Geneva: Brussels: 02/29

Warning: these next few posts are going to be extremely long, and I apologize in advance for my horrible grammar

So I finally have enough energy and time to write up my posts for the past few weeks - it's funny how much energy French takes out of me. To start one at a time - here's a recount of my adventures in Brussels:

On the 29th I began my Brussels journey at 9am, we took the high-speed rail from Geneva - which took us through Paris and then onto Brussels. There was a short layover in Paris so we were able to go out of the station and have coffee at a little cafe - it was so exciting to be there for the first time!


First time in Paris - just switching trains for Brussels

We arrived in Brussels and had the entire evening to explore the city, so I headed out to explore the capital of Belgium with a group of friends.

Passed the Stock Exchange - it was right near our hotel

The first thing we did: search out the Mannekin Piss (aka Peeing Boy statue).

Mannekin Piss in all his glory

Mannekin Piss plus some lovely ladies

I'm not going to lie, Mannekin Piss was pretty disappointing because he looked a lot bigger in pictures and he was so tiny in person. I think what's more impressive is his selection of clothing that is housed in the city museum - people can submit clothing they designed for him and he puts on a different outfit everyday...more to come about that!

Right by the Mannekin Piss was the famous Grand Place square:

Museum of the city

larger view of Grand Place

Hotel de Ville

By this time I was starving - luckily the whole group felt this way and we headed out of Grand Place with the goal of finding a restaurant with some authentic Belgian cuisine. Luckily, this wasn't very difficult to find and I was able to order myself a meal of Mussels and Fries for only 14 Euros.

Katie & my Mussel shells pyramid


Mussels and Fries!

Of course I couldn't call it a night until I had dessert - a Belgian Waffle!

The next morning the entire program received two wake up calls at about 6:45 and 7am since we had to be at breakfast early. Our program for the day was a series of briefings at the EU Commission and then the afternoon was free for us to conduct research for our cultural drop-off projects (my group's topic being European Integration). At the Commission we heard talks about: Foreign Trade (in relation to the EU), European Neighborhood Policy and EU Energy Policy. While all the speakers were interesting, I was more than ready to be done by 12:30 to explore more of this wonderful city.

Whole group at the EU Commission

EU Commission

The afternoon's adventures began with a visit to Grand Place again to check out the Beer and Chocolate Museums. It turned out that the Chocolate Museum was closed on Mondays and the Beer Museum wasn't worth paying to enter - therefore, instead I went to Neuhaus Chocolatier and got some Belgian Chocolate.

Beer Museum

yumm!

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the city. Starting down by the Grand Place, we walked up towards the Royal Palace - passing the Royal Library, many Museums and other beautiful buildings (one of which was Parliament - couldn't figure out which it was).

Gates in front of the Palace

Royal Palace

Royal Library (little out of order)

Front of the Royal Palace

After the walk we headed back to the hotel to change for dinner and find out what the plan was for the rest of the evening. I ended up going to this little Kebab place - there are lots in Belgium - it was really good! Our group was supposed to meet up with everyone else in a bar called "Delirium" - apparently a lot of Americans frequent there - but we ended up getting a little lost so got waffles and then called it a night.
The next morning was also begun with two highly unnecessary wake-up calls. Our official schedule only included lectures by a Professor about Belgian history and sub-state actors. It was interesting to learn about the language divide between the Flemish and French in Belgium - Brussels being an extremely interesting case due to it's location in the Flemish part of the country but the majority of its inhabitants speaking French. After a quick lunch of Kebab sandwiches (what can I say, the Kebab restaurants were great and cheap) we headed back to Grand Place to visit the Chocolate Museum, buy souvenirs and walk around the city more.

The group who went to the Chocolate Museum

Chocolate maker at the Museum, who showed us the tricks of the trade

After the Chocolate Museum, I ended up going to a souvenier shop and buying some small momentos to remember my trip to Brussels. We then ended up walking back towards the palace - a group went to the Art Museum, but the rest of us caught the tram towards the outskirts of town to visit the Atomium. Built for the 1958 World Fair in Brussels, it was quite a structure - and from the top we had an amazing view of the entire city (those pictures are on facebook if you have interest in seeing them).

Lights went on as we were leaving

Atomium!

facts about the Atomium

facts about the 1958 World Fair

I finally was able to find the Delirium Bar successfully this last night in Brussels - almost everyone from our group came it was a great end to our Brussels trip.

"Minority Shot" at the bar

The next morning we left for Paris at 10am, however before we left a group of us ran to seeing Mannekin Piss get dressed and grab Belgian Waffles for the last time.