(This posted is written on 29th October 2023, I finally have time as the school year is coming to an end and I really missed our Europe trip) *Look at that, I managed to update my travel journal till Day 18!
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| Boarded train to Brussels |
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| The seats were comfortable on 1st class |
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| We reached Brussels! |
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| Brussels train station |
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| Our room |
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| Very basic room |
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| Basic shower room |
Our next country and city was Brussels, Belgium and it’s another new country that we have not visited before. Amsterdam was a really cool city but we gotta be on our way again. When applying for Schengen visa earlier this year, P got his visa into Norway through the Denmark embassy and we were required to get the train tickets together with the visa application. When P was at the Denmark embassy, he messaged me to get the tickets (we did not have to do that for the June Germany trip) and I had to search for the train tickets on the spot.
The train ride from Amsterdam to Brussels was less than 2h and we managed to get 1st class tickets at a reasonable price (113 euros). At Brussels, I chose Ibis hotel which was one of the nearest to the station and it was just a cheap 2 star/ 3 stars hotel. The room was very basic but I think it was fine since we were near the train station and tourist areas.
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| This area looked very christmassy |
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| Giant Christmas tree |
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| The iconic Grand Place at Brussels |
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| Photo together |
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| This very grand square reminded me a lot of Munich |
After checking in at 1pm, we took a nap and only emerged from our room at 6pm+, it was all dark outside when we finally got out. There was a laundromat near our hotel and the last time we did laundry was on Hurtigruten heading to Tromso. That was a week ago and we were really glad we could find a laundromat nearby to get our clothes cleaned.
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| Hard Rock Cafe is a landmark at the Grand Place |
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| Japanese meat skewers yakitori |
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| Asian food! |
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| The menu attracted us as P missed Asian fare |
Brussels is not a exceptionally big city and its known for a few things: Grand Place, murals, Menneken Pis, Food (fries, waffles, mussels) so it was weird that we wandered down an alley from the Grand Place into this row of restaurants and ended up choosing a underwhelming Asian food. P was still craving for fried rice after Tromso thai restaurant so we decided to give it a try. There were actually some patrons on the second floor, served by PRC speaking staff (who didnt know I understood their language), food was so-so but cheaper than Tromso asian food and managed to fill our stomach.
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| Heard that there was a good Christmas market in Brussels |
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| But somehow we only found the decor and nothing much |
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| Passage du Nord |
After dinner, we collected our laundry and place them into the dryer, then walked around looking for the Christmas market but we did not find them. There were beautiful decor just very near to our hotel that duped us to believe that it was the Christmas market but there were just a few stalls and few people wandering around, we even almost got scammed by a few random people guarding the entrance to the carpark. We went into the atas looking old style shopping mall Passage du Nord and there were many chocolate shops looking grand and nice.
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| Some of the eateries nearby |
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| Yeah! Totally agree! |
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| Shops were close but everything looked so nice |
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| Souvenir shop |
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| Brussels known for its lace |
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| Popular shop near our hotel for waffles |
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We had to stop for yummy Belgian waffles and ice cream
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The chocolates looked good when we were there but we were not thinking of getting souvenirs (except for P’s family) so we only bought some loose pieces to try. There was a popular waffles shop near our hotel and we could not resist the dessert which looked so good with all the whipped cream and P’s favourite banana chocolate combo, so we bought one back to the hotel. It was very filling and a good dessert to end off the night.
Unfortunately at ibis hotel, the wifi was down after we woke up from our nap, right up to the time we left for London two nights later. Changi Wifi was good enough for Germany in June but gave us a lot of issues this Europe trip whenever we crossed borders. The hefty rental price didnt justify us renting it and we decided to just go with Singtel roaming services for further trips.
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