Belgium

6/5/11

Prof. Del Duca woke me up from my nap announcing we were in Belgium and stopping for a bite to eat. I spent probably 30 of the 45 minutes just deciding what I wanted to eat. We were at a trucker/bus/gas station and there was a café, diner, and the convenient store, so I had a really hard time choosing. I was set on getting chicken nuggets and fries until I saw that it was on the children’s menu. So I ended up getting this French sandwich that I can’t spell or pronounce, but it was “basically a hot ham and cheese,” according to Zane. He had totally hyped them up, but I found it rather disgusting, hopefully they’re a lot better in France! To wash out the taste, Zane got us a drink and a piece of delicious chocolate cake. Then we were back on the bus and within 30 minutes we were at the outskirts of Brussels. We drove past many beautiful buildings and nice areas and I got super excited. Naturally, we start getting into a shady area and I think that we would stop, but we didn’t. Just past the shady area we stopped at this building that was half cut off and under construction… our hotel (Ibis, like the one we stayed at in Heathrow). I don’t know if I mentioned that the last hotel was also under construction, it must be that we get discounted rates because of it (JK). We had about an hour before we were going to meet with the group to have a tour at the Grand Place. We settled in a little bit and met up with everyone. Right next to our hotel is the subway station and across the street is the train station. We took the underground three stops to get to the Grand Place. It was hectic trying to buy tickets and keeping the group together, but we finally made it right on time to meet up with our tour guide. She showed us so many beautiful buildings. The one that I was so impressed with was the Town Hall and across from it was the Maison du Roi Broodhuis, which has actually turned into a museum. After looking at the main square we walked a few blocks to Le Mannequin Pis, it was so funny, but honestly I was a little disappointed in how small he is! Our guide told us that they decorate him in outfits/costumes for different holidays and other events (I was bummed we didn’t see him in anything, but they say if it’s too hot they leave him be). We walked back and she told us that they were known for their lace, comics, chocolate, beer, and waffles. She told us where to get her favorite Brussels waffle and showed us a few lace shops before heading back to the square to tell us a little more history about the buildings. After that she showed a really nice covered shopping area ($$$) and all kinds of different restaurants. This was scary because some of the shady restaurants will have a host step in front of you in the path, grab your arm and try to tell you to eat at their place even saying that things are free, but don’t actually turn out being free at all. The guide told us that it was illegal and if a police officer was walking by, that they’d actually be fired and arrested. She made up us having to hurry to get the airport to get one of the guys that was pressing way too hard off of her. We went back to the square and she told us of this fairy tale land called Brugge that we should try to go to. Then she left and we all split up to find dinner. We were going to go back to one of the Italian restaurants, but we were too cheap to pay over 10 Euros for spaghetti. We then decided to go try some of the 1 Euro waffles across from Le Mannequin Pis, but the line was outrageous and we noticed that the waffle shop across the street had 1 Euro on their sign too! We went over and ordered a waffle with strawberries and cream and it was not 1 Euro, but it was so worth it!! We went back and got a “naturale” waffle, which I think I almost liked just as much. Since we were hiding under an awning, because of the rain, we decided to head back to the hotel for the night.

