Luxembourg City, Brussels, and Bruges
In effort to escape the heat of Barcelona and take advantage of a free weekend, I scoured the internet for cheap flights and a place where we could use hotel points, and landed on a trip to Luxembourg City, Brussels, and Bruges. We flew into Luxembourg City, took a train to Brussels, took a train to Bruges, and then returned to the Brussels airport by train to fly back to Barcelona. This was my first trip to Luxembourg and second to Belgium and Kevin's first trip to both. We had a lovely time enjoying the perfect weather (20-28º C highs) and eating too many carbs (mostly waffles and fries)!
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| Luxembourg City overlooking the Alzette River |
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| Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium |
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| Grand Place in Bruges, Belgium |
Thursday, July 23
Kevin and I had a mid-morning flight from BCN to LUX out of Terminal 2, so I suggested taking Rodalies from Passeig de Gracia (instead of the Aerobus), not realizing there was an incident causing significant delays. We waited in the hot and humid metro/train station (Kevin was not happy about sweating in some of the few clothes we had packed) and finally were able to catch the train then metro to the airport with a little time to spare in the lounge for breakfast.
Once our RyanAir flight to Luxembourg landed and I stepped onto the tarmac, I was immediately greeted with cool, fresh air. It was a striking difference from the hot air we experienced on our last vacation. Immediately, I felt more relaxed and knew we would have a nice vacation here no matter what we did, because we'd be able to enjoy time outdoors. We boarded the bus to the city center and went to check into the Kazakiwi Hotel.
We got checked-in and Kevin picked a place for lunch. He chose a casual restaurant called Alison Café that was only open for lunch and recommended by Claude for quality food for good value. It was about 14:00 or so, so it was late for Luxembourg lunch standards, and we were the last to be seated in a near empty restaurant. Kevin opted for the menu of the day of wine soaked sausages with a mustard cream sauce served with mashed potatoes and vegetables (13€) while I ordered the cordon bleu XL with salad and frites (14.80€). Both meals were delicious and definitely satisfied the quality for good value search criteria. Beyond the great food, we were met by kindness (and patience) by the owners who we had a nice conversation with before they took time to eat after lunch service concluded. We found out that they were French and were celebrating their 20th anniversary of their restaurant, which was named after their daughter, Alison :)
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| Our meal from Alison Café |
After being stuffed for lunch, we decided to walk towards the many gardens and parks of Luxembourg and just explore. We started at the Pont Adolphe and walked down into the wooded Parcs de la Pétrusse, by the river. I couldn't believe how comfortable it was to walk around outside in the middle of the afternoon! And that we could wear jeans without sweating!
The old city was built atop a plateau and the city is characterized by deep gorges, cliffs, and split levels, and this afternoon we got our first glimpse. We walked down by the river, enjoyed views beneath the large bridges, and climbed our way back up to explore more gardens. We found ourselves in the Municipal Park and stumbled upon a cute outdoor cafe/bar called Mikrokosmos, where we decided to grab an apfelschorle (a local favorite of apple juice mixed with sparkling water) and sit and enjoy the park. Kevin took a little nap and I just sat and rested, wishing I had a book with me. Everyone around was well dressed and it was cool to see the place fill up with people as it seemed work started to let out. We certainly weren't the only ones taking advantage of the nice weather!
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| At Mikrokosmos taking a siesta |
Once we were recharged, we walked down the Grand Rue (main shopping street), stopping at a few different shops, on our way to the city museum. It was free on Thursdays after 18:00, so I figured we might as well. One of the employees recommended we pay attention to the wooden models of the city and to check out the view from the terrace, and we did just that! The city models showed a timeline of how the city grew over time and the terrace gave us incredible views of the northeast side of the city, Grund, Casemates of Bock, and the greenery outside of the city. Even more exciting, we got to take the largest elevator either of us had ever ridden to get up there! It was so large (18 m²) it even had armchairs for us to sit in and it had glass walls for panoramic views!!! Another part of the museum I really enjoyed was a circular room that was painted with a panorama that made you feel like you were stepping into the time when Luxembourg was under Spanish rule. From the terrace of the museum, we had a view of a very popular looking outdoor bar, so we decided to check it out next.
