Exploring Brussels with Mich

I woke up around 8 am. The lady beside me was gone and must have been well on her way back to Montreal. Her nephew woke up before me and was busy on his laptop.

I snuggled beneath the blankets and just stared out the window. It was raining and the clouds were gray. Oh what glory. I had a quick shower and sorted myself out, packed my stuff and had a chat with Michelle.

Michelle was a colleague of mine back in the Accenture-Manila days during the Kaiser Permanente project. That was actually my last project before I resigned and moved to Singapore. A few days earlier, whilst on my way to Brugge, she left me a message on FB, telling me that she was in Brussels and invited me to stay over if I fancied the idea. She’s been there for a 6 month project with an Insurance company. Their project manager is a very good friend of mine back in the days… who she calls Ate Reg.

Around 11, Michelle walked through the lobby of Meinenger, smiling through her glasses. I hugged

Cathedral

her and we were well on our way to her apartment. I always find it amazing to be meeting the people I know from back home. We walked through the streets and got on line 5. She updated me about some stuff happening around the project, about some people we know in common and also about her travels. It was such a good feeling to know that she was also one of those Filipina girls who loved traveling even on her own. I did admire my fellow Filipinas who explores beyond the confines of the comforts of society. She does seem to be enjoying it and that’s what really matters.We arrived at their place and she showed me to the room. I was so proud of her when she showed me her North Face bag and the flags that she had sown on the lower portion of the backpack. She told me about her scheduled trip to Venice on the coming weekend. I was so excited for her and I’ve always been full support of girls who does this.. going out there and exploring the world. GO GIRL!

She cooked the well-known Filipino dish, Sinigang… yum!!!  I was so full by the time I was done. I missed home Filipino cooking. I updated her with my travels and shared some tips and adventures I’ve had. By 12:30, her flatmate and co-Accenture Mavic (Maria Victoria) arrived from her shopping spree of baby clothes. It was so cute watching her getting excited and showing us the tiny shirts and clothes she bought for a bargain.

 

Around 1 pm, we were all set and headed off to the Central Station to start the exploration.

For a bit of information, Brussels is the capital of Belgium and also the de facto capital of the European Union. It hosts all of the meetings for political groups of the EU although the actual European Parliament is located in Strasbourg, where the votes and proposals take place. In addition, it is the headquarters of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty organization), just proving that this small country in Europe seem to be home of various international organizations.

It is also known for the wonderful combinations of waffles… all for a bargain price. Although it’s all

over the place, I’d still say that I loved my Brugge waffles . And I was glad Michelle liked it too .

Belgium is bi-lingual, having a mix of Dutch and French which explains why the signs has the combination of these languages. The name Brussels seems to have originated from the Dutch word “broeksel” meaning marsh(broek) and home (sel) or what you’d say home in the marsh.

Okay, so the history trail I’ve been reading was particularly long. But I just discovered that apparently back in the 13th or 15th century and due to the inter marriages of Dukes and Duchess, Brussels was once part of Austria. In 1746, Brussels was invaded by the French during the War of Austrian Succession. 3 years later, the city was handed back to Austria and was part of that nation only until 1795.

In 1830, the Belgian Revolution took place and became the capital of the new nation. On 1831, King Leopold I because the first King of the Belgians and continued on with the construction of the new city.

Getting on the lighter side of things, i.e. non political-historical stuff, Brussels is home to a lot of comic strip creators with the likes of Rin Tin Tin, Smurfs, Gaston Lagaffe and many more. It is also where the creator of the Saxophone once lived. 

Continuing on…

Michelle and I got out of the central station and walked towards the Cathedral of St.Michael & St.Gudula. The interior was Gothic inspired architecture, with the usual design of big cement columns of the different Saints. On the right side was a big brown designed imagery of what seemed like revelation, which placed the stand for the celebrating priest to announce the homily back in the days. I noticed too that there were private spaces for prayer. I figured it might have been those areas for the upper class centuries ago.

