Americans in Brussels
Going to Brussels, one must have, in no particular order, waffles, chocolate, frites, and beer. Brussels is truly an underrated city no thanks to the recent terrorist attacks. With that in mind, the Americans in Europe crew ventured into the EU and Belgian capital to eat, drink, and explore this remarkable city.
[divider class="" ]Planning:
Back in the late summer, Mary Frances and I compiled our list of top Christmas markets we wanted to visit. From there, we asked Blake and Lauren which cities they would also be interested in and the plan was born! However, throwing a wrench into my plans was the KPMG Christmas party. Not even one day after we booked our tickets and hotels, we received an email describing the Christmas party for that Friday night! It was a pain that worked out in the end!
[divider class="" ]How:
When we moved here, I became fascinated with the Eurostar/train travel in general. Compared to airplanes and airports, it seemed much easier! I saw Eurostar was having a deal on the London-Brussels trip and instantly went for it. This way, we would arrive in the middle of the city and would not have to deal with the airport madness. Blake was kind enough to suggest a hotel and the trip was planned!
As mentioned earlier, our KPMG Christmas party ruined our plans slightly. Since our train tickets were “changeable, with a fee,” I re-booked us to the first train on Saturday morning. It was going to be interesting…
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- Train: £100
- Hotel: £30
- Chocolate: Endless
[divider class="" ]Lodging:
Thanks to Blake’s eagle eye, he spotted a cheap fare at a SPG “budget” hotel. Compared to some of our recent hostels and trips, it was really nice. It was located in a good area - near the E.U. headquarters. Overall, it was really nice! Especially for 1 night!
Saturday:
Early Morning Train:
The alarm bells went off awfully early on Saturday, especially after a KPMG Christmas party. Looking back, I should have booked a hotel right next to the train station rather than the party! Oh well, hindsight is always twenty-twenty. We safely arrived at St Pancreas after a lovely, tiring 45 minute uber ride…I love train travel. There is something about arriving at the train station, easily walking to the train, and then sitting down. Oh wait it is just that easy! Eurostar recommends arriving at least an hour before departure to go through security. We were lucky and got a nice shortcut to the front of the line. The train ride was so nice and smooth. We napped the entire time!Since we departed London at 7am, it meant we had an early arrival into Brussels. After a short cab ride to the hotel, we stumbled into Blake and Lauren! Thankfully, we could use their room to freshen up because big surprise, we had zero motivation to do so at 5am!
Exploring:
After a quick refresh, we rejoined Blake and Lauren and headed to Brussels city center! First, though, we bought waffles! It was delicious! Since we had been sitting for awhile, we decided to take the 20 minutes walk to waffles. Boy, was that the wrong decision. It was freezing!Our first foray into the lovely food scene of Brussels was a delicious Liege waffle covered in chocolate sauce. We looked at tripadvisor and Waffle Factory was the top choice (and closest to us!). And we hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet! Next on our stop was the famous Friteland, the same frite shop I purchased my first frites three years ago… Good times! The only change was I was wearing loads of winter gear and gloves to eat my frites![gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="1010,1014"]Since we planned on attending the 2pm walking tour, we decided to take a sneak peek at the Christmas markets. They looked promising! The biggest thing was trying to stay warm as my toes were freezing so we were constantly moving.
Walking Tour:
The walking tour began in the main square and it was also beautiful with the Christmas trees and lights. Our guy was really funny and very informative about the architecture. Most importantly, he appears to know the good eats, drinks, and local hangouts!
I highly recommend the walking tour. It was free, we saw all the big sights, and we received great recommendations. A few of the highlights… The best chocolates are in the Galeries St Hubert and are well worth the price! We purchased some for our Christmas presents. Next, we went to a really cool independent beer shop called Beer World. If you mentioned the tour, you got a free beer! For frites, our guide recommended a hole-in-a-wall frite shop that was across the way from Friteland - it has 42 different sauces![gallery size="large" columns="2" ids="1016,1018"]After the extremely cold tour, we decided to reset and refresh. We had been up since 5am with a short train nap to sustain us! We checked into our hotel and it was incredibly nice! Then again, we are use to hostels and really not sure what is this chain hotel life…
Our Night Out:
We decided to go to the recommended restaurants as soon as they opened. Unfortunately, it appeared every good restaurant was slammed busy. We eventually found a steakhouse and ate like kings! Especially when compared to my wine dinner in Budapest last weekend! It was so nice eating dinner with fellow Americans and enjoying really good food.Afterwards, we walked around and did what we have been doing for a few hours already, Christmas market shopping. I really liked these markets as they had tons of available booths and loads cool knick knacks! I then insisted we go to one of my favorite bars in the world - Delirium! We went to the alley where it is located and it reminded me of the good old days. And it was just as packed with people as it was with three years ago! I played the role of bartender and ordered everyone the yummy beer with high alcohol percentage! Safe to say we all were a little happy after a few drinks![gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="1031,1032"]
Sunday:
After a long day yesterday, we all opted to sleep in and then start the day with great brunch. And we did just that!! We all wanted to relax a little bit in the warmth and discover the little things - which mainly included French bakeries!Again, similar to yesterday, we spent most of the day retracing our steps and shopping at Christmas markets and normal shops. I went back to Beer World and loaded up on good Beligan beer. Unfortunately, this meant I had to carry it around all day.. Mary Frances bought fancy gloves at the Galaries. Blake bought another round of frites at the recommended places and we can confirm it is better than Friteland![gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="1028,1030"]After all this shopping and eating, we decided to grab a quick bite at a local burger shop. It was delcicious and warm! Unfortunately, the weekend was drawing to an end. Brussels again surprised me with its underrated charm. I believe it is a smaller, cheaper Paris with all the great food and even better beer!
[divider class="" ]Food:
The food is superb and amazing in Brussels. It is seriously underrated compared to the other European capitals!First, the frites were hot and fresh. The fries are nice and hot and the various sauces really make it a special dish. I would highly recommend the Friterie![gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="1025,1034"]Second, the waffles are to-die for in this city! There are two types - the normal Belgian waffle and the Leige waffle filled with sugar cubes that melt when it cooks! When the waffle is topped with rich Belgian chocolate or fresh strawberries, it is possibly a close second to chocolate chip cookies! I really enjoyed mine at the Waffle Factory and recommended to avoid the tourist trap ones where they sell for 2 euros!Third, my true love, the Belgian beer is heavenly. It does not taste like American beer and is full of great tastes and is really cheap in Brussels! I think I was paying 3 euros for a glass that definitely packed a punch!
For real food this weekend, on Saturday night for dinner, we ate at the steakhouse that is in the Marriott. While delicious, we were disappointed that all the good local places were booked. We should have researched ahead of time and booked a dinner place!For Sunday brunch, it was by far my favorite meal this weekend at Charli Boulangerie. At first, it started out as a bakery run. As we looked around for seats, the person recommended the restaurant across the street. It was the best decision. You could see them cook the food behind the counter using the freshest ingredients. The eggs and bacon were delicious and I would easily go back there.[gallery columns="2" size="large" ids="1023,1024"]Our last meal in Brussels was at Ellis Gourmet Burger. They fashioned it out of the NY Ellis Island. It was quite good, but definitely made better by good friends and warmth!Brussels will always remain very underrated in my opinion, especially after the recent terrorist attacks. The delicious frites, chocolates, waffles, and most importantly, beer will continue to bring me back![gallery size="large" columns="2" ids="1011,1018,1015,1021,1033,1022,1029,1027,1034,1032,1012,1028,1016"]