The city is small, so it didn't take us long to get to the bar, De Gudde Wellen or "De Gudde Weather," which claimed that it was only open when the weather was good. As I have already mentioned multiple times... the weather was GUDDE! We waited a few minutes to get seated and got a table with a spectacular view! I ordered a local pinot gris and Kevin ordered a local beer and we enjoyed our drinks atop a city wall. Golden hour was hitting, so I asked a stranger for a picture, and we headed off for dinner.
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| Chemin de la Corniche |
Feeling pretty satisfied with lunch, we opted to just get sandwiches from a place called Charles Sandwich and took our sammies to Place de la Constitution, a plaza with several fair rides and centered with an obelisk topped with a gold statue of a woman. Here, we had views of the south of the city atop more city walls, and we ate our pesto chicken and chicken tikka sandwiches and watched the sunset. We walked back to the hotel, upgraded rooms due to a sewage smell, and watched a bit of Task Master before going to sleep.
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| Our view at dinner. Really love the trees here! |
Friday, July 24
Both of us slept-in quite a bit after a comfy night in our upgraded King bed. We packed our backpacks for check-out and headed to the bike cafe next door to get some yogurt and granola for breakfast. After we finished up, we went down the street to have coffee at Market by Jeremy, a vegan coffee shop and enjoyed oat milk cortados (only 3€!) outside.
By the time we finished our coffees, I was getting hungry and even though it was a little early, we decided that it might be nice to have lunch away from the more touristic zone and decided to return to Alison Café. This time when we arrived, the terrace was completely full and we were lucky to even get a table! Today, I ordered the menu of the day, which was white fish, cauliflower, and mashed potatoes, and Kevin got the cordon bleu XL meal. Kevin's cordon bleu was more XL than yesterday, the food was all delicious, and the owner introduced us to the namesake of the restaurant, Alison! So glad we went back because it's so fun and feels special to be able to interact with locals on vacation.
The only things on our agenda were exploring Old Town and Grund and buying a magnet and postcards, so we took the tram into the city center. All of the public transportation in the city is free, and even though the weather was perfect for walking around, it was really nice to be able to move throughout the city quickly if needed without too much hassle.
We walked around some of the main squares (Place d'Armes and Place Guillaume II) and out to the Castle Bridge and Casemates of Bock. After visiting the city museum, we had a better understanding and appreciation for how the city was constructed and it made the views atop the plateau even more spectacular.
As per recommended by some travel guides, we headed down to the Grund district down by the river. It was much quieter in Grund, with fewer people and fewer restaurants. The architecture was more simple and the buildings seemed to all be white, beige, and lighter colors. We passed a Michelin star Italian restaurant that served ravioli for 50€ (our Italian friends would scoff) and saw a building built into a rocky gorge, but other than that, I wouldn't say I found it too remarkable. We took a seat on a bench by the river in the shade and devised our next moves before heading towards a coffee shop plant shop.
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| A view from Grund |
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| View of Grund from above |
On the way to coffee, I wanted to check out what appeared to be a hallway carved out of the rock which was filled with a display of interesting looking shoes and happened to lead to an elevator! It had gotten a little warmer out, so we happily boarded the elevator which took us almost directly the cafe, Holy Ghost Garden. We sat in the garden, wishing we had a deck of cards and asked ChatGPT for the best rated card games for 2. Once we finished up the cortado we split, we walked back to the city center to complete the other tasks of buying a magnet and postcards.
Being mindful of the time we needed to catch a train to Brussels, we accomplished our tasks, took in the beautiful views of the city, and walked back to the area near our hotel to have a focaccia sandwich for dinner, write a postcard to our nephews, pick up our bags, and walk to the train station.
