fast car.

Day 3

Sort of the last day as the next day was just us buying some chocolates and then going to the airport.

Day trip time! 

A return ticket to Bruges costs 14.40euros on a weekend but 24.50euros on a weekday. Not quite sure why a weekend ticket would be cheaper. Shouldn't they be charging more on weekends cause people travel more then?

Anyways, we only got in to Bruges around 12 cause obviously we did not leave early enough. Haha. Bruges is like a quaint little town though most of the people there were clearly tourists.

Fluffly swans near the canal. 

One thing I made sure to put on my list of must-dos in Belgium was to go for a brewery tour. And since we didn't go for any in Brussels, decided to go for one in Bruges which had really good reviews. It was 6.50euros which included a free beer. Super duper worth the money in my opinion.

Halve Maan brewery. The last brewery standing in Bruges. 

View from the roof of the brewery. 

No filter no photoshop and it still looks gorgeous.

#7 Their local beer. Nice and refreshing.

Our tour guide was really funny and had a great sense of humour. Some things I learnt from the tour:

1. Sparkling water is great for curing a hangover.

2. You do indeed get drunk faster on beer/wine (fermented alcohol) when compared to vodka and such (distilled alcohol).

3. The shape of the glass in which you drink your beer from makes a difference.

Getting to learn about the whole process of making beer makes me appreciate it much more because it is really quite an effort. 

Most of the places that were open for lunch pretty much served the same menu so we just settled for one that looked nice. It was 20euros for a starter (I had celery soup which was actually quite yummy), a main (1/2 roast chicken which I couldn't finish) and a dessert (peach melba). 

#8 Kasteel Blonde. Standard blonde really. 

One main attraction of Bruges is that they have Michelangelo's "Madonna and child" statue. However when we went to the church it's suppose to be in, it was closed. Boo. But I suppose seeing as it was 5pm and everything in Europe closes early it's understandable. Oh well.

We had been in Bruges for five hours now and we hadn't even reached the city centre. Talk about walking at a leisurely pace. It could also be due to the fact that we walked into almost every chocolate store we passed, which is practically every store on the road. Finally made it to Market square which is sort of like the city centre but not quite the city centre. 

Really liked the way the lights gave the 'yellow' tinge to the buildings. 

Market square is next to the actual city centre where the town hall is. However, since market square is surrounded by restaurants, it was more lively whereas the city centre was empty.

Town hall.

All the gold detailing. 

Since there wasn't much else in Bruges, we took the train back to Brussels and chilled while trying a little something we bought from the brewery earlier.

#9 Their new quadruple beer.

11% beer is no joke.

More like stout I'd say but it tasted nice. 

And that's about all there is to talk about my Belgium trip. 

A good break from the ho-hum of Manchester. 

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normalcy.

Onwards to

Day 2.

As much as I would like to start all my holiday mornings at 9am, I know realistically I have to allow for a one hour delay. Sure enough we only left the hotel at 10am.

The walls of the metro stations in Brussels are really quite interesting. Only snapped the walls of the stop Heyzel cause that's where we stopped off to see the Atomium. There was one particular station that had statues in the station instead which was creepy to say the least. 

Pretty metro stops. 

 I read somewhere that the government hoped that the Atomium would be to Brussels what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris. Where the moment you see the structure you immediately know where it comes from. Don't really think it's going to work with the Atomium as it is about half an hour away from the city centre by metro so unless you make the trip out, there is no way you'd be able to see it.

Really wanted to go in but the queue for tickets was just ridiculously long and we couldn't be bothered to wait an hour or so for it.

It's really massive.

As there was no straight metro to the next place we wanted to visit (Grand Sablon), we opted to just walk from the closest stop possible. Stumbled onto the Palais du Justice and spent a good half hour inside cause it was just so pretty and impressive. 

There was actually a lot of scaffolding but once you walked passed it this was the entrance. 

Would totally do my studying here.

