Days 8 and 9 - Brussels and Home!

We woke up early because we only had one day to explore Brussels. Within seconds we were lost in the tangled streets of the city. 

And awesome steampunk hanging garden being assembled right near our apaprtment

The pilots seat being installed on the structure

The Grand Place. That's Dutch for Grand Place.

Trevor's Frite Count: 10

A photographer was shooting a ballerina in a small alleyway. With a camera, don't worry.

Some graffiti from well-known street artist Invader

The infamous Mannekin Piss

This is supposed to be an ad for Duvel. Or anything but Duvel.

 Mannekin Piss has a sister statue, not as famous, but still worth a visit.

Only in Brussels. Or Japan.

The Delirium Cafe. Trevor gets the DTs when he doesn't eat frites.

The city commissioned some comic-style street art murals

A second statue related to Mannekin Skywalker

 We found a cute area with a pretty fountain and checked out the various shops in the area.

Brussels Spouts

 Next, we took the subway up to the northern suburbs to check out the atomium

in the elevator, looking up.

Our host's dog, Nano

 We called it an early night because we needed to catch an early flight the next day.

Grabbing a Guinness in Dublin during our 5 hour layover

Our final day was spent in transit from Belgium to Dublin to Boston to Worcester to home.  We were able to enjoy a Guinness during our layover and made it home safe and sound.

Til our next adventure!

Day 6 - Broog

Apparently we skipped a day, so here we go. Superfast mode.

Salvador Dali exhibit

Like every Broozh postcard you see

Picasso Museum

Tour of the Halve-Maan Brewery

We wandered around a bunch and found ourselves in the middle of a convent

Trevor's Frite Count: 8

Day 7 - Brggg to Gent to Brussels

We started the day as any day should begin.... with Belgian waffles. They tasted excellent, but we've found that the "wafels" available from frittkotts taste even better.

Not that we're complaining.

 We left.... Bergug.... and drove to Gent. Similar to Antwerp, Gent had a beautiful downtown area with gorgeous architecture and charming shops lining the streets. Our first stop was the Belfort Belfry, an amazing carillon tower in the middle of Gent. We climbed to the top and enjoyed the view.

What's brown and sounds like a bell? A bell, stupid.

St. Nicholas' Church

The carillon was controlled by this giant music box. Built in 1639 and still working today!

 We then wandered Gent and found some interesting sights.

We had lunch at a canal-side cafe, and got to watch the tourists float by in their paddleboats.

Trevor's frite count: still 7

 And then on to Castle Gravensteen! This was a medieval fortress that protected the city from invaders most effectively, but was converted into a factory at the turn of the century.  Luckily it was rescued and now is a touristy place to see turrets, arrow holes, and even medieval latrines.

The view through a murderhole

 Gent was not our final destination for the day. We continued on to Denderleeuw, to a bar called De Heeren van Liedekercke, considered to be the best beer bar in Belgium. It was pretty darn good.

A happy man.

After Denderleeuw, our final city of our tour, Brussels! After navigating the winding and confusing streets, we arrived at our host Dorothee's apartment, just south of Grand Place.

her dog Nano, who shares many qualities with Olive, strangely enough

 We had dinner at a cute establishment called The Village Idiot (in French) and called it an early night. It became quickly apparent that although everyone in Brussels speaks fluent French and Dutch, they all are adept at communicating in English with our measly one language minds.  Lucky for us!

Trevor's frite count: still 8.

Day 5 - Antwerp to... Bruges? Brugge?

Day 5 was mostly dedicated to conquering Antwerp. It was a 2 mile walk into the city. Public transportation is for wimps. We walked the whole way.

Our room in Antwerp

 The center of Antwerp is very beautiful... like something from a storybook. Cafes, old store fronts, and cathedrals everywhere.

Anyone know who this guy is? We don't. He's holding a hand that gushes blood (water) like something out of a Japanese gore movie.

Cathedral of our Lady in Antwerp. Well, not *our* lady. *Our* lady is in a  kennel back in Worcester.

Two magnificent men.

It was Labor Day in Belgium. The Labor Party marched through the center of town, yelling things in Dutch, which is scary by default.

A street snail race. How exciting! The girl in the middle had an extraordinary expression.

Mussels! Trevor's frite count: 6

Trumpolin? Violumpet?

 After lunch we walked down to the Fashion Museum, which was a tad underwhelming. Lots of cloth, lots of designs, but nothing that was all that interesting. Clearly this was geared towards fashionistas, for whom Antwerp is becoming a hub.

Except for this stormtrooper dress. That was interesting.

 After walking back to our car, we hightailed it to Bruges. Brugges? Brugs? Bughchecchc? We still don't really know.

Planning out our first night in Bruggeshah

The view from our room

 We ventured into Brugseka and promptly got lost. It's got confusing streets like Venice but with cars and bicycles. We meandered towards Markt and explored around there.

The Brownshugga Markt

More Markt

We grabbed dinner at a small but trendy pub called Cambrinus. Trevor enjoyed another Weslvleteren 12 and Bettie had a Rochefort 10.

Trevor's frite count: 7