Its the most wonderful place in the world...

I have fallen in love with Brussels.

So we take the train to Brussels + we are running about 2 hrs late. We had a bike tour scheduled for 3 pm + it was already almost 2 when we would arrive. So we decided we would leave our backpacks in the train station + go to the tour first.

I was trying to figure out what train station (north, central, south) to get off at via my phone. So we get off at central + I realize we needed Midi (south). But the doors had closed. So we decided to venture out. Well google maps told us we were 6 minutes away! Awesome. Perfect mistake.

So we see signs + get to Grand Place + the townhall (Hotel de Ville) where we are supposed to meet our tour in an hour. It took 5 minutes!!! Normally a 5 min walk takes us 35 mins the first time, so we had already fallen in love with Brussels.

Hotel de Ville at night

So since it was 2:05, we walked around. There was an adorable 'Grote Market' that I loved + we walked through. Then we split a turkey sandwich. It was only 3.5 euros, meaning the cheapest thing we bought the whole trip! And delicious. It had egg. We walked around a little + then met up with the tour.

The tourguide was this young Belgian boy (early 20s) + 2 of his friends(from Argentina) were joining us for the tour. So it was 5 of us + we were all young. Perfect. We biked around for 4 and a half hours + stopped in between for fries + beer. I tried this cherry beer called Kriek + it is like juice. Delicious. Never had a more palatable beer.

On our way to Manekin Pis, we saw another version. The dog that pees.

We also stopped by a church where there is a men's bathrooms against the wall of the church. Our tour guide had all the boys demonstrate.

We saw Manekin Pis + he was dressed for Mayboom. Apparently they dress the little peeing boy on all holidays. So he had on a cute blue + red coat. Later in the day we went back + he was naked again. So I got lots of pictures clothed + naked.

Mayboom is some holiday where they have big huge characters on stilts. Our Belgian tour guide thought it was weird. We also saw lots of statues + parks + the EU consulate, the Royal Palace, EU Parliament, + much more. It was a great way to see everything with half a day.

Some pretty building

After the tour we got dinner. I had soup + Scott had a sandwich. Then we had a waffle with chocolate + strawberries.

Eh, I like pancakes better. But it was good, not gonna lie. We decided to go check into our hostel at that point. It was an easy walk (thank you google maps). Then we headed back out.

"Fete de musique" was going on, which was a big music festival by the Royal Palace from 5 to 1:30. Our tour guide brought us by on bike + said he was going later. It was pretty crazy by 1130pm when we went. There were so many people...like 10,000 maybe? And you could bring your own beer + food + just sit on the grass. It was a lot of fun watching all these really crazy kids running around!

We decided to retire to our hostel soon after. It was decent, but not my favorite. I was freezing all night. But I made it + now we are on a really fast train to Paris that only takes an hour! And we get to stay in a hotel. And we ate a chocolate truffles for breakfast. We got them last night + forgot to eat them + were in such a rush this morning we couldn't eat breakfast.