Day 3: Bruges > Brussels
After one of the better breakfasts that I had at a hostel we headed off to an art museum called Groeninge Museum. My super hipster Bruges map that I picked up described it as a museum of art “called ‘Flemish Primitives’, but actually they were imitated all over Europe. Why?” Although the description provided some answer along the lines of realistic techniques and surrealism, I got stuck on the “Why?” This art did not appeal to me in the least. Painting after painting of Jesus on the Cross or Mary weeping or some sinner repenting did not keep me interested in the least, not to mention the so called perfect proportions and realism showed hands the size of heads and feet distorted to awkward angles. Now I realize art is subjective, but really I just felt subjected to an hour of torture as I walked among these medieval examples of
the Bible ruling all. It probably goes without saying I spent the better half of our duration at the museum sitting in the lobby reading Harry Potter 2 in Spanish.
After what felt like an eternity, we left the museum and said farewell to Bruges as we hopped on the next train headed back to the capital. We explored a bit more of the city, made dinner in the hostel and then found a theater showing the Harry Potter 7 movie. We bought our tickets and went back to Grand Place, having a few hours to kill before the show started. We wandered the old streets, passed by more and more chocolate shops that made my mouth water and sought out Manneken Pis, the most famous statue in Belgium, comparable to their version of our Statue of Liberty. Now, what it lacked in size it made up for in spunk. It was this really tiny fountain of a little boy or cherub or whatever peeing into the water below. The boy was probably no more than a foot tall, while the entire piece couldn’t have been more than 8 feet tall. Impressive, right? Well there was a crowd around it standing taking pictures, so it must have some type of elusive draw.
Anyways, we headed back toward the theater, wanting to get good seats for the show. On our way we encountered what I could only describe as if Slope Day had a parade. A mass of drunk college students blasting club music passed down the streets riding in the backs of semis or following alongside them, all dressed up in their given outfits. People were peeing everywhere, no matter whether they were male or female. I guess it makes sense their most famous statue is of a boy peeing in public.
Anyways, we passed through the crowds toward the theater. After standing in line for a bit, the usher came out of the theater, removed the velvet rope and basically allowed everyone to run for the doors in mass madness. People bolted toward the door, eager to get a good seat. Feeling a little too mature to follow the mass of people, we casually entered the theater and sat down in what was probably the nicest movie theater I had ever been in. The walls had frescoes of safari scenes and there was a giant gold sun at the front. The seats were super comfortable and didn’t flip up if you left. It’s the little things that count.
Well, the movie was great and left us with questions mounting, but we had more of the city to see. After stopping back at the hostel we searched for some bars. Now, I like maps and guides as much as the next guy, but it comes to the point that if you don’t look up from these things, you are going to miss the entire city, and this is what I felt our friend Alex was going to do. For the entire trip he had the map from the guidebook in hand, telling us where to see, where to eat etc. At that point, Josh and I were a little fed up with Alex. We tried to tell him that even if it wasn’t in the book it would be okay, and even told him that he had to pick a bar to visit without the aid of the map. Sadly, after a few minutes of walking he went back to the map (I think he thought we didn’t notice) to select a bar. We hopped among some bars and finished our night with some of the best fries I have had in a while. They were probably average or just a bit above, but I haven’t had many fries since being in Spain, and the sauce was killer. It was this spicy mustardy mayonaissey sauce that went great with the fries. I want to find out what that was so I can make it back in the states, because it was just so good.
Day 4: Brussels (What? A day without travelling?!!?)
We took advantage of our only full day in Brussels right off the bat by seeking out some waffles for breakfast. We had noticed that around Manneken Piss was waffle Mecca, so we went back to the peeing statue and found a great hole in the wall walk up place. It wasn’t nearly as good as the first waffle I had in Bruges, but it was still great.
Content with an actually filling breakfast we made our way toward
the Cantillon Brewery/Museum, famous for its Gueuze beer. The tour was interesting and we got two samples at the end of the tour. To be honest, as involved a process as making Gueuze beer seemed to be, I really wasn’t a fan of the beer. It was very sour, almost like a beer with lemon juice added. My palate probably isn’t developed enough to appreciate the flavor, but I probably won’t order that type of beer any time soon (although it beat Keystone by a mile).
On our way back from the brewery we stopped by this falafel place aptly named Mr. Falafel. If you visit Brussels anytime soon, I would for sure recommend this place. For only 3.50 euro you get a pita with 4 pieces of falafel. This sounds like a terrible deal, I know, but then you see the open bar with all the fixing you could want for your falafel pita. Dozens of toppings, sauces, and vegetables are just waiting to fill that toasted pita of yours.
Not knowing what to do, we wandered some more, seeing one of the cathedrals, the Palace of Justice, the Royal Park and the Congress Column, and this plaza near the Musical Instruments Museum that had a great view of the city.
We got back to the hostel after stopping at a Chinese Supermarket for dinner fixings, and I was happily surprised to see the Wisconsin – Michigan football game on all the TVs. I watched the game, feeling a little bit like I was home, while the other guys prepared dinner (I helped out between plays of course). We ate our chow mien (it could have been better), watched a bit of Iron Man, and headed out again to take advantage of our last night in Brussels. We only went to two or three bars including this bar called Kafka that had quotes from his books in German scrawled across the wall, got our last thing of fries and returned home early.
Day 5: Brussels > Charleroi > Santander
Tired and not having any real plans for the day, we slept in until we needed to check out. We split up in the morning, Alex headed for another art museum (no more medieval portraits for me!) while Josh and I wandered more of the city (you picking up a theme here?). We stopped back at the waffle place for one last Belgian waffle and then headed toward a fl
ea market in the direction of the train station where we had to catch the bus back to Charleroi. This flea market was everything that Rastro wasn’t, it was disorganized, unregulated, and just a collection of other people’s junk (which could become someone else’s treasure?). I tried to find some decent sweaters or flannel without any luck (apparently only women wear sweaters and only giants wear flannel), while Josh tried to find some leather jackets (in an attempt to become more badass, perhaps?). Cold and disheartened from our flea market failure we headed back to the train station to catch the bus to the airport, but not before happening upon another market. This market was great. It had a ton of fresh fruit and all the vendors were shouting to get your attention. It felt alive in comparison to the really subdued Ithaca Farmers’ Market. Either way, I finally found flannel that I liked, and it only cost 5 euro! Score? I think so. I bought my flannel and returned home with flannel and Belgian chocolates in hand.