The sun was slowly sneaking behind the clouds, sunshine later in the afternoon was looking

promising when we got out of the cathedral. We found our way back to the central station so we can use the loo. One thing to note is that public toilets charge a minimum of 0.50cents. In some places they can charge 1Euro (well, that in Hamburg they did). It was better to go to the nearby loo before we got stranded somewhere. So we went through the crowd of students rallying with signs saying STOPSac. We weren’t really sure what was happening but it seemed to be a peaceful rally anyway. Nothing exciting so far.

We found our way through the streets and walked the steps up a stretch of gardens beside a sculpture with a gentleman on a horse, that overlooked the town. There was a long red equipment standing tall to the left of the park. We initially thought it was a bunjee jumping thing. Apparently it was a new addition to the city, which read “Dine in the Sky”. I found it misplaced. It honestly ruined the view for foot explorers, but surely, the view for those up there would have been lovely.

We walked further up the stairs and I was awed by the beautiful design of the Music Museum. I decided not to stop by there anymore, rather, spend more time outside and explore the city scape. At the top of the street was seemed to be a parliament building with yet again a gentleman on a horse. The cobbled streets reminded again of Brugge, and I felt like I was back in time again.

Mannekin Pis

I noticed the presence of mini yellow vans with waffles, seemingly roaming the streets of Brussels. I craved for waffles and was able to convince Michelle to have one with me . It was yummily sweet…. I think I’ve built an addiction to it. Haha. There goes my diet.

Walking through, we stopped at a park beside another church. There was something special about this park though. There was a guard patiently watching the premises. Apparently, it was the Park of Statues… and I did understand later on that he was looking out for vandalism and people who might tread through the gardens. I was told off..that’s how I realized his purpose. Oops. I said sorry.

We passed by a small market square scene. I tried so much not to give in and buy trinkets. Michelle was trying to tempt me but good thing I didn’t give in. It was either the rings or waffles. I’d go for waffles. 

I loved the design of the houses, a stretch of Flemish town houses through the cobbled streets. The café scene and Juliper (pubs) were all around, and obviously some locals had their favourite. It was a weekend so the bunch of tourists swarmed through the alleys and were having local bier (beer).

We eventually found our way to a street where one of the side buildings had a painting of Rin tIn tin and captain running down a stairwell. I found it really cute. The whole stretch of that alley had numerous souvenir shops and waffle stalls. Wahhh I was going crazy. At first I thought everyone was going frenzy over the waffle, just to find out that they were all going crazy over Mr. Mannekin Pis.

It was then that I got introduced to Mr.Pis, a symbol of Brussels. Don’t ask me why though. That day he decided to wear green sunnies, a white cap and a yellow shirt. Seems that this dude has fashion through the season. Again, don’t ask me why. But people were pushing each other just to have a photo of him. On the way, Mich bought some frits to have me try the local Belgian “fries”.

 

We also passed by a few graduates from Germany from a Peace organization, asking people to write on the ground with different colors of chalk :) I ended up writing the word Kalayaan :)

After the Mr.pis craze, we walked towards a nearby local skateboarding rink, ornamented with graffiti. We only stayed there for a while, ushered away by the scent of weed, we decided to move on. We hopped on the train and got off Saint Catherine till we got to the USE-it shop. I left a comment on their book and had a quick chat asking how the maps were getting funded. It hasn’t been wide spread around Europe yet, but apparently, they have been struggling to get funding in a few places. We picked up a few maps and headed on our way after choosing free pins from their stash.

There’s to be a known place in Brussels called Parking 58. Said to have a 360-degree view of the

At Bier Circus

city. It well did. But of course, security measures were clearly stated with bars and wires all over the top deck of the parking lot. We stretched our arms outside the bars just to get good photos. The skies were all clearing up and we knew that the sunset would be lovely that night. From afar the Atomium distinctly stood out of the horizon. A symbolic structure that was built for the 1958 World Fair. It was designed to have 9 steel spheres connected by tubes to form a model of an iron crystal. Beside it is the mini-europe which had a ratio of 1:25 scale of the famous buildings of Europe. All of these which I decided not to travel to coz I didn’t have enough time for closing time was 6pm.

