Welcome to our blog of our trip to Europe for New Year’s Eve! The plan is to spend a few days in Belgium, then arrive in Amsterdam for NYE and stay there until the 5th. This blog is as much for us to document what we did on our trip so we can go back and remember in the future, as it is for our friends and family reading it while we are here. As we did the last couple times, we will be alternating days of writing the blog. Today is my (Brea’s) day. So here goes!
Since it is my day, I spent some time thinking how I would best describe the traveling from home to Brussels... and I came up with this: we used 5 different modes of transportation to get here. First we drove from our house to an airport parking lot near Newark airport, then took one of those parking shuttle buses to the airport. We used one of those check in kiosks to scan our passports so we could print our boarding passes. Surprisingly, the line for security was not very long and we were through security and sitting at our gate within half an hour of getting to the airport. Of course we had arrived 3 hours ahead so we had lots of time to kill. We walked the shops and played some games on the iPads that were everywhere at the gate. Our flight (3rd type of transportation) left on time and landed early. Here we are on the plane.
I slept most of the flight except for about an hour in the middle just as Joel was finishing up his airplane dinner and starting in on mine. I ate the roll that came with it but left the spinach and mushroom pasta for Joel. I went back to sleep and woke up about 20 min before landing when they started ringing all the bells and making announcements. Joel said he slept for maybe an hour the whole flight and watched the movie Logan and listened to music the rest of the time. We landed and cleared passport control with no issues.
I had purchased train tickets to take us from Amsterdam to Brussels ahead of time but our plane landed almost 45 minutes early so we had plenty of time to find a place to buy a SIM card and get on an earlier train (4th type of transportation). Here we are on the train. Joel slept for the first hour while I watched our bags, then he said he couldn’t sleep anymore so I took my turn. That’s me under the jacket!
While I was sleeping, Joel saw some more modern windmills.
The train took us to the south station in Brussels, although I now realize we could have gotten off at the Central station and it probably would have been closer to the hotel. Then we took a city busy (5th type of transportation) to just a block from the hotel. We checked in and I decided to take a shower before we ventured out again.
After freshening up, Joel led us to a sandwich place that had really good reviews on tripadvisor and was on the way to the Grand Place, which is a central square area of Brussels. On the way we walked past the Royal Palace and a very nice park across the street. The whole park was lined with trees that were being forced to grow in this woven pattern. We even saw workers up on a lift trimming branches that were growing in other directions. I wonder why they do that? Hopefully we will find the answer and post later.
We waited in line at the sandwich place for almost half an hour, but the reviews online said it would be worth it. The reviews were right. There is just one guy working there and it is a cheese shop that makes sandwiches. While waiting in line outside, there were little signs that had encouraging sayings like these:
The menus were all in French so when we got to the front of the line, he asked us a lot of questions to help us choose a sandwich we wanted. Here is a picture of the cheeses in the case and you can see the date and nut bar thing on the top shelf in the corner of the picture.
I was more in the mood for breakfast type food so I ended up with a sweet sandwich. It had a soft goat milk cheese, apple slices, and sirop de liege, which is sort of a cross between a jam/jelly and a thick syrup made from fruit juices. It is a very dark color but tastes very sweet. The guy recommended also adding either a fig or date bar type thing cut up into slices but both had nuts and I didn’t want that so I asked for it without the bar stuff. He then suggested crushed Belgian cookies and/or raisins. How could I refuse cookie on my cheese sandwich! So that’s what I got. Here is a picture:
Joel went for salty and got also a soft goat milk cheese with some spices on the outside called something about Italian love, with slices of tomato, a drizzle of local honey, and some ground white pepper. Here is a picture of his:
After taking our sandwiches, we continued toward the Grand Place and stopped at a chocolate museum. It was very small but showed a brief history of Belgian chocolate. I was interested to learn that Godiva was started in 1926 but it wasn’t given the name Godiva until the original chocolate maker passed away and his children continued the business. Neuhaus is the original Belgian chocolate and was started in 1857 by Jean Neuhaus who was a chemist. He sold liquorice and chocolate pieces but in 1912 invented the bite size chocolate that he called a “Praline.” His wife then invented the box that holds the pralines and keeps them packed neatly.
We saw some old cups used to drink the original hot chocolate, which was very bitter, and even some sculptures made out of chocolate. They had chocolate samples from Peru and Costa Rica to demonstrate how the chocolates taste different. It was interesting how the two different sources had such different flavors.
After the Chocolate Museum we walked to the Grand Place. They still had a very large decorated Christmas tree up and a really big nativity scene, although there was no baby Jesus... Here are some pictures of the buildings in the square. We don’t know what they are really yet but hopefully after some more museums tomorrow, we will learn more about them.
We went back to the hotel to meet up with Chiara and Alberto. We decided to walk back to the Grand Place area and look for a place for dinner. We took a selfie on Alberto’s phone so when I get that from him, I will post it here.
The place looked different at night, the buildings were all lit up with gold lights so it was more difficult to see the gold on the buildings, but the lights made them look beautiful in a different way. We wandered around for a while and found it turned out to be very challenging to find a restaurant that offered anything for vegetarians. Chiara and Alberto were very patient with us and looked at many different menus until we found a place that had just a few options.
After dinner, we walked around some more and looked at some of the shops set up like a Christmas market near the square and eventually found a waffle shop. We each got a waffle. Again, we took a selfie that I will post here when I get it.