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| In the streets of Luxembourg City |
We took the 19:11 train to Brussels-Nord which took a little over 3 hours. Watching a few episodes of Task Master together definitely helped us pass the time quickly (shout out to AirPods audio sharing). We arrived in Brussles a bit past 22:00 and walked to our hotel, The Standard. The hotel was super hip and fancy looking, and our hotel room was upgraded upon arrival due to my "Hyatt Loyalty" lol. I can't really laugh too much though because we took the elevator up to an extremely quiet hallway and walked into a massive, dimly lit corner room with cool retro furniture, floor to ceiling windows, and spectacular views of the city, Royal Gardens, and even Atomium! Not too bad for a "free" room :) Also, they had robes!
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| Might make this his new contact photo |
Saturday, July 25
Weather in Brussels today was a bit more warm than Luxembourg and both Kevin and I severely miscalculated how cold it would feel on this trip (both of us packed jackets, pants only, and even sweaters... thank goodness I had linen!) so we weren't in any real hurry to get out. We made an in-room pour over coffee to share, I ordered a TooGoodToGo from a nearby hotel for breakfast, and we headed in that direction. Along the way, we saw charter buses loading up people while playing electronic music, which we found odd for this hour in the morning. We then passed under a horrible smelling bridge, bought a spinach bread from a street vendor, and sat in the shade of the trees in a botanical garden before it was time for our pick-up at Nhou Hotel. There, we had breakfast and encountered even more people dressed for a rave, lined up to board a charter bus. I finally asked someone in line where they were headed and they responded, ¨"to Tomorrowland!" I had heard of this music festival before, so it all made sense!
We needed some more coffee, so we stopped at a cute coffee shop called My Little Cup to split a flat white on the patio. Once we were adequately caffeinated, we walked toward the Parc du Bruxelles in front of the Royal Palace. We walked in the shade of the trees, read signs about the park, which originally housed over 50 sculptures, and took a seat in front of a huge fountain with hopes of catching some mist. Luckily, we caught some mist and sat and people watched for a bit, mostly observing a photoshoot and speculating what the photoshoot was for (graduation? marketing?). We might've been watching too intently, because the photographer came over and started chatting to us (initially in Dutch, whoops) and offered to take our photo! We chatted with the group for a bit and found they were just friends having a photoshoot after finishing a music course together. It was really cute and they looked like they had such a fun together.
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| Photo compliments of Marc van Put |
Not knowing what to do next, we just continued to walk through the park and stumbled upon a few food huts and decided to stop from some frites and lemonade! The place was really busy, so we found ourselves a picnic table and enjoyed our snack before continuing to walk by the the royal palace and the Notre Dame of Brussels. We ended up passing by a cute garden, Square du Petit Sablon, which had an a abundance of well manicured red flowers and shrubs and was surrounded by an iron fence topped with 48 small statues featuring different medieval trades. This led me to ask one of my favorite questions: "which one is me?" and we walked around the perimeter of the garden trying to guess each medieval trade. We didn't really find me, but it was still fun to walk around and guess for a bit before I got hot and kinda crabby.
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| Where we had lemonade and frites |
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| Square du Petit Sablon; you can see some of the tiny sculptures |
I thought sugar might cure the crabbiness, so we walked to a nearby chocolate shop (Laurant Gerbaud) and had some samples of chocolate and gelato on the patio. It was the perfect mid-afternoon treat! Then, we deescended the steps of Mont des Arts to walk towards Grand Place and the city center. It seemed crazy that we hadn't even seen the city center yet after being out all day, but I guess Brussels is a big city!
