Belgium Weekend – Sept. 28 Brugge

Brugge, I have been told by many many people is suppose to be very pretty.  The city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (seems like I’m visiting a lot of these lately…).  There are canals everywhere and is sometimes called the “Venice of the North”.  At our arrival in the train station, our first stop was the tourist office where they charged for a map.  Everywhere else that I’ve been too have given maps for free (even Brussels).  Must be a very touristy place then…

Our first stop was the Grote Markt.  On one side of the markt stands the provincial court, another side has some reconstructed medieval houses, and on the third side stands the Belfry tower which you can climb to the top (for a fee) for a view of the city.

The provincial courts

 The reconstructed guild houses

One of my friends who had already come to Brugge recommended we do a canal boat tour.  It was a great way to see the city (no walking!) and the tour guide was able to speak in English too (although a bit brokenly, but enough to understand the main message).

The boat we were going to take =)

 View of the Our Lady’s Church from the water

Watch your head!

Along the water, there would be swans swimming by.  They didn’t seem too concerned about the boats and would let them get really close.  So close that if I wanted to, I could have reached out and touched one (probably the worst idea ever…). 

There were tons floating around~

By the end of the tour I was completely exhausted.  I was lacking sleep (snoring >.<”) and just generally was not in a good mood.  We visited the Beguinage and the Minnewater before heading to the train station and catching an early train back to Brussels.  I was expecting more from Brugge from the way people were talking about it.  Yes, it was pretty, but not as I expected.  It was a lot more touristy than I thought it would be (even in the end of Sept).  The pace is a bit slower than Brussels and Antwerp and definitely way less people.  Despite all this, it is still worth a visit though!

It was an awesome weekend.  I had tons of fun and met a couple new travel buddies.  I think I’ve seen pretty much everything I wanted to see in Belgium.  Now onwards to other countries!

 

See more pictures here.

Belgium Weekend – Brussels By Night

Because we were staying in Brussels, I had the opportunity to see Brussels at night.  Our hotel is close to the Brussels North station and isn’t too far of a walk to the city centre.  There was an outdoor concert celebrating la Fête de la Communauté française.  Quebec was a sponsor!!  The centre was filled with people singing and dancing along with the music.  I was also able to see the city hall and guild houses all lit up with lights.  It looked very different from day.

Watching the concert – it was being broadcasted live on TV (we could watch from our hotel)

The huge crowd enjoying the music with the lit up guild houses in the background

The city hall!

Of course, being in Belgium, we had to try some Belgium waffles.  We bought two to share between the three of us and even then we had some problems finishing it all!

I didn’t know which one to choose :|

 Strawberries and whipped cream <3

Ice cream + chocolate sauce~

I liked the strawberries one more.  The ice cream got too messy and disgusting as we ate it.  Definitely a yum way to end the day.

Belgium Weekend – Sept. 27 Antwerp

The weekend after this post, I headed back to Brussels to meet up with a high school friend.  We were staying in Brussels and planning on heading to Antwerp (Dutch Antwerpen, French Anvers) and Brugge (Dutch, English Bruges) as day trips.  I was able to see bits of Brussels again which I really didn’t mind too much.  We ventured to areas that I hadn’t been before and spent at least 30 minutes trying to figure out the metro system.  We managed to buy a pass for 10€ that gives 24 hours unlimited travel for a group of less than 5 people.  This was a really good deal =)  It was during one of wanderings we came across this:

This just made my day =)  Its just too cute (and funny)!

The next morning, we headed out early for Antwerp.  The train ride was about 30 minutes.  As there were 4 of us, we bought the Go Pass for the Belgium train.  Each time you use it, its 4,60 Euros no matter the regular fare.  The Antwerp train station was really pretty!  The outside was under construction, but the inside was definitely worth taking a closer look at. 

Our first stop was the Antwerp Diamond Museum.  Antwerp is known to be a city of diamonds.  The museum was interesting and boring (is that possible?).  They tried to create interactive displays and provided all visitors with an audio guide available in numerous languages.  They had some diamonds on display and lots of jewelry to see, but I don’t really know too much about this stuff, which is where the boring bit came in.  Admission was 4€ for students.

