Last Thursday, Bridget and I flew out of Dublin to Brussels, the capitol of Belgium. This didn't come without some issues however. Our flight left Dublin at 10:30 so we had to catch the 5:00 AM bus out of Cork. I had booked my ticket a couple days in advance, but Bridget found out the hard way that you have to book your ticket before 5:00 PM the day before your departure. We weren't sure if she was able to purchase a ticket from the bus driver the morning of, and for awhile, I thought I would be going to Belgium by myself. She was able to get a ticket from the bus driver only to realize that she didn't have her passport. He ended up being really nice and let her run back to her apartment to grab it and told her he would pick her up outside.
We finally made it to Dublin, boarded our flight, and arrived in Brussels. Our hostel was the nicest we have been to yet and was near the city center, but far enough away for it to still be a quiet neighborhood. After checking in, we walked around Grand Place, which is the main square in Brussels and where a lot of the action goes on. There ended up being a festival and there were free concerts going all afternoon. We were determined to eat waffles and found the famous Maison Dandoy, only to be told the tea room was closed due to a large party. We ended up still being able to order waffles and eat them at the bar. It was better than anything I ever expected and I have a whole new appreciation for waffles. We started seeing a bunch of €1 waffle stands everywhere and figured hey, what was one more waffle? We stumbled upon the Manneken Pis, the national symbol of Belgium, which is a statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain. I remember learning about it in history class, but the pictures in textbooks make it look so much bigger than it actually is. The statue is literally 2 feet tall. We found it difficult to find things to do in Brussels since it is not much of a sightseeing city. We were trying to bum free wifi outside the back of the McDonalds building when two Belgian girls walked up to us and asked us in French if we had a light for a cigarette. We told them we were American and they apologized and said that we looked like locals - always a plus. Belgium is famous for its beer so we decided to try some before we were hungry enough for dinner. We found a bar called Celtica, but we quickly learned this was where a lot of kids came to drink after school since the drinking age in Belgium is only 16. We found a restaurant that had €12 three-course meals. We thought the meal was cheap until we realized we were charged €7 for the bottle of water. It's easy to forget that some countries charge for this while you are living in a country where it's completely free.
Everyone who we had talked to that had been to Brussels told us that we HAD to go to Delirium Bar. Delirium Tremens is a type of beer brewed in Belgium and was voted the best beer in the world. When we got to the bar, we were able to see why it was so popular. Making up an entire alley were 7 or 8 bars all belonging to Delirium and each one specialized in a different type of alcohol. We wanted to try a Delirium brew before heading back to the hostel. We met a group of Americans from Massachusetts who were studying in the Netherlands and we talked with them awhile before leaving.
We finally made it to Dublin, boarded our flight, and arrived in Brussels. Our hostel was the nicest we have been to yet and was near the city center, but far enough away for it to still be a quiet neighborhood. After checking in, we walked around Grand Place, which is the main square in Brussels and where a lot of the action goes on. There ended up being a festival and there were free concerts going all afternoon. We were determined to eat waffles and found the famous Maison Dandoy, only to be told the tea room was closed due to a large party. We ended up still being able to order waffles and eat them at the bar. It was better than anything I ever expected and I have a whole new appreciation for waffles. We started seeing a bunch of €1 waffle stands everywhere and figured hey, what was one more waffle? We stumbled upon the Manneken Pis, the national symbol of Belgium, which is a statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain. I remember learning about it in history class, but the pictures in textbooks make it look so much bigger than it actually is. The statue is literally 2 feet tall. We found it difficult to find things to do in Brussels since it is not much of a sightseeing city. We were trying to bum free wifi outside the back of the McDonalds building when two Belgian girls walked up to us and asked us in French if we had a light for a cigarette. We told them we were American and they apologized and said that we looked like locals - always a plus. Belgium is famous for its beer so we decided to try some before we were hungry enough for dinner. We found a bar called Celtica, but we quickly learned this was where a lot of kids came to drink after school since the drinking age in Belgium is only 16. We found a restaurant that had €12 three-course meals. We thought the meal was cheap until we realized we were charged €7 for the bottle of water. It's easy to forget that some countries charge for this while you are living in a country where it's completely free.
Everyone who we had talked to that had been to Brussels told us that we HAD to go to Delirium Bar. Delirium Tremens is a type of beer brewed in Belgium and was voted the best beer in the world. When we got to the bar, we were able to see why it was so popular. Making up an entire alley were 7 or 8 bars all belonging to Delirium and each one specialized in a different type of alcohol. We wanted to try a Delirium brew before heading back to the hostel. We met a group of Americans from Massachusetts who were studying in the Netherlands and we talked with them awhile before leaving.
