Bruxelles, Belgium

 mussels and miniatures

Last Christmas break, I spent 2 days in Brussels together with my traveling buddies Tashia and Monica.

When we first got off the train from Amsterdam, it took us approximately 1.5 hours to locate our hotel from the nearest Metro station, all while dragging our heavy suitcases up and down the unfamiliar roads. People seldom speak English here, apparently, or they were just having a blast laughing at us three struggling Asians. After finally checking in, we walked around the city without any real destination in mind, when we saw this gorgeous building next to us with a huge crowd lining up in front. If curiosity killed the cat, this time it led us to an amazing lego exhibition. After a good 30 minutes in the long queue, we were simply amazed at the amazing lego pieces displayed, noticing quality imitations of famous artworks, all made from mere lego pieces. I smiled thinking about the comparison of these masterpieces with my best lego sculpture attempt (which was nothing more than a boring tower and screams from accidentally stepping on those damn painful lego pieces).

The Christmas market at Brussels was lovely because unlike other cities, it's packed with people since daytime. We binged on escargot, albeit it not being as fancy as I've imagined my first snail experience to be, but oh well it was delicious. The market was a pathway surrounded by beautiful architecture, leading towards the city center, which was extremely busy and full of life.

I noticed the gigantic cartoon murals painted on the walls of buildings here and there, like this one with Tin-Tin (I think this cartoon character originated from Belgium, if I'm not mistaken). It's nice to know that the whole town is designed to have cartoon strip influences, but apparently these murals are quite hard to find. I think I spotted two or three. We soon found our way to the Manneken Pis, which is literally a tiny, tiny statue of a boy peeing into the fountain. Like, this is supposedly the #1 attraction in Brussels, and there was a huge crowd clamoring around the statue like it was some amazing thing that we had to see.....it wasn't. But a round of applause for the Belgium peeps who kindly dressed the boy in warm clothes, just in time for sweater weather! After taking a zoomed in half-assed shot of the statue, we walked to a waffle place next to it which proved to be much more satisfying than the peeing boy.

Our stroll led us to the Grand Place/Grote Markt, the central square of the city. It was simply jaw-dropping gorgeous! Standing in the middle of the square meant that your 360 degree vantage point consists of remarkable, exquisite buildings (the town hall is really something!) and when it lit up at night, it's even more amazing. That night we went over to Chez Leon for dinner and each of us had a bucket of fresh mussels (2.8 kgs per person, that is!) So, so, SO GOOD. We walked around town and went in and out of small shops before we realized that it was almost 11, and usually we'd probably be in bed by now but I realized that actually Brussels is quite safe at night.

Our next stop was the Cinquantenaire arcade, and to be honest we still do not know what this thing actually is. The arcs stood magnificently, but we were too distracted by the nearby Autoworld. Autoworld is a car museum housing unique and historical cars from the olden days, but it is also complete with the new shiny, slick sport cars. I was excited to see the first models of the Bugatti, Rolls Royce and Bentley cars which looked like it was taken straight out of Baz Luhrmann's Gatsby remake. *in my mind I was jamming to I WOKE UP IN A NEW BUGATTI* This was probably the highlight of my Brussels trip- it was really interesting to see all the historic race cars and cotton-candy coloured cadillacs grace the museum which stretched over two floors. But my favourite part of the exhibition was seeing the first and latest models of the Porsche car stood side by side, as a way of comparing history with the future.

We took the metro to Mini Europe, which offered an adorable miniature setting of all European cities, complete with its famous landmarks. Although the place was super cute, I was distracted by the cold, crazy wind and rain and how bad it made me want to pee (was on the verge of becoming the second Manneken Pis) so I couldn't really enjoy the attraction to it's full potential....but I did remember it being quite interactive and complete! Afterwards we hurried over to the planetarium, seeking for shelter from the rain. Naturally, Monica Tashia and I all fell asleep during the show...but thanks for the solid power nap, random planetarium! We did not have time to visit the infamous Atomium behind us, but we got a pretty good view from the places that we did go to. 

We didn't stay for long in Brussels, but I reckon it's one of my favorite European cities. Apart from the beautiful architecture surrounding you 24/7, Brussels offer a more modern metropolitan vibe which easily makes you feel comfortable, even when you're lost in a big crowd. It gave me a rewarding feeling being able to find Tin-Tin murals on buildings in random alleyways, I mean it doesn't get any more awesome than a comic- inspired city. Plus, the seafood is uh-mazing too. That's another 10 points for you, Brussels!