Almost immediately, the streets became a little more crowded. Before actually making it that far, we stopped for a single vanilla macaron and continued toward Grand Place. We passed through the St. Hubert Royal Galleries and were hit with a wave of tourists, so we knew we were getting close. I definitely visited the Royal Galleries and Grand Place the last time I was in Brussels in 2016 with my friend Ali, so memories immediately started rushing back from that trip (going from shop to shop getting free chocolate samples and admiring Grand Place at night the evening before the Brussels terrorist train bombing). Even though I had been before, when we walked into Grand Place, I was still able to appreciate the details and the many, many sculptures this time. I think I'll always think of Brussels as the city of sculptures from now on. But anyway, I loved how unique and flashy the gold on the buildings was. We watched a dart shooting competition in Grand Place before moving on.
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| Royal Galleries |
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| Darts in Grand Place |
Since we hadn't made any dinner reservations ahead of time, we decided to go ahead and check and see if we could get a table at a Belgian restaurant recommended by Claude, Nüetnigenough. I was initially delighted to snag a free table outside, but the delight was immediately squashed when I realized we were seated next to a table of 3 loud Americans. Because we had done so much snacking, I wasn't too hungry and ordered a burrata salad and Kevin got a Belgian beef stew with a side of salad and stoemp (Belgian mashed potatoes mixed with vegetables) and a Belgian beer. The food was good, but kind of expensive for what we got, and the entire meal was spent eavesdropping on the table of Americans (not by choice, but because they were too loud). It was a table of 3 commercial pilots who were spouting conspiracy theories about COVID-19, vaccinations, "empty ICUs," and how COVID was just a big sham (you know exactly what these guys looked like)... My blood was boiling. I shot glares at them for the entire meal and we tried to finish as quickly as possible, because it honestly ruined the meal for me. I was going to say something as we were leaving, but the server came to take their payment and it wasn't worth it to linger.
Kevin thought a waffle might ease my troubles, so we walked around for a bit, passed by Mannekin Pis because we were there (Kevin's response was "That's it?"), and got in line at Maison Dandoy (one of the most oldest, most famous places for a waffle in the city) for a fresh liege waffle. Liege waffles differ from the waffles we think of in the US because they are dense instead of light and crispy and have pearl sugar embedded in the dough, creating areas of caramelized sugar when pressed. I remember LOVING the waffles when I was here last! We ordered a simple one without toppings (5€) and enjoyed it outside of the cafe. The place lived up to their reputation because the waffle was warm, had areas of caramelized sugar, and an almost gooey interior. It was delicious and did in fact lift my spirits.
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| Mannekin Pis |
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| Waffle selfie |
Eager to get away from the crowded city center, we decided to go back to Monts de Arts to grab a beer and watch the sunset. There was a bar called Chateau Moderne that was at the top of the steps and had an amazing view. We snagged a table and chairs outside, Kevin got a Belgian white beer and I got a Choufee Cherry (similar to one of my favorites, the New Glarus Belgian Red). I sat next to a couple seemingly on their first date and overheard the woman grilling the guy with questions so intensely it sounded like it was a therapy session. Once we finished up, we overhead a guy singing and playing guitar at the bottom of the steps and I wanted to stay and listen. We sat and joined the many others taking in this beautiful weather and calming music for a few songs before we decided to get another waffle.
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| Our view at Chateau Moderne |
Instead of returning to Maison Dandoy (which we really grappled with lol), we decided to try another place that was recommended, Le Roi de la Gaufe. The place was a bit more simple and less well known, but it delivered a freshly cooked, delicious, and 1€ cheaper liege waffle and a patio to enjoy it on. We sat and shared our waffle while bobbing our heads to some of the 2000s bops that were blasting from the empty club across the street before taking the metro to get back to the hotel for the night.
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| Second waffle of the night |
Sunday, July 26
The both of us decided to get a work-out in this morning, so we headed up to the 29th floor to find the gym. We both did some weights, Kevin tried the rowing machine for the first time, and it was the perfect jumpstart to our day. Once we were cleaned off and packed up, we left our backpacks at reception and headed out for breakfast. It was cooler outside and we decide to walk to a different neighborhood to grab coffee and sandwiches at Habebe Coffee. It was a cool looking industrial space that housed a family owned coffee/brunch spot where there were a few groups gathered. We were able to snag a table to ourselves outside and while the prices for brunch dishes were not listed and a bit outrageous, we split a tomato vegetable dish and a flat white and still had a nice time.
