A Belgian Photo Diary
So, after a month of living in Denmark, I finally made my first trip abroad! To say that the trip was spontaneous would be the understatement of the year, we literally booked everything the day before departure which was very stressful. But I definitely think it is something I should do more often when booking trips because it was one of the least stressful city breaks I've ever been on. Brussels has never been high up on my 'places to visit' list, and, to be honest, we only booked flights to Brussels because they were the cheapest flights available... But, nevertheless, the city was very pretty (and I fell in love with Bruges). I didn't research anything about Brussels, the only thinks that I knew about was that it is home to the European Parliament and that Belgian chocolate is some of the best in the world.
Most of the architecture was beautiful, especially the palaces and churches. If you ever visit Brussels, check out the Royal Palace of Brussels, which also had an interesting exhibition inside about Belgium following WWI, and the Palais de Justice (even though the scaffolding has been up since 2003!). The views from the Court were amazing; you could see the whole city and it was pretty cool seeing old and new together.
By chance, we also managed to see a free concert at the Grand Place, which was so much fun. The square was all lit up and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. The music was also pretty good, and I have definitely found some new artists that I want to listen to (even if some of them only sang in French). It turns out the concert was part of a political campaign for the local elections (but I think it was organised by a left-leaning party, so all is good on that front).
As I've already mentioned, I loved Bruges and it is definitely somewhere that I would visit again. I had no idea what to expect in the city but I was pleasantly surprised. It kind of reminded me of a more-relaxed York because of all of the small, old streets. We spent a good amount of time wandering aimlessly (and I took a lot of photos of random buildings along the way) until we found the Market Square, where another political rally was happening. The Provisional Court was beautiful, especially in the sunset, as were the canals.
We ended up wandering into the 2be Beer Wall, which had a cellar with literally every single bottle of beer ever invented for sale. I bought a banana one (which I had tried in Leeds before and would recommend to everyone) and a pink grapefruit beer (which was one of the most disgusting things I've ever tried in my life). There was also a cool bar at 2be which overlooked the canal but we didn't have time to have a drink because we needed to eat and catch our train back to Brussels; although, if you do visit Bruges, definitely go and have a drink because you can get multiple drinks for cheap (and the coconut beer smelled amazing!)
We didn't really do much on our final day, we visited the Atomium, which was strangely fascinating. It's a much prettier building up close but I do understand why CNN named it the most bizarre building in Europe. It's a good way to kill a bit of time but if you do visit, there are a lot of stairs and it's not very accessible-friendly. The information inside was interesting, especially the third(?) floor which made me feel like I was in a nightclub.
We also ended up at a museum about the history of the European Union, which was also pretty interesting (but obviously won't be something to suit everyone's tastes). It discussed a century of European relations and how they began to change as more countries became receptive to the idea of more co-operation. It reminded me of the module I took at Leeds about the EU, but I still did learn quite a bit about different European nations and the plans for the future of the EU (even if we're not going to be in it for much longer....)
Unfortunately I don't have any upcoming breaks planned. I'm hoping to go on another trip before Christmas but aside from that, this is probably one of the first times in a while that I've had no plans to travel. I can't wait for the mid-term break, I'm so excited to see my mum and sisters and give them a tour of Copenhagen. I can't believe that they'll finally be here in a week-or-so!
