18th Oct (Mon) - Brussels

Yawn... 3 days in Brussels was a long time. The first day was rather fun but it got real boring real quickly from the second day onwards.

Had met up with Uma on Saturday, and we went around like typical tourists, hunting for waffles and the Comics Museum. At first, we walked up the street in the wrong direction (ok... my fault), then we decided to ask the locals for directions to the museum instead. Surprisingly, 2 out of 4 people we had approached didn't know the way either. But all the locals we (or rather, Ms. Uma) had approached were really friendly and enthusiastic in communicating with us albeit their limited English vocab.

When we finally reached the museum (which was tuck behind one of the main streets), we got ready our cameras and began snapping :) The museum had quite a wide range of nice comic strip exhibits from various artists but sadly, only 2 panels or so were dedicated to The Smurfs and Tintin. So I was a bit disappointed 'coz without knowing the context of the other comics, I couldn't truly appreciate them.





Next up, we went over to MOKAFE (which was highly recommended in the guide for young travellers) to try out their waffles and some other desserts. The 2.90€ waffle was really crispy but not sweet enough.



We also tried out some other street waffles (usually about 2.50€) just for comparison. The latter was sweeter but not as crispy. ARGGGGGHHHH... why couldn't we get one in the right combination of crispiness and sweetness... I think because Brussels was known to be the land of waffles, we tend to have high expectations around it. So at the end of the day, though the waffles were nice, I still think waffles in Brussels were overrated.



Btw, the locals told me that they usually go for the plain waffles (either sugar on top or sugar inside) whereas tourists would go for waffles with extra toppings (i.e.: choc or whip cream) or a silly waffle with loads of cream, fruits and choc. (^ o ^)



And oh, we went by Manneken Pis as well and I was like "huh!!! so small". Oh well, I wasn't the only one. When I went back there on the 3rd day to get chocs from the nearby Leonidas and Godiva, I heard other tourists saying the same thing too. Hahahaha.



We'd also checked out the flea market on the Vossenplein/ Place du Jeu de Balle. There wasn't much to see there though - unless you were looking for some really old cameras or used/ antique utensils.





The Sunday market at the Gare du Midi station was a bit of a disappointment as well. It was supposed to be like a market where you could gather food from all over the world, especially local pancakes and etc. But when we were there, huge sections of it were dedicated to clothes, shoes and fruit/ vegetable stalls. Only a handful of carts sold grilled chicken (which smelled really delicious), cheese, waffles, hamburgers & etc. And these were scattered across the huge ground and not conglomerated together. So you may end up going one whole crowded lane selling clothes before you finally see one or two food stalls. Sigh.



On chocs (which Belgium's famous for as well), I had asked my hostel recep on what were the brands of choc that locals usually went for and what were the premium ones as well. So she pointed out Cote d'Or as the usual supermarket brand and both Leonidas and Godiva for their praline chocs. Apparently, praline was supposed to be the best and there was like a huge variety (i.e.: different flavours) to choose from. So I ended up buying bars and boxes of chocs which I intend to bring back to SG. But because it was getting rather heavy, I ended up finishing my box of Godiva. Bleh. Who knows, if I get too lazy or too poor, I may end up eating the box of Leonidas as well.



Let's see... I also ate a huge pot of Moules-frites as well (mussels cooked in white wine and served with fries). It was so much that (1) the pile of shells was pretty much as tall as my face, if not higher and (2) I became mussles-phobic overnight. It was darn good... but too much of it and now think I have grown an allergy towards it. Oh well.



On the 3rd day of my trip, I got so bored that I'd wanted to get out of Brussels and head over to Bruges. But it seemed that Belgium disliked me 'coz there was a rail strike on that day itself. So I ended up staying in Brussels and went over to Place Stephanie to shop for my winter wear (in preparation for Iceland and Scandinavia).

Glad that I got myself a nice North Face fleece jacket and a pair of insulated skiing pants (North face kids), amongst some other things. Felt really happy 'coz I finally did some real shopping since I started on my trip. But at the same time, I felt super heart pain as well. My bill for that one shopping trip had burnt a huge whole in my pocket (and bank account). It came up to a whopping 305€... ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Converted to SGD, it was almost 600 SGD. FAINT. The first 2 items listed already cost about 215€. Stupid North Face. So expensive. But I still love you.


*P.S. #1: The weather was super sucky on Sat and Sun. And my card refused to work when we had dinner (where I had Moules-frites). I "blame" it on my companion. :P 'Coz the weather turned out great and my card worked again after she left.

*P.S. #2: Don't bother visiting The Atomium. It's a classic case of looks-good-on-the-outside-but-totally-crap-in-the-inside. The organisers should really pay more attention to the types of exhibits there, how to utilise the space better and improve on the things sold in their boutique.



As usual, here are some random pix to end off this post: