Craic in Cork: Long Day of Travel

Friday was a very long day, but it was all worth it because we were going to Belgium in no time! We took the 11 PM bus on Thursday, which got us to the airport around 2:30ish in the morning, We had a lot of time to kill before our 6:20 AM flight, but I would rather sit around and wait than be running for my flight.

We landed in Belgium a little before 9 AM and caught a 10 AM bus that would bring us to Brussels. I was sort of in zombie mode at this point, running on little sleep, but I was about to have a fabulous day of exploring ahead of me! Jane, Grace, and I got to the bus stain and took a taxi to our hotel about ten minutes away. Our hotel was great! It was really clean and comfortable, as well as in the perfect location, about a ten minute walk from the main center of Brussels, the Grand Place. Check-in was not until 2 PM at the hotel, so we dropped our bags off and went into the heart of the city.

The three of us walked to the Grand Place, but made a pitstop on the way for some chocolate. We went to Mary Chocolatier, which is very famous. Mary was the first woman chocolatier in Belgium! I had a hazelnut praline chocolate, and I was in heaven. We then continued to the Grand Place. When we got there, it was absolutely breathtaking. It was a massive area with the Town Hall, a museum and a few other beautiful buildings. We were on a mission to find some food, so we stopped at (what seemed to be) a very authentic Belgian restaurant. I had a Croque-monsieur, a classic French item. Brussels was predominantly French, so I desperately tried to remember the little French I had from middle school. I was not very successful, every time I wanted to say "oui" my Italian came in and I kept saying "si," the Belgian were not as amused as I was! After lunch, we walked around the city a little more. We were looking for the Menneken-Pis. This is a very small fountain in Brussels of a boy peeing into the fountain. It is supposed to show the "rebellious" side of the city, but it was just a little weird to me. After seeing the fountain, we had our first waffles at a place called, the Waffle Factory. I had the Belgian Waffle with speculoos butter, a cinnamon cookie butter. Oh. My. Goodness. AMAZING. I could really get used to waffles and chocolate all the time.

We were pretty wiped out at this point, so we walked back to the hotel to check-in and take a nap. This was much needed, we needed more energy for waffles and chocolate! We took a good, long nap, showered, and then headed out to see another part of the city with great shopping and restaurants, Place du Grand Sablon. This was close to the Grand Place, about ten minutes from our hotel. Our first stop in Sablon was for hot chocolate and macarons at Pierre Marcollini. I must have a hot chocolate spilling problem, because I lost half of my cup in a battle against the marble floor. Oops. My macarons made up for this tragic loss, however! After our sugar fill, we walked into some very cute shops and then grabbed dinner. We went to Cafe Leffe, named after a famous Belgian beer. I had a famous Belgian dish, mussels and fries. The muscles were great! It almost felt like I was back on Nana's porch in Black Point :)

After dinner, Jane, Grace, and I were on a mission to find a famous bar in Belgium that was recommended to us by a lot of people, Delirium Cafe. Delirium is famous for having over 2,000 brands of beers, and a big tourist spot. It took us a little while and some turning around to find it, but eventually we got there! It was crazy, there were about four different bars, and lots of people. Delirium was not crazy, as in wild and what you would find in America, even though the name may suggest otherwise. It was crazy in the sense of the amounts of people there, the types of beers, the awesome atmosphere, etc. I had the Delirium Tremens, which was really good, but really strong. I couldn't even finish a glass!

Once everyone finished their drinks, we headed back to the hotel. We were all so tired and needed to get ready for our day to Brugge on Saturday!

Be back soon!

XO,

Caitlin

Chocolate from Mary