Made our way to Grand Sablon but the antique market there wasn't open, most likely cause it was only a Friday. Boo. We did make a stop in Pierre Marcolini which was one of the more expensive chocolate makers to take a look. Didn't end up buying anything though. Had lunch is this restaurant which was 'cosy' to say the least but seemed to be frequented by locals so we knew to expect some decent food. 

#6 Hoegaarden. My favourite ever! A lot fruiter than I would like though. 

Shared the mussels with Audrey and even though we kept eating and eating, there always seemed to be more mussels at the bottom of the pot. A bit like magic. 

The sign says Fireworks. What kind of establishment it is, I can only guess. 

Walked to one of the major tourist attractions in Brussels which is the Mannekan Pis. The pissing boy. Considering it is a major attraction and that there were also so many people taking pictures in front of it, I expected something more than a tiny little statue with a fence surrounding the fountain. Too much hoo-ha for nothing. 

This was taken with a zoom and me sticking my arms through the fence. 

Back to Grand Place after that as the day view is different from the night view. I have to say I much prefer the day view cause you can see the detailing on the buildings. 

Rain rain go away. 

Best waffles at the tea room of Maison Dandoy. 

Super nice and fluffly. Bit on the pricey side though.

Also practically every table had a Brussels guidebook with them. Tourist central!

Went back to the hotel and just chilled watching tv while eating chips and chocolates (holidays are fattening days) cause the rain was really off-putting. Early night cause next day we were day-tripping the next day to Brugges and wanted to get an early start. 

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last time.

While reading week is suppose to be for catching up with readings, I instead took it as a opportunity for a mini holiday. Honestly staying in Manchester is great and all but considering the fact that I get bored easily I do need a change of scenery every once in a while.

Traveled with a group of people who I've never traveled with before. However, it was definitely one of the least stressful and enjoyable trips I've had so far.

Day 1

Had a 9.30am flight so it was an early start. Got into Brussels-Charleroi around 12 and then had to join this massive queue to buy tickets to actually get into the city centre which is 45 minutes away. Woes of taking Ryanair, never getting into the main airport. And seriously, there was no system to getting on the bus to most people were just pushing their way through.

Getting into Brussels-Midi, we realised that almost all the stores were closed. Googled public holidays in Brussels later and couldn't find anything but we pegged it down to it being All-Saints day. Got to the hotel at 3pm, just in time to check in. We are supposedly on a student budget, but we stayed in Crowne-Plaza. Mainly it's cause they were running this really good deal, 180euros for a double for 3 nights. Practically the same price as a hostel!

'Atas' times. 

Decided to have a wander around after that and discovered that the hotel was very well located with everything within walking distance. 

Gorgeous weather that day!

Largest beer selection in the world.

It was really just a posh restaurant.

#1 Classic Stella. Slightly lighter to what you'd find outside of Belgium. 

Also had my first taste of mussels here in Belgium. Normally I'd say I prefer oysters over mussels, but the mussels in Belgium were soooo good. It just melts in your mouth.

Jeanneke Pis. It really is a statue of a girl peeing. 

Located right opposite Delirium. 

After dinner we wanted to go to Delirium to try their award winning beer but the main cafe was so so crowded. Instead we decided to head towards the city centre since it was still early.

Found ourselves at Galerie St. Hubert which is a sort of indoor mall. A lot of the shops were still open despite it being 8pm. 

Giant corkscrew in this shop that solely sells champagne.

One thing I like about traveling is how at times you can stumble onto places and have your plans change. Walked pass Little Delirium which is just a smaller version of the Delirium Cafe and decided to stop there and try some beers instead. Their walls are covered with all the names of different beers.

From L-R: Increasing alcohol %

#2 Apple. Just an alcoholic version of Snapple I feel.

#3 Nougat. Basically tasted like bile. 

#4 Tremens. The award winning beer was really nice.

#5 Satan. Quite easy to drink despite it being 9%.

Finally made it to the city centre, Grand Place. Spent quite a bit of time going into the never ending stream of chocolate shops around there that were still open. 

Grand-Place at night. 

Being tired and cold and the weather being wet, took the metro back for a good night's rest. 

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