We then headed for the city centre.  As with most cities, there was a church, Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral of our Lady).  This Cathedral is the highest Cathedral in the low countries.  We needed to pay admission for the church (2€ for students).  From the outside, this church is unbelievably tall.  It seemed to go on forever.  The church (as we see it now) was constructed between 1350 and 1520.  I really have no idea how they managed it!

The Cathedral facade – originally there were to be two towers, but due to a fire, all efforts were focused on the church’s repair, and the tower was never built

Impossibly high!

 

The alter

The Grote Markt of Antwerp is set up quite similarly to the one in Brussels with a town hall and guild houses.  In the middle of the market stands the statue of Brabo.  Legend says that a giant once lived near the river and whenever a sailor refused to pay a toll, the giant would punish the sailor by cutting off his hand.  Brabo managed to kill the giant and cut off the hand and threw it in the river.  According to the legend, that is how the name “Antwerpen” came about: hand and werpen (to throw).  The “hand” has become a symbol of Antwerp and can be found in the town flag and in some candy. 

The town hall and Brabo fountain

The guild houses along the market are not the original ones.  They were rebuilt after a fire in the 16th century. 

The guild houses

We walked to the Steen (meaning “The Stone”), the only remaining part of the fortifications of Antwerp.  We walked along the water before heading back for some shopping to end our day. 

 

See more pictures here.

Sept. 20 - Brussels

I haven’t had a chance to update in awhile.  Life suddenly got busy with traveling, school and parties (>.<”).  Get ready for a series of updates on what I’ve been up to the past weeks!

For two weekends, I’ve headed to Belgium.  First just to Brussels for a day trip (Sept. 20) and then to Brussels, Antwerp and Brugge for a weekend trip with a high school friend.

The train ride from Maastricht to Brussels is about 1.5 hours.  On the weekend you have to switch trains in Liege, Belgium.  The first place we headed to was the Grand Place (Grote Markt) in the center of Brussels.  The Grand Place is a UNESCO World Heritage site and as soon as you enter it, you definitely know why.  It was gorgeous.  Words cannot describe the intricate detailing that went into the architecture.  I can only imagine how long it took for it to be built.

 The town hall

Guild houses

Even the second time I went back, it was still really awe inspiring.  Everywhere you turned there was something different and interesting to look at.

Another major highlight for tourists is the Manneken Pis.  No one really knows why this statue has become such an icon for Brussels.  One popular legend about the statue is that a man had lost his child and when he finally spotted his boy at this corner relieving himself, the father created this statue as gratitude.  The Manneken has a variety of clothing options.  Upwards of 600 different types of outfits.  In my two trips to Brussels, I saw the Manneken Pis in 3 different outfits.

Another popular site, just off of Grand Place is the 't Serclaes monument.  Everard ‘t Serclaes was assassinated for his participation in a rebellion against the Lord of Gaasbeek.  This statue was made in commemoration of him.  It is said that by rubbing the statue, especially the arm and the dog’s nose, will bring you luck.

 

Around the corner from this statue is the St. Hubert Gallery, a covered shopping area.  There are two parts of the gallery: the King’s Gallery and the Queens Gallery.  Dividing them is the Rue des Bouchers, a famous restaurant area (more about this later). 

 

The galleries reminded me of the Louvre with its high ceilings and intricacies in the wall.  Instead of displaying fine art, the galleries were lined with fine chocolates and lace.  There were so many varieties of chocolate available!  Pretty much anything you wanted, it was available.  Just walking through and taking a look in the shop windows was pretty cool.  And you can smell the chocolate!  Heaven =)

Next we headed to the St. Michael and St. Goedale Cathedral.  There was a wedding going on so we weren’t able to see too much of the cathedral.  From what I saw it was pretty impressive.  This church has been here since at least the 11th century and has a lot of history behind it.  There is a crypt, but we decided not to go.

Inside the church with the wedding procession

We headed to the Parc de Bruxelles and the Palais Royal next.  The park, was not a park – not by the Canadian standards at least.  Yes, there are trees and some bushes, but no grass.  The paths were huge, filled with rocks.  Not too much green space, but I guess its still nice as its right in the middle of the city.

The Palais Royal overlooks the Parc which use to be the hunting ground for a couple dukes.  It is the official palace of the King of Belgium, but the King doesn’t live here (he lives somewhere on the outskirts of Brussels). 