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| Pretty cool room and view! |
Still hungry after leaving Habebe, we decided to go straight to lunch. We had a late enough start that this made sense anyway. We walked along the river to get to the Saint Catherine neighborhood to eat at a a fish restaurant called Nordzee (Mer de Nord)! It was highly recommended on the internet, and when we saw how many people were gathered, we knew coming here was the right decision. The restaurant had tons of high top tables set up under giant umbrellas in the plaze in front of Saint Catherine's church and there was a line out the building. We got in line, made some selections from their hand written white board menu, and snagged a table under the umbrella. It felt very reminiscent of a fish stall we had been to when we visited our friends Maggie and Ben in Den Bosch! When our order was ready, someone yelled Kevin's name and brought us our kibbeling, fried calamari, and fish burger. All tasted super light, flaky, and fresh and Kevin said this was his chow for the trip (and it was mine, only second to the cordon bleu XL from Alison's).
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| Best seafood I've had in a while! |
From here, I was on a mission to pick up a postcard and a magnet, so we walked towards the city center so I could pass through some shops (Kevin's least favorite activity). We heard some cheering in Grand Place, so we decided to check out what all the commotion was about and to our surprise, we stumbled upon a sporting event in the middle of the plaza. Turns out, it was the Frisian Handball Grand-Prix of Brussels and neither of us had ever seen, let alone heard of Frisian Handball before. The two teams were on opposing sides and were throwing and hitting a small rubber ball with their hands back and forth (this is a very simplified version of what was going on lol). I watched for a little bit, but later left Kevin there to watch while I continued my mission.
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| Frisian Handball on Grand Place |
It started to drizzle and the rain started to pick up, so we decided it would be smart to seek refuge somewhere. And if we were going to seek refuge, why couldn't it be at Le Roi de la Gaufe??? We weren't too far, so we walked back there to grab a waffle. It had not even been 24 hours since we had been there last and the cashier even remembered us lol. Waffle in hand, we took the last table under the awning of their front patio and it started to POUR. Our timing couldn't have been more perfect. It didn't take long for us to finish the waffle, but we stayed for 20-30 minutes to keep out of the rain.
Once the rain finally let up, we made a break for the metro to check out and catch a train. The sun had actually come out and the wet stones throughout the city were almost blinding! Back at the hotel, before we grabbed our bags, we headed back up to the 29th floor to check out the rooftop and the views. The views were even nicer than the ones from our room! We checked the time, grabbed our bags, and made it to Brussels Nord to take a train to Brugge.
Getting the tickets and making it to the train was simple enough and we were off on our just over 1 hour journey to Brugge. Neither of us really had expectations for this town, except knowing it was nicknamed "The Venice of the North," so we arrived with a low bar. After a few wrong turns, we caught sight of our first canal, crossed over a bridge decorated with bright flowers, and made it to the NH Hotel. We rested and for dinner, we decided on Otomat, a pizza place closeby that sold Belgian style sourdough pizza. We got seated on the patio on a nice, quiet plaza, and enjoyed our meal in the cool shade. Here, we definitely remembered that we were in Flanders, the region of Belgium that speaks Dutch, because we were surrounded by Dutch speakers! After dinner, we walked around the quiet streets for a bit. The buildings were mostly constructed with brick (a lot of red) and with a stair stepping facade (this Flemish style is knwon as stepped or crow stepped gables). We wandered into the Saint John's hospital and the location of art by one of Kevin's favorite artists (Patricia Piccinini) lol, and had a quiet walk back to the hotel. My first impression of the city was definitely good!
