Bruxelles = Brussels

We took an impromptu trip to Brussels this weekend. Our new friends, the Cordanis, invited us and we went for it.

First of all, Bruxelles is the same as Brussels. Just like Germany is the same thing as Deutschland. Just like Français is the same as French. I see signs for Bruxelles all the time in Luxembourg and I finally put it together. Great job, me. I am learning about languages and stuff.

Second of all, it's only 2 1/2 hours to Brussels. Huh? I thought it was four. Great job, me. Google map it, girlfriend.

So, we got up early on Saturday morning and were in Brussels by 10 am. Great job, us. This is all I want in life: to take full advantage of seeing new sights. It doesn't matter where I live, a quick jaunt down any new road always brings me new room to breathe. Exploring new places is my oxygen.


Just out of the car, Noah was immediately ticked. "I DON'T WANT TO WALK!" I forgot to set expectations early on. It was a rocky first hour or so.

The Grand Place was the grandest place I'd ever been. This building was my favorite.




We met our friends and swapped family pictures duties.

Then we tried to find the famous waffles .... The waffles here were good but they weren't THE waffles. Here's Danielle telling us the history of the Grand Place according to Rick Steves.

I took a panorama of the Grand Place. It's impossible to do it justice.

This was some kind of shopping mall with an amazing ceiling.

Brussels was like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Everywhere I turned, I saw the most beautiful candy and chocolates ever. These are colorful marshmallows.

Eclairs topped with so many fancy things ... I think I even spotted gold leaf with the chocolate shavings on the right.

Hand-strewn chocolate, fondant, meringue, you name it, I saw it. Belgium's chocolate standards are very strict. They require that all chocolate be made of at least 35% pure cocoa (American chocolate only has to have 10% chocolate liqueur) and be made with only cocoa butter (all vegetable oils are forbidden). Belgian chocolate melts faster due to the all cocoa butter content (vegetable oils increase the melting point), which I discovered using its chocolate chips for chocolate chip cookies and today when I was putting a chocolate truffle into Adam's mouth while he was driving. It nearly slipped out of my fingers because it started melting the minute it got into my hand.


Anything to make walking and sight seeing a little more fun for the kids - let's try hopscotching on these multi-colored lily pads!

My elderly neighbor is Belgian and he told me to do two things in Brussels: eat seafood and buy chocolate. He told me about all the seafood along Saint Catherine street. We tried this stand which is a popular lunch spot. You order and eat it standing at tables in the courtyard. Noah put some calamari in his mouth, asked, "What am I eating? Can I spit it out?" And before I could say "calamari" and "wait, wait, wait, wait until I get a napkin" it was on the ground. Next stop: McDonald's for Happy Meals.

After the kids had gotten their fill of American garbage food goodness, we went to the Mannekin Pis statue. This is where we found THE waffles of our dreams.

 Liege waffles are dense, coated in crispy, charred sugar syrup, and topped with decadence. I got strawberries, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce on mine. It was something else!

Happy Meal toys kept the kids happy for the rest of the day. Yay!

 After taking a break, we met the Cordanis for dinner at Le Comptoir in the Matonge neighborhood. We had this beautiful church for a view across the street.

 I had been slacking on my food picture taking. Here's where I got back into it. Adam said the burger was one of his top five. My salad was perfect after the waffle gut bomb.

Done for the night and heading back to our car. Thank goodness for Adam and his great sense of direction. And for smart phone maps. (Noah had gotten hot at dinner and took his shirt off.)

We were going to Airbnb it again but it didn't work out, so we went with Meininger Hotel. It was kind of a hipster haven. 

The kids loved the bunk beds. Sienna said, "The builder of this hotel knew we had bunk beds at home and built them just for us!"

 After a solid night of resting our tourist legs, we awoke to grumbling stomachs in need of one thing and one thing only: THE WAFFLE. I was actually the only one who wanted a waffle, but look who joined me when it was game time. I decided the plain liege waffle is perfect for me.

 Be Waffle'.

Adam's thinking, "I can't believe I'm doing this again." #wafflegutbomb #toosoon

 A few doors down was this beauty:

And somewhere in the city was just another beautiful building... #imjusthereforthearchitecture

 Danielle had planned the whole trip, and it was lovely having someone else lead the way. She told us about the city's history with comics. Some of the most famous cartoons/comics come from Belgium, including The Smurfs and TinTin. There are tons of murals depicting comics throughout the city and we saw some of them.

  We were wrapping it up for the day. The kids were tired and we didn't want to get home too late. We bought some chocolate and bid adieu to Mannekin Pis.

That's the real statue of the pissing boy. It's TINY!