We had an interesting week of classes. Apparently our class was too big so they split us into 2 groups. 7 of the Krannert Krew in Group A, and 5 in Group B. We had alternating schedules for this first class (Entrepreneurship). So half of us had class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday last week and the other group had class Tuesday and Thursday. We switched for this week. This put a damper on our travel plans, but hey, not having class everyday is pretty nice. And by nice I mean I do extremely interesting and cool things like laundry. And blogging. Never fear. Lauren and I are venturing into town this afternoon. Anyways. Our professor is very interesting. He's entertaining for sure. Very sarcastic. He's traveled EVERYWHERE, so that's cool.
Caitlin, Katherine, and I decided to trek to Belgium for our 2nd European weekend. Katherine didn't have class on Friday so she trained it up there by herself on Friday morning (so brave) and checked into our apartment (Airbnb is the way to go, people) and then hit the town until it got too cold/dark. Caitlin and I left after class and took a few trains to get to Brussels. We met up with Katherine and made plans for the next day. We stayed in the cutest apartment on the planet. I seriously want to move in/be best friends with this lady. It was adorable and so stylish. Loved it.
(Our street)
(The cutest apartment)
We started our Saturday with a walking tour (seriously the greatest things ever). It was colder than we had anticipated, but still great. We saw some amazing buildings and sites.
Seriously they were all so gorgeous. We found out that Belgium (particularly Brussels) is a sort of Comic Capital of the world. They had a few themed stores and restaurants, which I was geeing out over. The coolest things were that in some areas instead of billboards, they had cartoon/comic murals. The streets even had a second name relating to a comic. Pretty sweet.
(Tin Tin!)
And, of course, we saw the peeing statue. The story is that there was a lost little boy who was the son of a sculptor. Not entirely sure if this is true, but a man said that when the boy was found the father should make a statue of whatever the little boy was doing at the time he was found. This, being the result- a peeing statue (because that was supposedly what the boy was doing when he was found). Thus, the 'Mannequin Pis' came to be.
(They dress him up for various occasions)
The statue was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. Still cool to see, though.
We then broke off from our walking tour to go to our.... CHOCOLATE TOUR. I was so pumped for this. We met with our guide, Wanda, outside of a chain chocolate store that is literally all over Belgium, Leonidas. It was much more commercialized than a lot of the other shops, but still a leg up on American chocolate for sure! We then proceeded to go to a few other chocolate shops. Some were fancier and more well-known, and some were very quiet and the only one of it's kind. There was also this very extravagant shop where the 'maker' was more of an artist/sculptor and has some... interesting creations. We got to try some very WEIRD flavors of chocolates, like rose and chili, pepper, and then originals like praline and truffle. The pepper was definitely my least favorite. The rose and chili was very interesting, and I kind of liked it. Very different. But the overall chocolate goodness is sooooooooooooo good. I, regrettably, did not get any chocolate pictures, other than the 2 below. I suppose I was too focused on the chocolate to bother myself with silly things like photographs and documentation (rookie mistake). Anyways, Wanda is a self proclaimed hippie and was very interesting/entertaining. She taught us a lot about the different chocolatiers and flavors and such. Very interesting. I recommend it!
(This was one of the lesser-known places)
Now, with all this chocolate talk, I want to discuss the other food in Brussels. Waffles. EVERYWHERE. Delicious, waffley goodness all over, with the most decadent toppings including whipped cream, powdered sugar, strawberries, nutella, chocolate, lotus cookie spread (kind of like biscoff cookies- OH. MY. YUM.), and everything else. Amazing. Also. FRIES. Delicious french fries everywhere. America, take note. These fries were divine. Seirously, how is everyone in Belgium not obese? I tell ya. Some good foods there.
(THIS. WAFFLE. OMMMMMMMMMMMG.)
Also- I'll explain the Uncle Pete keychain another time- there will probably be a full post with loads of pictures for that... Stay tuned!
I also may or may not have been given some fancy truffles for free from a VERY attractive European man while waiting out some rain/cold in a chocolate store. No big deal...
With it being so cold and rainy, we called it a night and went back to our adorable apartment. Sunday we got up and went to a Catholic mass in a GORGEOUS cathedral. I didn't understand a word of the sermon (it was all in French and Latin), but it was still pretty cool. I love learning about different religions and seeing different styles of worship. It was very cool.
After church, we headed to lunch near the seafood area because Caitlin and Katherine were wanting to try this one place. Now, if I were a seafood person, this place would have been amazing. However, I loathe seafood. So I opted for a waffle instead :)
We got to see St. Catherine's Cathedral, which was gorgeous!
(Katherine in front of St. Catherine's!)
(Caitlin and Katherine- the cutest)
We then said goodbye to Katherine as she boarded a train for Reutlingen (darn Monday classes!), while Caitlin and I got on a train to Brugge. I've heard from several people that Brugge (Bruges) was a must-see place. It did not disappoint. It was seriously amazing/adorable/wonderful. Much smaller than Brussels and a much more town-like feeling. I really liked it!
(Seriously in love).
It was a bit of a bummer for 2 reasons: we were there on Sunday afternoon, which meant a LOT of things were closed; it was very cold and rainy, so that put a damper on things. We walked around for a bit and went into the shops that WERE open and ate some pretty good food. It was too cold/rainy for a boat tour (super bummed) and we were too poor to do the horse and carriage tour (one day!).
(Bucket list item is to do a horse/carriage tour somewhere)
We did get to have some STELLAR hot chocolate (again, from a cute European man!)
"There is nothing better than a friend, unless it's a friend with chocolate."
~ Charles Dickens
We walked town some more, and I wanted to see some of the stone bridges that went over the canal. We saw a cute little window display as we were about to cross one of the bridges and saw some art and a sign that said they were open. We went in expecting to see a little shop with lots of paintings and such. Wrong. It was an elderly couples home. They have been retired and living in Brugge for 18 years and sold the husband's (Luscious) paintings out of there home. Vera (the wife) was very chatty and was telling us all about it while Luscious showed us lots of his paintings and scrapbooks of pictures. Most of his paintings were of the cute stone bridge just outside their house, so naturally I had to buy one. They were the cutest couple ever and told us to come back and visit. OK! I was so happy to have had that little gem of an experience, especially when things weren't so ideal. I was stupid, again, and neglected to take a picture of sweet Vera and Luscious. Guess I'll just have to go back! Twist my arm...
After that, we headed back to our hostel (St. Christopher's). The room was not bad at all. The only problem.... it literally smelled like something that rhymes with goop in our hallway/room. SO. NASTY. I literally couldn't breathe. The hostel internet didn't reach to our room, so we borrowed a movie from the desk instead- Fantastic Mr. Fox.... that's an uh.... interesting movie! We went to sleep only to be woken a few times by large crowds of crazies/drunks in the hallways and streets a few times in the night. Lovely. We got up early the next morning to catch our trains back to Reutlingen. Not before snapping a few gorgeous photos, and wishing you were all here with us to take part in our adventures!
(So picturesque!)
Thanks for being so great and beautiful, Belgium! Next time, let's be a little warmer/less rainy, ok? K thanks. I'll be back someday!
~Sarah
PS Have you ever wondered where in the world is Carmen San Diego?
Because the answer is Brussels, Belgium!
Katherine was *mildly* excited at this discovery...
