Impromptu Trip to Brussels, Belgium!

So, a most of you have probably heard about the volcano in Iceland and how it was wreaking havoc on the airspace of Europe. Well I think it is safe to say that almost everyone’s travel plans got a little disrupted this spring break. I got sick and had to bail out on my spring break week one and returned to Angers last Wednesday. My week two of spring break was supposed to spent in Antibes in the south of France with my housemate Jayne and another one of our friends. Well the two of them got stuck in Amsterdam due to the ash cloud so there went my week two. Last Wednesday people started filtering back into Angers either by bus or by train, and by Thursday most airlines were flying again. Many people missed their second half of their planned vacation. But instead of just sitting around in Angers, Adam suggested we go to Brussels, Belgium Thursday morning. So late Tuesday night I bought tickets and Thursday morning we were off!

We got into Brussels around 1pm and walked to our hotel from the train station. It was a nice way to get a first glimpse of the city. Brussels is French speaking which was helpful in terms of being able to ask questions and get around. The rest of Belgium however primarily speaks Flemish. After we dropped our stuff off we went off to find the famous Grand Place or the Central Square. It was located fairly close to where we were staying so it was not difficult to find…or not too difficult. The Square was absolutely beautiful because the architecture was amazing. The square was rather lively, people were walking, sitting in little restaurants around the exterior, or sitting right in the middle of the square on the ground chatting with friends with a couple of beers. It was a great atmosphere. There was also this delicious smell in the air. Our noses led us to a waffle stand so of course we had to get a Belgian waffle in Belgium, and it was definitely worth it.
After we got a couple pictures of the square we decided we should actually find a map of the city. We found one at the tourist information center and decided our next destination would be the L’Atomium. We had both seen pictures and wanted to see it in person. Judging by the map it looked like it was within walking distance…. after walking for a while we realized it probably wasn’t so we hopped on the metro. It seemed that once we actually had the city map neither of us could read it anyway. I am going to blame the map in this situation because normally I am ok with those kinds of things.
The Atomium was really neat and a lot bigger than I had pictured for some reason. We got a couple of nice shots, hopped back on the metro and headed back for downtown. We grabbed dinner at a nice restaurant right in the Grande Place. The atmosphere and the food were both fantastic.
Day two we got started around 10am and our first stop was the Cathedral. It was very pretty inside and out. The stain glass windows were fabulous and it had one of the prettiest organs I have ever seen. Next we found our way to the Museum of Musical Instruments, something that was one my list of things to see. The museum was great. Everyone got a headset and when you stood in front of the case that held either violins, trumpets, bag pipes, pianos ect. You heard what music it played. There were the everyday instruments and some more obscure instruments. It was not focused so much on the history of the music, but more on the sound it made and just being able to enjoy it. If you are ever in Brussels I highly recommend it!
Next we made our way to the cinquantaire triumphal arch. It was situated at the back of a beautiful park so the walk was nice to reach it. Everyone was out and about either reading in the sun or running. We had fantastic weather both Thursday and Saturday. After the arch we ended up in another beautiful park on our way to see the European Union buildings.
After the checking out the EU we ended up in another park and grabbed some lunch and a beer at a little outdoor café. Rejuvenated we headed back to downtown to find another famous Brussels landmark, le Mannekin Pis. On the map it looks huge and they have large depictions of it in all of the gift shops so I was picturing a fairly large fountain of this baby peeing. When we found it, it was on a little side street and was actually really small. About child sized actually, which makes sense, but I had pictured something larger. We had a good laugh about that and were off to explore some more.
We saw all of these signs pointing to a certain flower garden so we followed the signs for awhile and when we arrived it was just the name of a square, no actual flowers. The walk was still enjoyable. And on our walk we found a Belgian Chocolate shop – soooo good! I had tried an orange chocolate piece, a raspberry, and a cointreau piece. All were delicious.
Later that night we grabbed dinner at a restaurant called The Drug Opera. The food and beer were great and we had a waffle with vanilla ice cream and chocolate for dessert to toast to our great weekend in Brussels.

We left this morning on the 8h30 train and were back in Angers by around 1. Brussels was a great and unexpected finish to my spring Break.
Now I have the rest of today and tomorrow to do some last minute homework assignments before school starts back up on Monday. I cannot believe I only have about a month of classes yet. This whole experience is going by too fast, but I know I cannot slow it down. I just have to try to soak everything up while I can.