l went to Brussels this weekend with Jo. We flew from Manchester airport on Friday afternoon to Brussels Charleroi. Our flight was at 3:20pm and landed in Brussels at 5:40pm. The flight was only an hour so was nice and short.
This post is a backwards one as we were there for 3 days and spent the last day - Monday in Brussels. The weekend was spent in Brugge and Ghent.
We got a bus from the airport into Brussels Midi station which took 55 minutes and cost €19.95. Once we got there we got the metro and from the station it was an 8 minute walk to the hotel. We got to the hotel at 8:15pm which was great as I thought we might get lost like Paris...
We stayed at the Ibis Styles Brussels Centre Stephanie
It was a nice hotel and in a good location.
We walked to the Palace of Justice which was only a 15 minute pretty much straight walk from the hotel.
The weather was actually dry in the morning then rained which was annoying as it pretty much rained all day on Saturday when we went to Brugge. I wasn't that cold - brought thermals, hat and scarf and didn't have to wear any of it. I did wear my fleece and had leather pants on but it was double figures.
The Palace of Justice was covered in scaffolding - bit of a running theme when I go away!
We then walked to the Royal Palace after going down the lift and it was round the corner.
Jo forgot she had her selfie stick so that only came out on the last day in Brussels!
The palace was also having repairs done...
After we walked to the main square - Grand Place
Grand Place
We then went to look for Manneken Pis
Belgium being famous for chocolate was told there's loads of chocolate shops and they all give samples... All the shops were dead even though it was like 10am and weren't giving us samples. We helped our selves to caramelised nuts in one shop then there was another that had about 5 different ones just on a tray so of course we tried them all.
After we went to Maccies to see if we could get an ice cream but all the ice creams and milkshakes were showing as "sold out". We weren't sure if it was because it was before 11am so I charged my phone and waited a bit then checked again but still said sold out! Wanted to go the toilet but the toilets in Maccies are ran by a 3rd party so you have to pay 50c to go even if you buy something there. There's a person sat outside them to take your money so you can't even sneak in which is mad.
Zanneken Pis - doesn't actually piss
Jeanneke Pis
We went for lunch at Hawaiian Poke Bowl - we both made our own
Medium - Base - Sushi rice
5 mix ins - Avocado, corn, mango, seaweed salad & cucumber
Protein - Nordic salmon extra €2
3 toppings - Nachos, pickled ginger & sesame mix - €14.95
Jo got:
Medium - Base - Sushi rice
5 mix ins - Avocado, corn, mango, seaweed salad & cucumber
Protein - Nordic salmon
3 toppings - Nachos, pickled ginger & crushed wasabi
Dressing - sweet chilli
You could also have dressing but I chose not to. It was so good and just what we needed. We actually had it the night before in Ghent it was that good.
We then went to the cathedral which was right opposite.
All the churches and cathedrals are free to go into.
After we were going to walk to Parc du Cinquantenaire but it started to rain quite heavily so I Googled if there were any free museums we could go to, to stay dry. Turns out a lot of tourist places are shut on a Monday.
We walked through Parc De Bruxelles and ended up at the back of the Royal Palace
We sheltered in the palace church for a bit then walked to the House of European History which took just under 20 minutes and was pretty much a straight walk.
The museum was massive - had 5 floors. You got a tablet and earphones that told you about all the stuff so you didn't have to read anything. There was some stuff to read on the pad if you wanted to read. It was actually really interesting as it had stuff about the first and second world wars, about Europe then about the Euro. We were in there for over 3 hours! It was a nice museum and surprised that it was free.
Was expecting it to be dark when we left but it was still light and it stopped raining so we walked to Parc du Cinquantenaire which was only 10 minutes away.
After we walked back towards the centre to find somewhere for dinner. We wanted to have noodles and stumbled upon this place where you could pick your own ingredients.
So we went a bit wild and our eyes were bigger than our bellies... Turns out it's done by weight and this weighed 1.044kg and it was €34.90/kg and mine came to €36.44! When she said it I was like What. We didn't realise it was done by weight till we were at the till and it was too late. We picked all the heavy stuff.. gyozas, wonton fish balls, lotus root, broccoli...
It was nice but so much food. Obviously had to eat it all after pay that much for it. No waste.
Jo's was even more and came to €38!
If we knew it was by weight we probably would have shared as the couple on the table next to us did.
We were so full but we still managed to fit in an ice cream...
Maccies cone - €2
We didn't realise we were round the corner from the hotel so couldn't even walk the food off! We got back to the hotel and just chilled in the lobby for a bit and drank loads of water. Was in bed by 10:30pm.
Our flight back on Tuesday was at 12:55pm so we had no time to do anything. We got up and went for a walk cos I wanted waffles for breakfast but no-where was open at 8:30am. I ended up getting a pistachio croissant which was a rare find. Was really surprised there was hardly any bakeries. Thought there would be well more of them.
It was from a chain bakery called Paul it was the only thing that didn't have a price but it was €3.50 which isn't bad. We had to walk back to the hotel to grab our stuff and check out then get the metro so was a bit squashed by the time I ate it. It was nice like a pistachio custard filling.
We got the metro then the bus to the airport. The airport is mad because before security if you want to use the toilet you have to pay €1 but as soon as you're through it's fine and free. The airport is only small but you still don't know where you're going. We got there 2 hrs before and security didn't take a that long but didn't feel like we waited at all. Our flight took off on time and landed half an hour earlier than it said we would.
Two more posts from the 2 other days to come... Brugge & Ghent.
