Chocolate, Beer, and Waffles: Weekend in Belgium

Tara and I took advantage of the bank holiday Monday for the King's Coronation and headed to Belgium for two nights. I woke up early Saturday morning and set out for Kings Cross St. Pancras International train station. Instead of flying, we took the Eurostar... what a treat! It is sooo much cheaper, faster, and convenient to get to and from Kings Cross than any of the airports in London. Passing through security was super quick and easy. I found it really funny/interesting that you get to cross to borders within the span of like ten feet and a few minutes. We passed through the UK border passport control, walked a few steps and then went through the France border passport control. We took the train to Brussels which was approximately a two hour journey. We arrived by 10:30am. 

After arriving in Brussels, we walked from the train station to the city centre. We wandered around the super cute streets and saw the STUNNING Grand-Place. The architecture around the square was incredible! After, we grabbed a waffle with chocolate and I had to bust out my rusty French, as the waffle man spoke no English. We found some pickle chips and ketchup chips at a grocery store which was very North American feeling and weird.

We walked to our hostel to drop off our stuff. We stayed in a 6 bed mixed dorm at the Meininger Hostel. This is the third time I've stayed at this chain, and I have always had an enjoyable stay. Next, we wandered the streets and stumbled upon the Jeu De Balle Flea Market which is known as the Old Market and is the world's only antique/flea market that is open 365 days a year. We admired more sites and stopped for a pint of Belgian craft beer at Café des Minimes, the café gave off very French vibes. This weekend made me realize that after my years of struggling through school in French, I'm not very confident in speaking it, but I can still read/understand it pretty well. Everytime someone spoke to us in French, I knew what they were saying but froze when it came time for me to respond. We got some traditional Belgian Frites for a snack and headed to Delirium Café where you can enjoy more than 2,000 beers from around the world. It holds the Guinness World Records for the number of beers available for tasting (2,004 record in 2004). Tara and I ended up getting a metre long beer flight with 10 different beers to try. There were some super unique beer flavours including a cactus/lime, raspberry, and strawberry along with traditional types. We got a little tipsy and wandered back to our hotel to properly check in and then ended up getting some delicious pizza at NONA Pizza! We wandered around the streets some more enjoying the vibe and then got some electric scooters and made our way back to the hostel.

On Sunday, we checked out of our hostel and headed for the train station. We took an hour long train ride to Bruges. We dropped our stuff off at St. Christopher's Inn The Bauhaus and began to wander the adorable streets. It is distinguished by its canals, cobbled streets, and medieval buildings. I absolutely adored Bruges, I liked it a lot more than Brussels. Despite being only an hour away, French is not the primary language as it is in Brussels. In Bruges, the main language is Dutch/Flemish. Whereas Brussels had a more French feeling vibe, Bruges gave me same vibe as the Netherlands. We strolled the picturesque cobbled streets and admired the charming buildings. We stopped at a lovely Café called Noah's for lunch. I had a delicious cappuccino (I love that they are always served with chocolate here) and a delicious panini with goat cheese, blackberries, raspberries, arugula, and pork belly - YUM! After lunch, we headed to Market Square - the heart of Bruges. It contains the city's most prominent building, the 83 metre high Belfry tower. The buildings surrounding the square are endearing and the horses and carriages in the square add to the charming atmosphere. We visited many chocolate shops and then strolled down even more cute side streets. 

Eventually, we headed to our Belgian chocolate making workshop. The class was fantastic. Tara and I worked in a team, learning how to temper the chocolate before individually making our own chocolates. We made two types of chocolate: pralines (chocolate shell with filling) and mendiants (traditional French chocolate disk with nuts and dried fruits). Our pralines were filled with ganache. It was so much fun making the chocolates and we got to take home a box of around 30+ chocolates. We also got to sip some tasty homemade hot chocolate. We met a lot of American people in our class, everyone was really friendly. We even made friends with two girls who were staying at the same hostel as us. We ended up hanging out for the rest of the evening. After the class, Tara, Karissa, Erin, and I went to the hidden gem De Garre, a Belgian Beer Café located in one of the narrowest alleys in Bruges. It has a cozy/classy atmosphere (we were the youngest amongst the crowd by quite a few years) and has a well curated beer list consisting of more than a hundred beers. Their house beer De Garre Tripel is only available there and is served with a side of cubed cheese. It was very tasty and the presentation was really cool! After a couple of beers, we made our way to a restaurant for dinner. I tried the traditional Flemish beef stew which was good. I also tried a muscle and didn't even hate it! 

On Monday, we went to a fancy place called Café Au Lait. It was full of much older people (I'm talking 75-100 year olds I'm pretty sure, Tara and I felt super out of place. A lot of the breakfast places weren't open yet and this one was. I had a great coffee and fantastic waffle with fresh fruit and whipped cream. We checked out some shops and the beautiful Sint-Salvatorskathedraal and then I dragged Tara on a canal tour with me. It was great to learn some more information about the buildings and area. When that finished we went to 2be Beer which is a pub with a gorgeous patio with canal views, a beer shop, and The Beer Wall. There is a wall full of cabinets containing with different real ales with their accompanying glass. The cabinets are 30 metres long and the beers are arranged alphabetically. We had tried the local tasting platter and the light tasting platter. On each, you get to try 4 different beers and you get some mixed nuts to snack on. My favourite beers were the Brugs Witbier and the Fort Lapin and I also tried a very unique coconut beer. We got some lunch, grabbed our stuff from the hostel and took the train back to Brussels to catch the Eurostar home! 

I think if we had more time, I would've enjoyed renting a bike in Bruges ato explore the surrounding area a little more. Overall, it was a nice getaway and I really enjoyed the food, drinks, architecture, people, and vibes in Belgium. It was a good mix of France and the Netherlands! 

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