We ate our way through Brussels.

The main square in Brussels - Place Royale.

Originally, Katie and I had planned on seeing Granada and Seville, but we realized we would hardly even get to see one of the two cities with the complicated train rides, bus rides, and shortage of time. Naturally, we checked Ryan Air’s website for other trip options (we couldn’t waste a weekend!). Enter Belgium.

Sitting pretty in front of the Royal Palace!

I had never imagined traveling to Belgium, similar to my having never dreamed of visiting Africa. HOWEVER, I am so glad we booked it and headed off to another country again. Our friend Maddy tagged along and we definitely made the most of the less than 48 hours we had in Brussels.

Delicious waffle. Since it's from Belgium it had a sugar coating and was made from dough (not batter).

To start off, we flew in to an airport about 45 minutes away from Brussels typical of Ryan Air, took a bus ride into the city, then took a taxi to our hostel. LOTS of transportation methods (since we walked all weekend and used the subway), but we were just happy to be at our hostel that was really more of a modern hotel. Our private room for three had down comforters, huge fluffy pillows, an amazing walk-in shower with crazy hot water (we don’t have that at home), and a TV!!!!!!

Belgium CHOCOLATE. I obviously got 6 different kinds... 

Frites! Double fried w/ Samurai sauce!

The next day, we started checking things off of our Brussels checklist, which was actually just a list of foods/drinks we could consume that had “Belgium” in front of them. The list consisted of: Belgium Waffles, Belgium Beer, Belgium Chocolate, and Belgium Frites. (If you’re confused about that last one… Apparently the American soldiers who first had fries during whatever World War heard people speaking French around them and assumed they were in France. They, in turn, called the fried treats “french fries,” but they were actually in Belgium….)

My strawberry flavored beer. Yummm.

We also spent about 3 three hours trekking around Brussels on a free walking tour suggested by our hostel. We were able to see the gorgeous and overwhelming main square (Place Royale), multiple churches, the royal palace, a massive cathedral that was only completely finished about 10-15 years ago for a royal wedding, and the infamous statue of Manneken Pis, which is literally a small statue of a baby boy peeing.

This little guy pees into a fountain and impresses tourists ALL day.

Another cool Brussels icon we got to see was the Atomium, which is a MASSIVE silver modern-looking structure. What I found the most interesting about it was that is was built in 1958 for the World’s Fair. We bought discounted tickets and were able to head up to the top sphere to see over the city (with every other tourist in Brussels).

The Atomium, which has multiple floors in every sphere. 

Lastly, WE MADE A FRIEND. And he was great. And we had a wonderful time meeting interesting people, seeing interesting things, and living interesting lives. :) Thanks for reading! Next weekend: LONDON.

Overexposed picture of us and our friend "Harvard"!!! Also known as Robert...