Overnight in Brussels

With Rachel's bro, we did an overnight on the mainland so that Ryan could experience a more more "European" city.  A quick two-hour early-morning trip through The Chunnel was perfect to give us two whole days in BRUSSELS.  Forget the five hours involved with flying -- Eurostar is the best way to get to someplace new!

Brussels is small in comparison to London, Paris, or Amsterdam.  But it has fanciful buildings that (as Chris phrases it) look like Paris and Amsterdam had a baby -- haha!  In reality, Belgium actually is a mix of many cultures.  At a café getting coffee, our server was speaking English to us, talking to his staff in French, and answering questions on the phone in Dutch.  We tried our best to keep up!

Our apartment hotel was modern and in the perfect location -- right off the giant main square (La Grand Place).
The square is lined with ornate architecture and sky-scraping steeples, and it's extremely lively and gorgeously lit at night.

Down the street from our hotel were restaurants and cafés and, of course, a dozen places to get fantastic Belgian beer!  For dinner, we chowed on a bread, mustard, and meat feast at a Delirium pub :-)

We toured around a TON of places... hope you enjoy some of our snapshots!

funnin' around at the Atomium (from the World's Fair in 1958)...

marveling at the HUGE buildings around the city...

the Cinquantenaire (a triumphal arch commemorating 50 years of independence)

trying to get into the Army Museum -- absolutely GINORMOUS doors and a main entrance that makes you look like ant...

drinking Belgium beer and strolling through the Galeries Royales St. Hubert (a covered market)...



escaping the rain with a tour of St. Michael's cathedral...

wandering La Grand Place at night...

touring the lambic beer brewery, "Cantillon" (which still uses oooold-school brewing techniques)...