The next morning, we caught an hour long train ride to Bruges, which is said to be the Venice of Northern Europe. Right away, I already loved Bruges more that Brussels. On our way to find the canals, we passed a chocolate shop with chocolate covered strawberries. With chocolate shops everywhere in Belgium, we had passed so many of these and finally caved in and bought some. The worker was nice enough to recommend some good photo locations and a scenic bar by the canals. After grabbing lunch, we were determined to find a bike tour. We walked all over the city and all we were able to find were bike rentals or bike tours that had already started. We decided to take a boat tour through the canals instead. Although the boat ride was really pretty, the guy sitting in front of me was tourist-of-the-year and would never sit down from taking photos. We could tell our entire boat was annoyed because no one was able to get pictures without him being in them. After the boat ride, we found a chocolatier that advertised the best hot chocolate. They were right. After ordering, they brought us two massive mugs full of hot milk and a hollow chocolate cup filled with chocolate chips. The waiter told us we got to make our own hot chocolate and pour the chocolate in and mix it ourselves. People probably thought we were 7 year olds because we couldn't stop smiling while stirring in the chocolate. We wanted to climb the bell tower in the main square of Bruges, but as we were walking in, a man behind us shut and locked two massive wooden doors. Part of us thought we were being kidnapped for a second, but then he just told us the church was closing. Instead, we decided to go to the bar that the chocolate worker had recommended to us earlier, 2.be. They are famous for the enormous wall full of beer when you walk in with hundreds of different brews. We decided to try the sample plank which allowed us each to try 4 different Belgian ales while we sat and watched boats float down the canals. We ended up staying in Bruges much longer than we thought we would and ended up missing all the buses back to the train station, so we had to resort to walking back to the train station.
We got back into Brussels late and had to wake up early to catch our flight back to Ireland, so we decided to grab a late dinner before heading back to our hostel. We found a tapas restaurant and ordered some mussels, which we were told were a must while in Brussels. On our way back, we ran into some guys who tried speaking German to us. We had no idea what they were saying and when we said that we were American, they were so relieved to finally have met other Americans. Turns out they thought we were two German girls. We ended up talking to them on the street for an hour and found out that they were three 26 year olds from LA who are on a 2 week Eurotrip that is ending at Oktoberfest in Germany. They were super nice and gave us tips for when we visit Amsterdam in November before we parted ways. Although Brussels was a cool city, one day was definitely plenty there, and Bruges is a place where I wish we would have been able to spend more of our time.
We got back into Cork on Saturday evening and Clare had told me she wanted to go on the mountaineering club hike the next morning, so I agreed to go with her. We had been told by a lot of people before coming here that the mountaineering club is a really good way to see the less touristy places of Ireland, so we knew that we wanted to join the club. The hike on Sunday was at Gougane Barra. I came into this thinking that we hiked up paths on the mountains. Wrong. The guide literally just picks a spot and everyone starts climbing. We hiked for about 4 or 5 hours with only one 20 minute break for lunch. I don't know if going up or down was worse. On the way up, I found myself stuck in knee high mud after stepping on moss that disguises itself as hard ground. For about an hour coming back down, we were descending down a steep cliff covered with rocks and knee high grass. You never knew where you were stepping and everyone kept falling. How no one broke a leg is beyond me. I don't know if I was more relieved to reach the top of the mountain or to finally reach the bottom after hours of torture. The views were amazing and I am glad that I went on the hike since it is something that I never would have done back home, but that will definitely be my first and last hike with the mountaineering club.
We got back into Cork on Saturday evening and Clare had told me she wanted to go on the mountaineering club hike the next morning, so I agreed to go with her. We had been told by a lot of people before coming here that the mountaineering club is a really good way to see the less touristy places of Ireland, so we knew that we wanted to join the club. The hike on Sunday was at Gougane Barra. I came into this thinking that we hiked up paths on the mountains. Wrong. The guide literally just picks a spot and everyone starts climbing. We hiked for about 4 or 5 hours with only one 20 minute break for lunch. I don't know if going up or down was worse. On the way up, I found myself stuck in knee high mud after stepping on moss that disguises itself as hard ground. For about an hour coming back down, we were descending down a steep cliff covered with rocks and knee high grass. You never knew where you were stepping and everyone kept falling. How no one broke a leg is beyond me. I don't know if I was more relieved to reach the top of the mountain or to finally reach the bottom after hours of torture. The views were amazing and I am glad that I went on the hike since it is something that I never would have done back home, but that will definitely be my first and last hike with the mountaineering club.