Off to Belgium

This past weekend, I took advantage of one of my program's "excursions" to Belgium! We took a (6:30am!!) bus on Saturday to Bruges for the day, then headed to Brussels for the night and all day Sunday.

Bruges

Bruges was a BEAUTIFUL little town. It really is the Venice of the north. The egg-shaped city is surrounded on either side by canals, one of which is called the Lac D'Amour or "Lake of Love" - a mistranslation that sounded so pretty and wonderful, it just stuck with the city. The interior part of the city is also interlaced with tons of canals. The streets are almost entirely void of cars, making the atmosphere all the more surreal. (Residents are reimbursed for every kilometer they bike to work each month, so pretty much everyone gets around by bike). The food was also definitely something to write home about. The french fries (which actually originate from Belgium) are absolutely delicious, and don't even get me started on the WAFFLES! Everything you may have heard about Belgian waffles is absolutely true. They are incredible. People, these things are even filled with sugar to add to the delicious-factor. The only thing a little odd about Bruges is the feeling that you are in Disneyland... The entire southern part of the city was filled with tourists, which was a little unsettling at times. We quickly got over the sentiment though. A mouthful of waffle pretty much helps you forget any and all of your worries.

The city seemed to be totally on the same page with my irrational love for french fries... :)

We also found a chocolate museum...

...where we came across this chocolate statue of Barack Obama.

Oh well, Bruges, you almost scored a 100%.

Brussels was equally wonderful and definitely the beer capital of Europe (in addition to being the actual capital of Europe - the EU hangs out in the city and makes all sorts of important decisions...or something like that). We went out Saturday night and found ourselves at an incredible bar with 46 beers on tap. The bartenders were incredibly helpful and picked the perfect beer for all of us!

Sunday was a very early morning, but fortunately, we had lots of time to spend in Brussels. The first order of business was to find the Mannekin Pis - a fountain that supposedly represents the "free spirit" of Brussels. And here it is!

Yes, it is in fact a small, naked boy peeing.

Also, in case you are having trouble with the proportions of this city-symbolizing statue, here is another picture to give you a better idea of the scale of this very important fountain.

A little underwhelming, but an experience all the same.

The rest of the day in Brussels was spent wandering the city, seeing the palaces and justice buildings, and taking a quick detour into the Magritte Museum - there were of course cones of french fries and chocolate covered waffles and strawberries involved as well. If you know me at all, you realize that Belgium is the definition of my food pyramid. Mmmmm...

After a full two days of walking and touring, I was glad to see Paris (and my bed!) again. Just one more week of work to get through and then Spring Break! Almost there!