Being brought up in Singapore for my entire life has made me a little scared in living abroad. First thing is language, everyone speaks Dutch and all signboards are in Dutch. I clean my first toilet here. I use my first vacuum cleaner (back at home, we always use broom). I cook my own proper lunch (excluding instant noodles).
We do not plan to stay here for long, at least another year. Husband wants to travel around Europe as he does not need to apply for Visa since he is working here. His life long goal was to travel Europe.
So far, we have covered
1. Faro
2. Lisbon
3. Paris (including Disneyland)
4. Amsterdam
5. Brussels
So here I am, to tell about my experience. Will start with Brussels.
(all photos are from me, pardon my bad photo taking skill)
We took a train from Rotterdam to Brussels which took 2 hours. We did not take Thalys, just a normal train (there is 1st class and 2nd class - I feel that both is the same thing, 1st class has slightly bigger seat space. 2nd class is do-able, quite comfy actually). And I can sleep easily so it is not an issue.
Once we arrived at Brussels Central, we walked out of the station and headed to the first destination, Mont des Arts. It was just right outside the exit, after crossing the road. It is winter time so leaves have fallen off, no flowers. It looks sad.
There will be some staircases, when you walked up. I think this has a better view than Mont des Arts. That is Husband btw. I love how Europeans houses are. Unlike Singapore, it is more unique and artistic.
From here, we googled map to see the Manneken Pis. I realized that small alleys are a thing in European places. Many buildings are painted with Cartoon which is one thing Brussels is famous for, Comic Route / Comic Strip Wall. The last red building has bicycles attached to the walls, there were quite handful of people taking photos of that.
And by that red building is the famous Manneken Pis. Personally, I dont think it is a Wow thing. Apparently, it changes clothes too and the museum of his clothes were nearby. Husband and I went to see the Het Zinneke and Jeanneke Pis. We were like "Ermmmm". Jeanneke Pis was nearby but Het Zinneke was a walk and it ain't worth it. I don't quite get it but since its well-known so....
We went to the Grand Palace, got an 8 Euro Ticket to see the museum which I forgot what is the name, but it had the history of Manneken Pis in which I still don't see the exact origin but from Wikipedia, it said that it was designed from someone and TAAA DAAAA. This is like the market square where people gather and walking tours starts.
Here is 2 pictures from the Museum (it took about half hour to cover the whole museum).
And then we went to find lunch. Everywhere was selling Mussels and Fries from 18 Euro to 25 Euro. We walked past this place and a guy was standing outside and asking us to come in. Mussels and Fries was indicated as 16 Euro and the guy mentioned that they are giving away 2 free beer. So we went in, as usual, we cannot decide what to eat. The rabbit dish was not available, it was said to be "What to eat in Brussesls". We had this.
There was fries too. Portion is HUGE and we have not eaten so much mussels in our life before. It was rather good. Total was 79 Euro (the paella didn't have price indicated on the menu, we had 2 beers each and the Mussels & Fries). Uncle charged 18 Euro for the Mussels & Fries instead of 16 Euro. I think value-wise, there is definitely other places which serving for a lesser price.
We went to St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral (I hope I got this place correctly). To me, I do not know how to appreciate Churches. All churches look the same to me.
Then to the Royal Palace ..... and we were done.
We went back to our hotel - Courtyard by Marriott. It is quite isolated but there is a huge Carrefour. And I love supermarkets. There was so many varieties of beers and wines. The cool thing is that some even comes with beer/wine glasses. We had some chinese take out from nearby for dinner. Googled map restaurants and done.
So the next day, we had breakfast in the hotel and checked out. Supposingly there was other sight seeing to do, but it was a little far, so Husband told that we will come back during the Summer. We walked around, getting souvenirs and a place to drink. The Belgium Beer Testers consist of "Strawberry, Leffe, Kwak, Hoegaarden, Juliper and Delirium" - I still prefer Kwak.
Be careful when walking past beggars. We walked past one, and the auntie dropped her cup of coins. We helped to pick it up, she said that some fell into the drain. So we donated our coins to her. While walking back the same route, we saw a couple helping the same auntie picking up coins. And the auntie was also pointing to the drain.
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