretty tasty) over a field green salad and then this dessert that reminded me of rice pudding. It was delicious! That evening my friends and I ended up at this hidden bar for some peach bar and chatting.

Sunday morning we had an hour bus ride to Bruges. Upon arrival in the city (which by the way is way cute and medieval!) we went on a boat tour through the canals. We had the cutest boat tour guide and he gave a little spiel on the history of the town. He even tried to "shoot the competition with his make believe AK47" --- part of his corniness. We had stolen pastries from our delicious breakfast that we ate after the boat tour while exploring the city (we even found a Christmas tree!!). We stumbled upon another tea house and enjoyed tea in an attempt to stay warm. We met up with our group for a tour of a chocolate museum - complete with instructions on how to make chocolates (in 4 languages - German, English, French and Flemish!). We explored a bit more of the city and then road the bus back to Brussels to catch our train to Paris.