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| On the way to our hotel |
Monday, July 27
Unfortunately, we had just a double bed in this hotel, so neither of us got the absolute best sleep. But since the weather was forecasted to be a high of 23º (!!!), we were in no rush and took our time in the morning. Eventually, we wanted coffee which motivated us to get out the door. DEES Coffee Roasters was our final destination and even though it was on the other side of town, it was only a 16 minute walk away!! Small town, I guess.
The Google Maps page for DEES did not show very promising breakfast options, so we decided to stop for a waffle along the way... because when else will be able to get waffles whenever we want? We walked past a place called Chez Albert (a local chain with good reviews) and grabbed a fresh waffle and took it to-go. It was just as good as what we had in Brussels and probably a bit too sugary for breakfast, but when in Belgium I suppose! On the way to DEES, we passed through a crowded Grand Place and it felt like an entirely different city than the one we had seen the night before. We didn't feel like spending too much time there, so we continued onto a quiet street where we found the coffee shop and split a flat white on the patio. It was actually a really good quality coffee and I love a place that defaults to oat milk!
Once we finished our coffee, we figured the best chance to avoid the crowds was to walk away from the city center, so we had a nice, quiet stroll along the canal. The quiet was shortlived when we walked right into Rosary Quay, one of the most photographed spots in the city and it was packed with tourists... I know, we can't complain because we are also tourists, but the canal was just covered in people. I theorized that a lot of people must be here for a day trip, so that we should revisit the area later in the day. Koningin Astridpark was really closeby, so we decided to take a rest in the park.
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| I loved all of the flowers |
We walked up to this peaceful, green park with a pond, fountain, and an abundance of mature trees. It felt amazing under the shade of the trees, so we grabbed some chairs and just sat by the pond. I'm not sure what it was about this park, but I felt totally at ease and so happy! And maybe it wasn't so much the park, and more so it being such a comfortable temperature out (not too hot or too cold)... but I really had the best time doing almost nothing in the park. I actually at one point said that I was so happy I could cry lol. Goes to show how oppressive the heat has been in Barcelona and on our last vacation. While I sat, Kevin went on a walk to examine the trees and found some oaks and maple tree look-a-likes. We observed a children's photography camp (their cameras were as nice as mine LOL), people walking their dogs, and kids feeding the ducks. It really just reminded me of summer in Wisconsin and it made me super happy.
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| Possibly my favorite place in Bruges: Koningin Astridpark |
When we finally got hungry, we went to cute restaurant (Sanseveria) and split a mediocre, overpriced bagel sandwich and decided to get more food after we finished. Mr. Sandwich, a place Claude recommended was closeby, so we decided to grab a sandwich and take it back to Koningin Astridpark. We shared a pesto chicken sandwich while we observed ducks in the pond and field mice in the grass. It was less relaxing to me than earlier due to the animals, but still nice to just sit and enjoy the park. Once we finished and got refilled on water, we started walking towards Minnewater Park.
Along the way, we walked passed this super impressive display of flowers and stopped to take a picture. The flowers were situated in front of what looked to be a church that had a sign labeled "Madeleine in Brugge, 'a little piece of heaven'". Thinking it was related to the Madeline book series (I realize now that the spelling is different...), I suggested we pop our heads in. We walked in and this was like no church I had ever seen. I wasn't even completely sure it was a church! The ceiling was bright royal blue, there were neon lights, a giant bird's nest, and a swing suspended from the ceiling... Kevin and I started to wander and when a woman from the front desk started to approach me, I got paranoid this was a tourist attraction we needed to pay for. She instead greeted me and told me to let her know if I had any questions (I had a lot lol). I ended up asking her what this space was to which she did not have a solid answer... she told me "I guess I would call this a space to gather as a community" and said that they host a variety of different types of events, from poetry readings to yoga in the space.
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| The flowers that lured me in |
Not completely sure of what her answer meant, I walked around, reading the display signs, and exhibits. When I got to the bird's nest, I started to feel weirded out by the displays talking about "following the Phoenix." And by the time I got to the dark room in the corner, with displays saying "We should not be afraid of darkness", I felt really unsettled. I left the dark room quickly and found the swing empty, so I decided to do that next. I read the display discussing feeling yin and yang and plopped on the wooden swing.