We are back at the hotel now and have planned to discuss tomorrow’s itinerary at breakfast in the morning. Joel passed out almost immediately when we got back to the room. I am soon to be with him. Jet lag is certainly not easy, but we are determined to get on the local time schedule as quickly as possible so that we can enjoy this trip to the fullest! Check back tomorrow for more adventures!
Since it is my day, I spent some time thinking how I would best describe the traveling from home to Brussels... and I came up with this: we used 5 different modes of transportation to get here. First we drove from our house to an airport parking lot near Newark airport, then took one of those parking shuttle buses to the airport. We used one of those check in kiosks to scan our passports so we could print our boarding passes. Surprisingly, the line for security was not very long and we were through security and sitting at our gate within half an hour of getting to the airport. Of course we had arrived 3 hours ahead so we had lots of time to kill. We walked the shops and played some games on the iPads that were everywhere at the gate. Our flight (3rd type of transportation) left on time and landed early. Here we are on the plane.
I slept most of the flight except for about an hour in the middle just as Joel was finishing up his airplane dinner and starting in on mine. I ate the roll that came with it but left the spinach and mushroom pasta for Joel. I went back to sleep and woke up about 20 min before landing when they started ringing all the bells and making announcements. Joel said he slept for maybe an hour the whole flight and watched the movie Logan and listened to music the rest of the time. We landed and cleared passport control with no issues.
I had purchased train tickets to take us from Amsterdam to Brussels ahead of time but our plane landed almost 45 minutes early so we had plenty of time to find a place to buy a SIM card and get on an earlier train (4th type of transportation). Here we are on the train. Joel slept for the first hour while I watched our bags, then he said he couldn’t sleep anymore so I took my turn. That’s me under the jacket!
The train took us to the south station in Brussels, although I now realize we could have gotten off at the Central station and it probably would have been closer to the hotel. Then we took a city busy (5th type of transportation) to just a block from the hotel. We checked in and I decided to take a shower before we ventured out again.
After freshening up, Joel led us to a sandwich place that had really good reviews on tripadvisor and was on the way to the Grand Place, which is a central square area of Brussels. On the way we walked past the Royal Palace and a very nice park across the street. The whole park was lined with trees that were being forced to grow in this woven pattern. We even saw workers up on a lift trimming branches that were growing in other directions. I wonder why they do that? Hopefully we will find the answer and post later.
We waited in line at the sandwich place for almost half an hour, but the reviews online said it would be worth it. The reviews were right. There is just one guy working there and it is a cheese shop that makes sandwiches. While waiting in line outside, there were little signs that had encouraging sayings like these:
The menus were all in French so when we got to the front of the line, he asked us a lot of questions to help us choose a sandwich we wanted. Here is a picture of the cheeses in the case and you can see the date and nut bar thing on the top shelf in the corner of the picture.
I was more in the mood for breakfast type food so I ended up with a sweet sandwich. It had a soft goat milk cheese, apple slices, and sirop de liege, which is sort of a cross between a jam/jelly and a thick syrup made from fruit juices. It is a very dark color but tastes very sweet. The guy recommended also adding either a fig or date bar type thing cut up into slices but both had nuts and I didn’t want that so I asked for it without the bar stuff. He then suggested crushed Belgian cookies and/or raisins. How could I refuse cookie on my cheese sandwich! So that’s what I got. Here is a picture:
Joel went for salty and got also a soft goat milk cheese with some spices on the outside called something about Italian love, with slices of tomato, a drizzle of local honey, and some ground white pepper. Here is a picture of his:
After taking our sandwiches, we continued toward the Grand Place and stopped at a chocolate museum. It was very small but showed a brief history of Belgian chocolate. I was interested to learn that Godiva was started in 1926 but it wasn’t given the name Godiva until the original chocolate maker passed away and his children continued the business. Neuhaus is the original Belgian chocolate and was started in 1857 by Jean Neuhaus who was a chemist. He sold liquorice and chocolate pieces but in 1912 invented the bite size chocolate that he called a “Praline.” His wife then invented the box that holds the pralines and keeps them packed neatly.
We saw some old cups used to drink the original hot chocolate, which was very bitter, and even some sculptures made out of chocolate. They had chocolate samples from Peru and Costa Rica to demonstrate how the chocolates taste different. It was interesting how the two different sources had such different flavors.
After the Chocolate Museum we walked to the Grand Place. They still had a very large decorated Christmas tree up and a really big nativity scene, although there was no baby Jesus... Here are some pictures of the buildings in the square. We don’t know what they are really yet but hopefully after some more museums tomorrow, we will learn more about them.
We went back to the hotel to meet up with Chiara and Alberto. We decided to walk back to the Grand Place area and look for a place for dinner. We took a selfie on Alberto’s phone so when I get that from him, I will post it here.
The place looked different at night, the buildings were all lit up with gold lights so it was more difficult to see the gold on the buildings, but the lights made them look beautiful in a different way. We wandered around for a while and found it turned out to be very challenging to find a restaurant that offered anything for vegetarians. Chiara and Alberto were very patient with us and looked at many different menus until we found a place that had just a few options.
After dinner, we walked around some more and looked at some of the shops set up like a Christmas market near the square and eventually found a waffle shop. We each got a waffle. Again, we took a selfie that I will post here when I get it.
We are back at the hotel now and have planned to discuss tomorrow’s itinerary at breakfast in the morning. Joel passed out almost immediately when we got back to the room. I am soon to be with him. Jet lag is certainly not easy, but we are determined to get on the local time schedule as quickly as possible so that we can enjoy this trip to the fullest! Check back tomorrow for more adventures!
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