On the way, we stumbled upon a superbly hilarious once to be known church in the North side of Brussels. Now what was so special about the place? All of the statues were fashionably painted with eyebrows and mascara. Oh yes. But then, there in the middle was Mother Mary, looking pretty with cutix and PEDICURE!! Nyahahaha. What color? WHITE! Oh yeah. Obviously someone was dead bored and didn’t have anything else to do. I obviously took a photo. Randomly awesome! To note, as per the researcher named Mich… the name of this place is Eglise du Gesu (Gesukerk)/Church of the Gesu. 

After that we decided to check out Bier Circus, a local pub recommended by the USE-it maps. We found it difficult choosing which Belgian beer to get. The list just went on and on, with the different flavours in the description. I ended up choosing the Troublette which had lime and coriander. Michelle chose the raspberry Framboe Boon. We were laughing when the spaghetti ordered arrived. It had a sign of “big” in the menu but we didn’t’ know it was “party big”. We were bloated by the time we finished the last stretch of beef and pasta. Eek. But it was definitely yummy.

Later on, we got to the Grand Place and that’s where I understood why it was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With the Gothic designed town hall in the middle and the Guildhalls on the side, the sheer elegance of such architecture was worth its place in the list. The cobbled square was filled with tourists and I struggled to get a wide angle shot. Seemed that the European style always had a big square where such buildings stand tall with lots of history and artistry.

After that, we headed back down to the central station and stopped up the steps just in close proximity to the music museum. We watched the sun set for a while, I took some photos and then we headed on to the station.

Cinquantenaire

Mich took me to the Cinquantenaire triumphal arch which was just a 15 minute walk to their apartment. Upon getting there, massive tent setups were around the area. A big Portuguese event was taking place for the whole weekend. Stalls and tents offered trinkets, food, drinks and kid stuff. It was buzzing with so many people, Portuguese and passersby… everyone enjoying the vibe. Mich and I decided to have some sardines which was served with veggies and bread. It was so yummy as we ate through the bones and squeezed lime on it. Woot woot! We went home bloated! Hahaha Good thing we walked all the way back to the apartment. Mich also showed me where their office was. Definitely a stone throw away from their place. Very convenient!

We got home a little bit late. Mavic was already deep in sleep when we arrived. Mich was dead tired and slowly dozed off to sleep. I had a video call with the Sosna family and watched Baby Alex stare back at me with his lovely eyes.

Around 1 am, I dozed off to sleep.

I slept in the following morning and woke up around 9:30 am. I felt so much energized. Mich and Mavic were already up. I quickly had a shower and started packing up again. Mich watched me as I scrambled through my things. As always, I said, I get stressed when I pack again.

We had our lunch together, Mich prepared the food and I cooked the remaining noodles with veggies and an egg. We were laughing through and decided to declare Michelle as multi-skilled, i.e. translator, guide, police and hmm oh yes…. Romance novel writer  hihihi (peace Michelle! Muwah muwah lambing lang)

While doing my last minute packing, Mich gave me some stuff to take with me. Complete with granola bars, brussels chocolates, washing sachet powders and shampoo sachets. I was so touched and that also reminded me of the families and friends I’ve stayed with during the past months, who did the same. My heartfelt gratitude…

Photo by Mich

I hugged Mavic goodbye and Mich came along with me to the Central station to pick up my ticket. We found out that I had to get to the Midi station to catch my train to Hamburg. So we rushed along, and I didn’t have any idea what exact time my train was leaving. All I knew it was something 2 pm. Another tip, if you’re going to book the B and DB make sure to double check the time.

We had my last waffle in Brussels at a café shop in Brussels-Midi train station. Then Mich walked me to my platform 5a. I hugged her goodbye and thanked her for everything. I hope one day we can share the road together for another adventure! 

By 2:25, I was on the train to Hamburg, Germany… via Cologne.

Note: Because I didn’t buy Eurorail pass, I’ve been moving via the public transportation, i.e. booking as I go. Best to reserve a seat or else you’ll end up like me, sitting on the floor (on my way to Cologne). Good thing the train transfer from Cologne to Hamburg wasn’t that packed, so I was happily comfortable having a seat to myself.