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| A giant phoenix nest? |
I will say, it felt surprisingly cathartic and I was worried I was somehow getting sucked into to whatever this religion was at first LOL. Don't worry-- I have not been converted! I think something about being able to feel the expansiveness of the space and the cool air on my face really just made me relax. Kevin also gave it a go and then we got the heck out of there! Before leaving the area, we checked out the cafe and also got very weird vibes and spent the next part of our walk discussing whether or not we just visited a cult.
We stopped at a FritBar and got some frites with parmesean cheese while Kevin marveled at how the street that we were on only had shops that alternated between waffle, chocolate, and frites. It was sadly a bit touristy and there was no way this was a local area. From there, we decided to get a light bite to eat at the oldest pub in Brugge. It had a nice outdoor patio and since they were out of what we wanted to order, we just ordered a salami and cheese plate with a decision made to get another waffle later.
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| Pretty streets on the way to the pub |
After "dinner," we walked back through some of the more touristy areas to find them in fact less packed. We snagged a few golden hour photos, and got another waffle from a place called oyya (not quite as good as Chez Albert) before turning in for the evening.
Tuesday, July 28
Today was the hottest day of this vacation (high of 28°) and we definitely did not pack for it! We put on the lightest clothes we had and went to the other side of town to a greenhouse cafe called Stera for a morning coffee. They had seating inside the greenhouse or outside by the small fountain, and since it was cool in the shade, we opted for a table outside. It was QR order service at the table, so we ordered a flat white and banana bread, and saw the option to add a free deck of cards to use and added that too. We had no other real plans today, so why not learn how to play the 2-player French card game Kevin had read about, Piquet.
We got sucked in rather quickly and ended up spending a couple of hours on this delightful patio learning and playing this card game from the 15th century. I enjoyed myself, but wasn't completely sold that this game didn't involve a lot more luck than skill. Nevertheless, we played until it was time to get back to the hotel to check-out.
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| Stera coffee shop |
After check-out (and maybe a few pieces of candy from the lobby), we headed out for lunch. Wanting to stay away from the tourist zone, Kevin picked Brasserie Smeepoorte, a restaurant with a menu of the day located close to our hotel. We got seated at a shaded table outside (somehow cooler than inside) and Kevin ordered the lunch special of beef cheeks, coleslaw, and frites, and I had the fish soup. Soup wasn't my smartest decision on a hot day, but I thought it sounded nice, and it was. The beef cheek was probably the most tender I've ever tried and Kevin enjoyed it as well. This was definitely a local establishment, as we were surrounded again by Dutch speakers and were seated next to a family with a very fresh newborn baby. Side note: I was astounded by how many frites they all ate.
After lunch, we did a bit of light shopping, since the stores were air conditioned. First, stop was an OxFam Secondhand shop where we checked out antiques, vintage clothes, and toyed with the idea of buying a vintage deck of French cards. Then, we checked out Iedereen Loopt, a barefoot shoe store where Kevin discovered a few new brands and tried on some shoes. After, we popped into a grocery store to buy some chocolate bars and look for cold sparkling flavored water. I bought a post card from a street vendor and we only had one thing left we wanted to buy for the day: a waffle. We walked back through Grand Place one more time and stopped at Chez Albert for a last waffle on the way back to the hotel. From there, we grabbed our bags and headed to the train station to catch a 1.5 hour train directly to the airport. It was a bit more expensive because it was rush hour (26€) but at least we didn't have to make any transfers. We arrived at the airport with ample time to enjoy a decent lounge where I sipped on more cherry beer (Lindemans Kriek) and we had some snacks before going home. It was a nice send off from Belgium and the impending heat wave really made it easier to leave such a relaxing vacation.
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| This spot was so crowded in the morning and empty in the evening |
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