Brussels and Brugge of Belgium

Sorry it's been so long since my last post! We had a solid two weeks of classes with a lot of work and not much to post about. however.... this past weekend my friends and I travelled to Brussels and Brugge, Belgium for four days! the traveling was really exhausting... its not a very easy place to get to! so after a taxi ride to the airport, flight to Belgium, bus ride to the metro station, and taxi to the hostel, we finally could settle into one of the strangest cities i've ever seen. 

the

 brief history of Belgium basically shows the poor little place being conquered and over thrown about nine significant times in the last century, so the architecture and planning of the city is really chaotic. the buildings are so interesting, which is why my pictures are mostly of buildings again, haha. Most are done in the gothic style (the really ornate ones) but a lot of the city has been covered with modern high rises. its really a strange mix. 

The food was sooo good. (unfortunately not so good for you...) I learned quickly to say (spelling might be off) "je vu dre le gaufr, si vous plea! merci bo quo!" (I would like a waffle please, thank you very much!) and also "combien fait ce coût?" (how much does this cost?) The waffles were really amazing... you just got them at the store windows along the streets for like 1,50 euro. Also, i think its safe to say that Belgians do coffee better than Romans! they give you a little cup with

 sugar cubes, heavy cream, a little waffle wafer, and plop a nice little chunk of Belgian chocolate right in. SOO good. And if i liked beer, i'd comment on some great Belgian drafts my friends had,

 one bar offered over 2,000 types! So A+ for Belgian cuisine on a low budget. 

On saturday, after rooting through a huge flea market, (more like a land-fill of treasures, similar to the stuff we find at the auction at home multiplied a hundred times) we took a train out to Brugge, which is about an hour away. It was really beautiful, a lot cleaner than Brussels, but also has had it's historic nature preserved and restored for tourists. It was a very picturesque view of the medieval city life with some of the most intense fine masonry i've ever seen. 

Aside from our little adventure to Brugge, we also made a trip up north of the city to the site where the 1950's world fair was held. Here still stands "the Atomium" which is a giant (and i mean giant) construction of a Hydrogen Atom which is now a museum with a restaurant in the top ball. It was the craziest space i've ever been in! Each of the nine balls was a museum room

, one with a children's day care, and one with a snack shop. each of the arms connecting the balls were escalators, so you slid right through them from ball to ball! Apparantly at the time Brussels thought that having this monument would attract enough visitors to make Brussels the center of Europe, trumping the eiffel tower! They weren't so lucky. haha.

Anyway, the weekend was great, the weather was very chilly, and i've gotten a little cold from it. But im resting and am starting to feel better already. I really appreciate the warmth of Rome now!

Oh i forgot to mention we found a little Irish Pub that showed the Super Bowl! we stayed there from midnight to about 4am watching, but had to leave to get to the airport right as Arizona made that last touchdown, so we didn't see the last two minutes! which stinks cause it was a really boring game other than that, and we only got corny local belgium commercials in between. but go steelers anyway!

Click HERE for more photos from the trip

Ok i love you all, and hope you're all well!