tour de belgium

Where do I start about this wonderful country. I arrived in Brussels early on Friday morning but I was unable to check in till about 4pm that day. So I dropped my backpack off at my hostel and hit the ground running. I first headed to the nearest waffle stand to see what these Belgian waffles were all about. Yes they are amazing. Which reminds me that the national sport of Belgium is eating, you heard me right, eating, but I will get into that in a little bit (sorry that’s a lot of commas in one sentence). After my delicious waffle I headed over to the Atomium which is this GIANT replica of a model of an atom. You can go to the top and get a birds eye view of the city which was pretty cool. After that I headed to one of the most famous cafes in Brussels, Mort Subite. They brew a beer there called Mort Subite which translated means sudden death and is only brewed for that single cafe. The beer was incredible, the Belgians really know their shit. Belgium produces the most kinds of beer in the world, something like 700 beers and the possibilities are endless. Belgium is particularly known for its Trappist beers which are brewed by secluded Trappist monks to fund their monasteries and no one is allowed inside. These beers pack a punch, 9.5% alcohol, a far cry from the watered down bullshit 3.5% we have back at home. The architecture in Belgium is amazing and is known as Art Noveu. I believe that it is unique to Belgium and you cant help but gawk at the endless spires and gothic looking towers that fill the city. I headed to the main Grokt Square where there happened to be a concert going on which was fun, I went into all the various chocolate shops and sampled oodles of chocolates from the undisputed chocolate champions of the world. I spent the rest of the day sampling the various foods, actually just waffles and French fries. Which is another thing Belgium prides itself is its French fries. Belgium must be the about the 4^th country that claims to have the best fries or claims to have created them but let me tell you this, the Belgians win. Its not even a contest, the fries are far superior and you can get like 30 sauces at the fry stands. Brussels most famous monument is pretty ridiculous. Its called Mannekin Pis and it is a small statue fountain of a little boy pissing into a basin. There were all these people there taking pictures of it and I was so confused as how this statue could be the pride of Brussels. I guess it shows the spirit and free spirit of the city. For dinner I had some mussels which were fantastic and I met some Australians at my hostel and we went out for the evening which was a good time because I love meeting random people and getting their travel stories and sharing mine.

Bruges, where do I start? What a beautiful city. I cant put enough words on this page to explain how much I loved this city because part of my love was just being there in the city. Bruges is a small medieval city with canals running through it and is known as “The Venice of the North. Of course I started the day with more waffles and fries and was just in awe of the beauty of the city, pictures cant even capture the romantic cobblestone streets and towering cathedrals that fill this city, I was in love. I headed to the belfry in the city which had to have been something like 800 stairs, more than the St Pauls cathedral in London, once again the view was breathtaking. Later that day I took a brewery tour which was one of the highlights of my trip in Europe as whole. I learned so much, not even just about the process of brewing beer, but the actual history of Europe and how closely tied it is with beer. The beer itself, Bruge Zot, has been my favorite beer ive tried yet in Europe and is the best beer ive ever had in all the world, I really hope I can find a small shop back in the states that carries it because it is incredible. I really don’t have a lot more to say about Bruges which is weird because I loved it so much, but you have to understand that it was all about being there, there is nothing I can write on this page that can explain to you how I felt when I was in that city.

After all was said and done I hopped on a train to Ghent to see what that was all about. Another awesome city. This too was a canal city just not as romantic as Bruges but still very cool none the less. There were 2 or 3 castles inside the city and it was littered with Art Noveu clock towers and cathedral belfries everywhere. There was this stag party there and as I was walking by this guy was so drunk he fell in the canal off of a boat. He was swimming around trying to grab this inflatable raft and let me tell you, a canal anywhere is the last place you want to be swimming in, they are so dirty, but it was funny nonetheless. That night I had a steak dinner, and I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was the first actual steak that ive had since coming to Europe. When I get home I am going to go on a steak binge and see how many filet mignons I can eat in a week. I got back late on Saturday with the intention of just going straight to bed but as always my plans changed on the fly. I met this couple from Arizona State University who were going out to this café called Delirium which holds the Guinness book of world records record for most beers served in an establishment, something like 2025 beers. We had a lot of fun and got back at around 2am and I headed to bed.

That next morning I decided to go to Antwerp. So I hopped on the train and 45 minutes later I was there in the so called “city of diamonds”. As soon as I hopped off the train I decided it would be fun to rent a bike so I did just that and there I was 20 minutes later with a bike. I cruised the city a bit and had a blast, I definitely plan on renting a bike again in the other cities I go to, I would really like to rent a bike and ride into the Irish country side and visit some small villages and such, see if I can find some Doyle’s creeping around J. Once again Antwerp was filled with Art Noveu architecture everywhere, including a small castle right on the river. I took my bike and rode deep into the country, probably about 3 or 4 miles into the fields. I was all by myself and it was such a liberating feeling to know that I was lost in the forest of some random country in northern Europe and I could do whatever I wanted. I took some time just to stop and sit down on the shore of the river and just admire the city skyline, it was such a cool experience. After about 4 or 5 hours of riding my bike I headed back to the train station and hopped back on the train to Brussels, as I had a Eurostar to catch that night back to London. I ran into a little obstacle, as I fell asleep on the train and missed my stop by 4 stops and ended up over an hour outside of Brussels. This scared the shit out of me considering if I missed my train I would not only be out 100 USD for my ticket, but I had a bus to catch early that next morning to York. I ended up making my train by nearly 15 minutes and that was with me sprinting through the city and zooming in a taxi instead of taking the tram. So everything ended up ok.

All in all I had an incredible trip. Ive never felt the way I felt when I stepped off that train into Brussels. I thought to myself, holy shit your in a foreign country, they don’t speak English here, and you don’t know anyone. It was a very scary feeling, but a good scary, it made me feel alive. I was absolutely elated to be able to wander around Belgium with not a care in the world and do whatever I wanted to do, and I did just that. The only thing that sucked about being alone was eating dinner by myself, because come on who wants to do that. But other than that, I had no problem meeting people and I really learned a lot about myself this weekend. I cant tell you how much more confident I am in myself after doing what I did. Next weekend I am headed to Stockholm and I am super excited to see the country that people say has the most beautiful people in the world. I am once again excited to be on my own and do my own thing, and I am definitely going to rent a bike and try and ride around the city and hopefully the surrounding areas as well. We are headed to York right now for 3 days which is a medieval city in the north of England and im actually very excited for it. Any chance to get out of London is good for me because I like the feeling of being back in time in some ancient city. I am not sure if ill have internet but hopfully the university of york will have some sort of place where I can get internet access, if not that then at a coffee shop somewhere in town. Cheers mates!