6/6/11

We had to be down to breakfast at 7 today, because Zane’s classes are being held at one of the local universities, and 6:30 rolled around way too quickly! The breakfasts here aren’t as good as the last hotel, but they still have a decent variety. I went back to sleep when Zane left and then I tried getting ready and hung out in the hotel (we don’t feel very safe with me just going out on my own). Zane didn’t get back until 1:30!! His class went a half-hour over and then it took another half hour to get back, but he didn’t get lost when he came back all by himself! (We got a little lost last night trying to find what escalator took us up to the right spot by our hotel.) He quick changed and we went to the café across the street from the hotel to look for lunch, but they were out of whatever we ordered and our French isn’t so great, so we left. When we were lost at the underground station last night I noticed a lot of shops and cafes, so we ended up going to one of the places there. We had one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in a long time! We ate in our room and Zane read part of his homework before finding a good stopping point. We asked if Thomas or Gianluca wanted to come with us on our adventure to the Atonium/World’s Fair Monument, but they were too good for us (they really just had other plans). We hopped on train 6 and got off at the second to last stop. We walked outside and couldn’t see anything, but then we turned the corner and there it was! Wow! It is GI-normous! As soon as we saw it, it started raining, so I unfortunately didn’t get as many pictures as I wanted. This couple that took our picture for us, asked us where Mini Europe was, we hadn’t even heard of it, but I thought it sounded it awesome! It was just across from the Atonium, but with it raining and being cheap, we didn’t go in. We also didn’t pay to walk up to the top of the Atonium either. We took our pictures and hopped back on the subway (which I might add we got a ticket for 10 rides for only 12 Euros!! It is already so much cheaper than The Hague.) and went back to the Grand Place. We went to the little “Tea Room” that the tour guide said had the best Brussels waffles. I order one with ice cream and berry sauce and Zane got ice cream and strawberries. After ordering, we were joined by Eunice and Maren from the program, who also wanted to try the waffles. I was sad that I liked the ice cream the most out of the whole meal. Brussels waffles aren’t suppose to be as sweet as the Liege waffle (that has little chunks of sugar in the waffle) and what we had definitely wasn’t, but it was also a bit too crunchy for what I was hoping. Maybe we just had a bad batch. After that we went back and got another “naturale” waffle for dessert J. We then headed back to the hotel so Zane could finish his reading for class.

6/7/11

Today was a little bit different for Zane’s classes. Professor Nanda and his wife lost their passports and had to go to the embassy get new ones this morning, so Professor Del Duca’s class was moved up to the 8:30 slot. I slept for a little bit after Zane left, but they were drilling below us and even I couldn’t sleep through it. I got up and finished getting ready and went and asked how to get to Brugge because everyone wanted to go after class. Minutes after I got back to the room, Zane came up and surprised me. He changed and we waited for everyone else to get here. We soon headed across the street and bought tickets for the 12:05 train. It took just under an hour to get there and Zane managed to read 20 of his 90 pages for class tomorrow!! Zane and I were left behind when we stopped to get waffles (ooh, mine was so delicious… I had melted white chocolate on it… mmm…) Luckily, they don’t walk very fast and Eunice was wearing a bright yellow jacket that was easy to spot. But after we got closer into the square it was hard to keep 12 people together (all but 2 girls and the staff came on our escapade) and we branched off into 3 groups. We took lots of pictures of the main square the beautiful buildings and horse carriages and adorable puppies (including a beagle, that made me miss Max that much more). We walked in and out of stores. Zane and I bought some raspberry truffles made of pure cocoa. We ran into one of the groups and talked with them, but then went our separate ways again to find food. We sat down with our group, who unfortunately were having beers at probably one the more expensive places, so Zane and I split a sandwich (which wasn’t nearly as good as yesterday, but this place uses butter instead of mayo so that could be one reason) and headed back to the train. I was sad to leave, there were so many little shops with lace, chocolate, shoes and clothes that I could spend days in. We were the last group to get there which made me really nervous because we only had one ticket for the 12 of us and Christy, who wasn’t in our group, had it. But we all got on a double decker train and headed back. We came back and started packing our stuff and ironed Zane’s suit for tomorrow. We cleaned up the room, turned on the AC and all of the lights and prepared to have class in our room. See they had planned to have class in Professor Nanda’s room tonight at 7, but we offered our room, because somehow we scored the corner room that is freaking HUGE! Which another odd story… Zane apparently didn’t send the reservation to this hotel or didn’t get the confirmation or something weird like that, so they didn’t show us as part of the group. However, Kate had signed up to be in a triple room, but they booked her in a single room and she was trying to get out of it and ended up giving her room to us. I was surprised that they would give such a large room to a single person (it has a queen bed and a single bed on the side). So basically we scored big time. Anyway, they’re in there right now having class and I’m out in the hall typing because there weren’t any outlets downstairs at the tables. Sounds like they’re about to get out! Yay! Au Revoir!