We stayed at another campsite recommended by our book, based on it’s transportation to Brussels and its amenities. The campsite itself is located in Grimbergen, which is about a 40 min bus ride into the city center of Brussels. The bus stop is right on the door step of the campsite, so it was great for that, driving in Brussels with the big rig didn’t do my nerves well on the first go through. However, we didn’t know this bus stop was for the bus we needed and walked to the bus station which was about 3 kilometers away, but when you make a wrong turn, it turns out to be about 5 kilometers away. Never once did Julie and I get off the bus at the right time. For fear of traveling too far past our destination, we got off twice too early, the first time, wasn’t bad, and we ended up on a huge shopping center walkway that took you directly to the centre square. The second time was not so, 1 ½ hr walk later and we were at the correct destination. The reason for this mistake, we didn’t have a map, bus route and we took two different busses, both ending up near the city square. Oh well, walking is good for us. The first day I wanted to go and see the statue Menneken Pis (I just say Maken’ a Piss, but oddly Julie feels the need to correct me?). A statue of a little boy taking a piss, it apparently even gets dressed up from time to time and is a big tourist photo-op. The statue was funny, but all the stores making money off the statue made me laugh more.
The city center was huge, filled with tourists and had museums, chocolatiers, snack bars, and restaurants. Persuaded by free samples at one particular chocolate shop, Julie and I took a browse inside and tasted, probably the best, chocolate we have had since being over here…..and we bought some boxes, although one melted later in the van (Julie’s solution to the melted chocolate was to dip strawberries and blueberries, that we got at a fruit stand, in the mess of delicious gooey stuff). Before we headed back on the bus to the campsite for the first night, Julie and I stopped at a fritter and had some French-fries and sauce. The next morning we needed to set out early to have all our plans work for the day. Julie read up on a market held near the town square. Our plan, was to be awake at 6am, on the train at 6:30, be at the market by 7:30am and then back to the campsite by 10, then off to Waterloo. This did not happen though. First, the bus arrives 20 minutes later on weekends. Second, we weren’t up until 6:30am. Third, we realized that we needed to do dishes in order to eat breakfast. On the road at 7:50am, got off the bus too early, which resulted in a 1 ½ hr walk to the market. This time out was the first time I didn’t bring the camera, and I missed out huge. Lesson learned, treat the camera like your wallet or your keys to the van, bring them everywhere you go. On the walk we saw lots of interesting statues throughout the city. A couple stand out, one with a lady carrying a sword and shield dressed in armor and a convict tripping a cop from underneath a sewer drain. The market turned out to be a bust. It was a garage sale with basically everything no one wants left. Just awful. So after that, we made our way back to the city square and saw that the little guy was wearing a green suit, whereas the day before, he was in his bronze birthday suit. Since I had some cash on me, I decided to look for a cheap place to have brunch. It turns out, the same place we went to for fries the day before was the cheapest for breakfast. We both had sugar waffles, Julie had whipped cream on hers, and I had my best cup of coffee ever. At first blush, Julie and I did not like Brussels. It was after spending that long walk through the town that we got to appreciate its charm. Brussels is famous for its shopping areas, and we can only tell you that they are there, just not if it’s good or not. The campsite manager is a dictator. Check out time was 11:30am, it was 1pm when we “tried” to check out. Every campsite we have stayed at has had very flexible check out times. The manager wanted to charge us for another night of camping, so Julie and I canceled our plans to switch campsites and stayed the night anyway. We still made it off to Waterloo to have a look around.
The city center was huge, filled with tourists and had museums, chocolatiers, snack bars, and restaurants. Persuaded by free samples at one particular chocolate shop, Julie and I took a browse inside and tasted, probably the best, chocolate we have had since being over here…..and we bought some boxes, although one melted later in the van (Julie’s solution to the melted chocolate was to dip strawberries and blueberries, that we got at a fruit stand, in the mess of delicious gooey stuff). Before we headed back on the bus to the campsite for the first night, Julie and I stopped at a fritter and had some French-fries and sauce. The next morning we needed to set out early to have all our plans work for the day. Julie read up on a market held near the town square. Our plan, was to be awake at 6am, on the train at 6:30, be at the market by 7:30am and then back to the campsite by 10, then off to Waterloo. This did not happen though. First, the bus arrives 20 minutes later on weekends. Second, we weren’t up until 6:30am. Third, we realized that we needed to do dishes in order to eat breakfast. On the road at 7:50am, got off the bus too early, which resulted in a 1 ½ hr walk to the market. This time out was the first time I didn’t bring the camera, and I missed out huge. Lesson learned, treat the camera like your wallet or your keys to the van, bring them everywhere you go. On the walk we saw lots of interesting statues throughout the city. A couple stand out, one with a lady carrying a sword and shield dressed in armor and a convict tripping a cop from underneath a sewer drain. The market turned out to be a bust. It was a garage sale with basically everything no one wants left. Just awful. So after that, we made our way back to the city square and saw that the little guy was wearing a green suit, whereas the day before, he was in his bronze birthday suit. Since I had some cash on me, I decided to look for a cheap place to have brunch. It turns out, the same place we went to for fries the day before was the cheapest for breakfast. We both had sugar waffles, Julie had whipped cream on hers, and I had my best cup of coffee ever. At first blush, Julie and I did not like Brussels. It was after spending that long walk through the town that we got to appreciate its charm. Brussels is famous for its shopping areas, and we can only tell you that they are there, just not if it’s good or not. The campsite manager is a dictator. Check out time was 11:30am, it was 1pm when we “tried” to check out. Every campsite we have stayed at has had very flexible check out times. The manager wanted to charge us for another night of camping, so Julie and I canceled our plans to switch campsites and stayed the night anyway. We still made it off to Waterloo to have a look around.
1 comment:
Hahahaha I got a good laugh out of the Manakin Pis as well. Apparently he has been stolen quite a few times as well. The chocolate sounds pretty damn good. Any chance you have saved some? If so make sure you come visit me soon..... along with the chocolate of course!
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