Now, officially bonjour from Belgium! The plane touched down in Brussels around 8:30 AM (2:30 AM Central time) and it only took about an hour to get through customs, pick up bags and brush our teeth in the airport.
(Ketchup flavored Lays? Brussels is doing it right.)
The Brussels train station is conveniently in the basement of the airport. We headed down to get tickets to the Brussels Central train station in order to explore the city for a few hours before heading to our hotel in Antwerp. The ticket only cost 8 euros but the group struggled trying to find coins to use in the automated (Dutch) machines. Our struggles resulted in translating broken English at the ticket counter and hopping on a train.
(Train station in Brussels airport)
As soon as we stepped out of the Central station and into Brussels we stopped at the first restaurant we could find. More struggles followed trying to understand the menu and order food with a french speaking waitress. I'm suddenly regretting taking Spanish… but I saw fromage and took the plunge. My meal ended up being a plain ham and cheese sandwich and it was the most delicious thing I've had in a while. That cheese. So. Good. Also, the meal was only 3 euros. The US needs to hop on that train.
After finally filling our stomachs we were ready to explore. The group decided that we wanted to head over to the Grand Palace and on our way there we saw this.
(Belgian waffles! I have yet to try one but I'm hoping to grab one after dinner tonight!)
This gallerie was absolutely amazing. Nearly every other window was filled with Belgian chocolate, macaroons, leather purses or expensive shoes.
(Becca and I while we waited on Haley to grab an espresso.)
After we came across the area of the city where the gallerie was we decided to take a detour from our directions in order to get more of a taste of the city. We turned down a few more streets that were filled with restaurants.
We made it to the Grand Palace!
One of the many murals. Seen from the Grand Palace.
One of the chocolate stores. She glared at me after I took this photo...
I'm pretty sure this mural was featured on the Amazing Race that followed with a challenge.
Manneken Pis, another one of Brussels' famous statues. They dress him up for holidays.
Walking up towards the steps. The photo two down from here was at the top of the stairs.
At the top of the steps.
The view from the top of the steps.
(Quintessential Europe)
Panorama of the Square
Looking back towards where the steps were. Great view of the city.
We think this is the headquarters of the European Union.
Belgians like to run. There were so many people running around this park.
This is about the time that we decided to head back to the train station in order to grab a ticket for the 1:30 train.
On our way back we went out of our way a few blocks to look at the Kathedraal van Sint-Michiel en Sint-Goedele. It was absolutely gorgeous.
Made it back to the train station with 12 minutes to get our luggage out of the lockers, buy a ticket and jump on the train. Our train left at 1:33 and we stepped onto it at 1:29. Success. The ride was only 30 minutes and it was pretty neat to see some of the countryside.
This is the view you see when you're coming up the escalators from the platform.
We made it!
I checked into the hotel at 2:30 and we all met at 4:00 to begin the program. One of our professors from the university took us on a walking tour of Antwerp in order to get us acquainted with the city. Our classes are about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. She then took us all around the city. (And when I say all around, I mean it was a 10 mile walk). If you can see the the tall building on the right side of the panorama below, our hotel is 5 blocks from that…) My feet were dying but I did get to find my bearings a little bit.
We were at the top of a building that commemorates the history of the Antwerp port. Napoleon Bonaparte created the docks and they are now the second largest sea port in Europe. This is a panorama view looking south onto the city.
University of Antwerp. This is where our classes will be for the next four weeks.
University of Antwerp.
University of Antwerp.
Handmade chocolate!
Heading to dinner!
We had dinner at a private room in Verona. I can't explain how good that food was. I had spaghetti bolognese. Spaghetti was a pretty safe bet for an all-Dutch menu. Rhodes also paid for Duvel for all of us. Go Rhodes.
Our view from the table.
We headed back to the hotel around 9:00. I finished up a 6 page paper and hit the bed in our micro-sized room.
All in all, amazing day.
Emily
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