BRUSSELS

BRUSSELS!!

Thanks to our lovely housemate Haven, we were able to take a day off together and go into Brussels for the afternoon and evening. We were stoked...and maybe slightly scared. The thought of traipsing around a foreign city we'd never seen before was exciting. But the thought of getting on a train, speaking to a conductor and purchasing tickets and working through things we'd never done before was a little daunting. As we practically ran toward the train station we skipped going inside and went around the building directly to the platform. I worried that we were doing something wrong and were going to get in trouble...something I keep worrying about-getting in trouble for doing something unintentionally wrong in a city that speaks a different language and I won't be able to explain myself and I'll look like a fool and be hanged or something. Soo obviously in this made up tragic scenario of mine, no one here speaks English or has any grace towards foreigners, and they're all living in the 19th century when wayward cowboys were hanged. Hmm.

We sat on the train, paid the conductor for our tickets (he spoke English) and waited for our stop. Twenty-ish minutes later a sign said BRUSSELS-(and something else that I unfortunately cannot remember). So we hopped up and sped out of the train. Katina left me in her dust while I fumbled down the steep and shallow stairs, twisted my ankle and fell on my butt in front of only three people all of whom acted like they didn't see me. I wasn't sure whether to be thankful or offended... Having emerged at the top of the street we weren't recognizing anything as it had been described to us that it should look. We looked at a map and saw that the station we were at was in fact the wrong station. We'd gotten off too early. (On our way home we counted 5 stops too early.) We made a phone call and found out that things weren't so bad, we could actually walk to Grand Place from where we were, but it would take at least 30 minutes and we'd have to ask people on the street for directions. Ok, cool. We can do this. It's a pretty day, the buildings are super neat-o and the people seem nice. We picked a direction and began walking. We chose a subject. He was younger and dressed in a blue suit taking a smoke break outside a very tall, long building. "Pardon, est-ce vous parle anglais?" "Oui." Oh good! We're looking for Grand Place... "Unfortunately you are walking in the wrong direction." Ha! Of course we are. :) He was very kind and gave us decent directions. We were able to follow them for some time before asking a woman, standing on the sidewalk, bottle of water in hand, friendly looking, younger, a prime subject for my do you speak English question. She actually looked excited to speak in English with me. Had I invited her to lunch with us I think she would've come. She asked me for the time, I told her and we marched on. Onward into a world of little plazas with green meadows in the middle of the streets where statues were erected in the center and patrons lounged in groups huddled around their lunches. We passed a string of black cabs, cabbies eager to help us toward our goal and take our money, but we were determined, however, not to spend any transportation money but to use our God given means of transport.

We walked.

And we walked.

And walked some more.

Finally we sat down across from a random building to take a break from asking directions and of course from walking.

We're at this intersection

Across the street from this statue on one side.

And this building on the other side.

Statue of a boy...

Where we were sitting.

Finally we worked up the nerve to get up again, picked a direction and moved on, timidly at first but with growing confidence as the budding explorers that we are. We rounded the corner and found out we had been sitting feet from a royal palace! I didn't get close enough to get a picture, but I saw with my own eyes a building of palatial grandness with guards at the entrance and everything.

A brilliant church we found in our wanderings.

Just look at that ceiling.

Gargantuan lock

Colossal door

This must be the father from Fiddler on the Roof.
Of this I am convinced.

We reached this clock archway three minutes past the hour.
So we missed the production that had to have occurred at the strike of 3 o'clock.

We followed some ACCORDION music we heard and found these guys. Accordion music. In a country that speaks French. Played by a young Belgian man. Awesome.

You should've seen the accordion players jacket.
It totally looked like something from the 90's.

We stopped for lunch at the place across from the busking Belgian men and sat outside for half a sandwich each and shared a plate of salad and frites with the best mayonnaise dipped fries I've ever had...and I've never, ever, ever had mayo on my fries. Never. Ketchup is the king of fry all condiments in my opinion, but apparently when in another country those things that I find to be odd eating habits of other people must be tried.

We had seen this structure from a mile away, thought it looked interesting
and had been heading for it this entire time.

Turns out it was this awesome plaza.

And when I say awesome...

I really do mean we were in awe.

It's a large plaza with a 360 degree view of the most amazing architecture I've seen in my life.

In the picture above you can see all the flowers being sold. In August volunteers will create a huge carpet of flowers in the center of the plaza. The carpet is made every other year and from the gorgeous pictures I've found it looks breathtaking. Apparently it takes one million begonias to complete. I'm sad we won't be here to see it. 

It gives you a feeling of greatness and smallness simultaneously. 

Built in 1699
Ahem.
1699.

This was built in the 1400's.

The detail and precision and grandeur...I wish these pictures could capture them and the feeling we both had. Katina took a video of the view which captures it better than flat pictures. Maybe she'll upload it for you.

At this point my camera battery died.
:(

After looking around and feeling a sense of amazement, we went inside an information center and found out that this was indeed Grand-Place. We'd made it! :)

The rest of our afternoon and evening was spent wandering and discovering more of the fine area. We were enchanted. At dusk we grabbed some ice cream and followed our noses wherever we desired to go.We came to a beautiful arched shopping and restaurant area, followed the long open hallway for a while until it intersected and opened up to a street. We turned left and were so glad we did. Upon turning left we felt that we had entered into another world. It was a small passageway with restaurants on either side. The sky had turned dark and each restaurant was lit up with lanterns and twinkly lights. All the restaurants had patios and the waiters were all dressed in fancy outfits, standing at attention in the streets. We licked our ice cream as we walked down this enchanting avenue, came to the end of it and wanted to walk through again. "Are we back on earth?!" was Katina's response. We continued following the crowd to random streets, and when we were tired, decided to head back through Grand Place which was just as gorgeous and slightly more magical in the twilight.

Loved. It.

I wish I could communicate to you just how magical everything felt and how much it communicates to my heart an even greater desire to be with all things international. This desire was already there, but it continues to grow. People and relationships. Travel. Experience. Building a broader world view of what's out there. How people think. How they live, etc. I'm excited to see what comes of this adventure.