After all this activity, we were starving so we headed back to the Rue des Bouchers for some mussels.  It was such a touristy thing to do, especially with the waiters coming out to talk to you if you even glance in their direction.  For 10€ I got a bowl full of mussels and frites.  I not a big fan of mussels in the first place, but wanted to try them anyways.  Now I can say I’ve had mussels in Brussels. ^_^

We also went to the EU buildings, the Palais de Justice, Chocolate museum and to a viewpoint of the city.  I wanted to go to the comic book museum (Tin Tin references are every where in the city), but in the end we decided not to go opting for the chocolate museum instead.  Looking back I really regret this decision.  The chocolate museum was not worth the entrance fee (4€ for students).  All they had were displays of teapots and lots of posters.  They had a demonstration of how they make chocolates, but the person did not speak English very well.  If I ever head back to Brussels, I definitely will be going to the comic book museum and the musical instrument museum.

Streets in Brussels are extremely confusing.  They use two languages: Flemish and French.  As a result, each street has two names.  When using a map you need to keep in mind which language you’re in and look accordingly.  Definitely almost got lost a couple times because of this!

To see more pictures, head here.

Tongeren, the Oldest City in Belgium

Over the weekend, I headed to Tongeren, just over the Belgium border. It prides itself in being the oldest city in Belgium. We took the bus and it took just 30 minutes.

The main reason we went was to see the antique market that the city is famous for. There were a bunch of stalls, inside and outside selling the most random things. I was on the hunt for lacy things for my mom. There wasn't too much available, but what I did find were pretty reasonably priced and good quality.

One of two buildings with many stalls

I was starving, so we headed out to get some Belgium waffles =) So now I can say I've had Belgium waffles in Belgium (Its kind of tacky... oh well). It was an interesting waffle. It had the syrup mixed into the dough. Inside the waffle it was soft and gooey almost. Very different from the Belgium waffles we have a home. It wasn't too sweet, but it was sweet enough to be good. Mmm thinking about it makes me want another one!

We walked around the city a bit and came across the La Basilica de Notre Dame. The Basilica took over 300 years to build from 1240 until the 16th century. It was a massive church! The church is currently undergoing renovations and has turned into an archaeological project. They were originally suppose to complete the project earlier this year, but when I was there, there were still fences up and it looked the renovations were still in process. According to their website, they're in Phase II of the process.

The outside of the basilica

Around the corner from the entrance to the basilica sits a small replica of the church. It was placed there to allow the blind to "see" the church with their fingers. It comes complete with braille descriptions and labels. I thought this was a really cool idea. Apparently, this is type of model is available quite frequently here (according to the guy taking us around).

It also showed us the part of the church that was not visible due to renovations and the archeology project.

Across the square stood a lone figure, the statue of Ambiorix, a Belgium hero because of his resistance to Julius Caesar. He remained largely unknown until the 19th century, when the Belgium became independent and government started going through their historical archives. There are tons of touristy things available with his name on it.

By the church are some walls from the original Tongeren I'm guessing. There were plaques with descriptions available, but were really washed out and difficult to read. It was still pretty cool to touch and walk over parts of the walls.

Then we headed to a prison turned museum. It reminded me all too much of my trip to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21) high school turned prison in Cambodia. While I know the circumstances are very different and the nature of the two places are extremely different, I just couldn't shake the feeling. I felt uncomfortable the whole time I was there.

The front gate of the prison/museum

We walked through the Beguinage, where Tongeren was original founded. It is a small collection of buildings where Beguines lived in the 13th century. Beguines were Roman Catholic lay communities living in a semi monastic community, but without the vows. There are a number of these communities throughout North and Northeastern France, Belgium, the Netherlands and West and North Western Germany. The one in Tongeren has been recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

We headed to one of the original city gates (Moerenpoort or Marsh Gate) and was able to climb up to the top for a good view of the city. We were able walk along the old city walls for a bit before heading back for the bus.

Even though Tongeren is in Belgium, many of the people here speak Dutch. A lot of the menus and tourist information is available in Dutch. I heard some French and there are French publications (along with English and German), I think the majority of people still communicated using Dutch. I guess its understandable, the city is really close to the Dutch border and travel between the two countries is ridiculously easy.

All in all, it was a good first trip from Maastricht. It was close and wasn't too different from what I was use to (both good and bad...). I definitely can't wait to head further into more French parts of Belgium and see how much of that French I have retained (probably not much >.<)

See more pictures here.