Brussels, Belguim

 

Can I start by saying? I love Belgium! Sean had wanted to come for the beer, but it had so much more to offer. I loved that there was art everywhere: graffiti, art hidden in the metro, on the walls, on the streets.  I loved the small-town feel of Brussels, even though it was a bigger city. I loved the comic book-themed walls and stores. I loved that it had tons of record stores. I loved the beer, of course, and the frites, chocolates, and waffles. The people were great and always willing to help when we were lost. Ok, I will stop my gushing about Belgium, but really, it is great! It didn't start out rosy and perfect, though. On our first night in Belgium, we arrived at 10 pm. The customs officer gave us a hard time about not having a return ticket to the US, and we couldn't get a hold of the person from whom we rented the flat. Luckily, we met a nice guy who showed us the way to our place. Sean met a bunch of drunk guys in a bar who helped us call the flat's owner, but by this time, it was midnight. Ella was tired, and an alley cat became friends with Miles while we waited. The cat stayed outside the flat all night, and his meow sounded like "miles, miles miles"

After our rough start, our first day in Belgium was great. We purchased a map from the tourism office for 1 euro to do the Comic book tour. The tour was like a scavenger hunt through all the major parts of the city. You looked for walls painted with comics. It was a great way to keep the kids engaged. They loved taking turns reading the map and finding the comics.

Along the route, we made it to Mannekin Pis Square. Yep, it's a little peeing statue. It was a highlight of the trip. Here, we sat and had a beer, lemon Fanta, and waffles. We also checked out some local chocolate shops. A great bonus is that once you are in a shop, they keep feeding you free chocolates, hoping you will buy something. We bought a few, but we sampled more.

Next up is the Royal Square. I could have sat here all day and people watched.

It was a long day, but we had fun. Ella wanted to keep going to see all the comic walls, but Miles' feet were tired, so we headed back to the flat for dinner.