Brussels/Brugge - Waffles and Chocolate and Friets, oh my!

I just returned from the most phenomenal weekend of my trip thus far! Jeannie and I started off in Brussels - about a four hour train ride from the Castle. We arrived in the afternoon and checked into the surprisingly nice 2GO4 Quality Hostel. We then just walked around the city getting used to the cobblestone streets and trying to avoid the enormous temptation to go into every single chocolate shop we saw. We stopped for dinner and had a traditional Belgian meal of steak and friets (or fries, which the Belgians actually invented) and then continued our walk quickly finding the beautiful central square and arriving at dusk. That night we tried a Belgian beer sampler at a local bar that does its own brewing and also went to a really fun karaoke place.

Jeannie and I turned out to be perfect travel partners. We have very similar interests and both LOVE to bike, that being said we signed up for a Brussels bike tour on our second morning. We traveled through the streets of Brussels with a Swedish guy named Patrick and our Argentenian guide, Cesar. It was the most amazing tour I have ever taken of any city, anywhere. Being on bikes I was not as tempted to pull out my camera and so I truly saw the city with my eyes rather than through a camera lens. Cesar was just the right mix of funny and smart to make the tour interesting and adventurous. I felt like a strange mix between tourist, traveler, student, and local all at the same time. 

On the tour we stoped for the best friets in Belgium, which were delicious! In Europe fries are served in a large white cone and then the sauce is squeezed on top and you eat them with a little fork as you walk down the street. The sauces range from mayo (the traditional) to samurai (spicy) to my personal favorite: garlic. 

We enjoyed the first tour so much that we did a second tour in Brugge. By that point Teal, Zach, and Justin had joined us. The five of us were able to travel together perfectly and see all the high points of the medieval  belgian city quickly and efficiently. 

We saw beautiful sights all over the city from our bikes and also checked out Belfry tower climbing the 366 steps to the top for a spectacular view of the city. We walked inside of the Basilica of Holy blood, ate delicious beignets from a street cart, and stopped inside of way too many chocolate shops.

After a souvenir shop or two we started the journey back to the Netherlands, missing out train by less than a minute we had to improvise and create a new route back. 

Unfortunately we realized that we would not be able to make it back to the castle in time for our dance rehearsal. But Justin is one of the dance captains so we practiced in the parking lot waiting for our bus home. Needless to say we received some very strange looks, but the important thing was we arrived home safe and were able to have a few hours of sleep before our 6:45 a.m. call for filming the music video the next morning.