Belgium, Brussels, Bruges and Ghent

The adventure started in France...we almost lost the bus! 

I don't remember how was the bus ride after all this time, but I just remember chaos to board it, because people were pushing other people, trying to board first and get a seat...I was like, wtf? Am I back to Brazil or what? lol

As soon as the bus entered Brussels I was slightly disappointed...it didn't have that cosy vibe I got from other European cities...It reminded me too much of where I come from lol ...but that was just my first impression...

We’ve been warned about it, tho'. 

The Hotel – we couldn’t find a hostel to book last minute for Saturday night so we booked a lovely 4 stars hotel instead. A room for two, but we’ve managed to sneak a third person in :) why not if it fits,  amirite?

Luckily we didn’t get caught.

I just love hotels...! hotel beds..hotel sheets and duvets...and toilets...finding everything tidy and shit.

Saturday night – Brussel/Bruxelles: we stumbled upon the Manneken Pis while trying to find a place to eat. Basically that’s pretty much how I would describe this entire trip: trying to find a place to eat and drink (and to pee and poop). 

Basically, the Manneken Pis is a tiny statue of a tiny creature with water coming out of his tiny penis...I was like, I don't get it...why are these people gathering around such an ugly tiny statue? Oops, sorry Belgian people! I had no idea that the tiny statue was such a big deal over there...

Anyway, we turned around and found something that caught our interest better than the tiny pissing statue..GAUFRES!!!!1111

We tried the famous Belgian waffle with some fattening toppings and let me tell you the hype is totally true...it was divine!!! It was totally worth my embarrassing stomach problems afterwards...

But that is not the only thing Belgium is famous for!

We also tried the famous Belgian fries and the famous Belgian beer! But I don't remember either...I only remember the WAFFLES!!!!!11111

We then saw some nice architecture with some really awesome light effects (or as they call it The Grand Place) and called it a day.

Sunday – Brugge/Bruges: a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to come to Bruges since I saw the movie In Bruges, one of my favourite movies ever. Bruges is definitely one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to. 

The moment I entered the city I felt like I was in another century...like a time machine! The weather was positively gloomy...yes, you read it right - positively gloomy.

It was packed with tourists, even though the weather was shitty. It snowed four times at least and then the sun would come out and make everything even more lovely. 

However, I felt like my hands were about to freeze for real, it started to be white and then blue, so before it turned other colour shades, I decided to buy a pair of mittens there, since I had lost mine. After that, I was snug as a bug in a rug and could appreciate Bruges better. Everywhere you looked was picturesque. Even under such a crappy weather. 

Unfortunately I couldn’t go up the Belfort tower because by the time we tried it was too late. 

We could not NOT buy some Belgian chocolate, of course - the best in the world, in my opinion. To end our day there, we went to La Garre and tried their tasty beer called Garre. They only sell it over there. Although it is not a very obvious touristic point, and despite of its subtle location, the place was packed, so we had to share a table with two strangers, who turned out to be two nice German ladies. By the time we left La Garre, we were worried about coming back to Brussels, so we were in a hurry, power walking, conveniently burning the calories we just got from the beer...It was too cold to be roofless for the night, everything was booked apparently. But we ended up ok because there were still trains coming back to Brussels.

The Hostel - situated in a building where Vincent Van Gogh once worked at. How awesome is that? After coming back from Bruges, we still found the energy to go to the hostel’s bar and drink a beer and socialise. The hostel has a really nice vibe, but the beds were awful. At least for me. The mattress was too hard, I woke up in pain (and I'm the kinda person who can sleep almost anywhere lol). You had to put on the bed sheets yourself and then remove it when you checked out. I thought that sucked because I really don’t like making the bed. Breakfast was included so that was lovely. Overall, I liked the hostel and would recommend it, save for the bed. [it would be helpful to mention its name, but I am too lazy to look it up lol]

Monday – Gent/Ghent/Gant: while we were walking from the train station to the old town, we were not impressed. Seemed like the average Euro town..pretty but.. our expectations were high because several people recommended it, and we were still waiting to see what the fuss was about…but when we finally made it to the old town, it was quite a stunning view, the architecture is breathtaking and you instantly get immersed in another vibe.  

The vibe in Gent is awesome, it was a sunny cool day, people were sitting at the outdoor tables, by the water, sipping their beer and just enjoying the view and the sunbeam. 

Brussels is packed with immigrants and Bruges is packed with tourists, Gent, on the other hand, is full of young stylish cool Belgian people, you get to see many young locals there because there is a university in town, so it was only there where I got to have a notion of what a real Belgian native is like.

The area with interesting monuments is rather limited,  i think... or maybe I didn't go to all the right places. So we were done just in time to come back to Brussels and take our bus back to Paris.

When I say just in time, I really mean in the nick of time. We had to run a bit and got lost until we finally made it to the bus, a little before the departing time, being the last people to board, of course.