Brussels, Belgium

We started off the day with a late train to Brussels, Belgium. This wouldn't be so bad if we hadn't made plans to meet up with Kristen, Andrew's cousin and Evan, Kristen's boyfriend. They have been traveling throughout Europe since the middle of June. Andrew thought it would be quite ironic to meet up with them while having his mom and aunt visiting in Brussels because they are all from a small town in Illinois called Brussels. Well, since our train was late we missed Kristen and Even at the train station, but Andrew was determined to meet up with them on our journeys so we exchanged emails and had decided on meeting at our hotel at 7pm.

After arriving in Brussels and determining a time to meet up with Andrew's fam, we decided it was time to find something to eat. We decided to take a stroll to an area called Grand Place. It's an area full of small streets with intricate buildings. We came across a place called Belgium Frit'n Toast and we all had a delicious lunch. As you will see in the pictures, most of our meals in Europe consist of french fries and some sort of meet, usually bratwurst! Once lunch was finished we continued to walk through the Grand Place. We arrived in an open area where we were completely surrounded by big, detailed buildings with gold accents. We stood in awe for a while and took many pictures before heading on our way to see what else we could see.

Manneken-Pis was our next stop. This is a statue-like fountain of a small boy peeing. Oddly enough, this is one of the biggest attractions in Brussels, so we had to go see it! After walking through the Grand Place for quite some time, we decided to start exploring new areas. While walking, we came across a large court yard area and while standing higher up on stairs, we had an awesome view of the city.

Online I had seen pictures of the Grand Palace and how ginormous it was and really wanted to see it in person. Sadly there was some event that was going to take place there, so tents and chairs were obstructing our view, but we still were able view it. While walking around we all had our eye on these waffles (Liege waffles) that were covered with strawberries and chocolate so we had to try one! Of course they were absolutely delicious!

It was soon time to meet up at the hotel with Kristen and Evan, so we made a quick stop at a shop to buy some Belgium beer for all of us to try out while talking. We bought five different beers and headed back to our hotel. No sooner did we get back into the reception area of the hotel and here comes Kristen and Evan through the doors. We all went up to the room and chatted for a good two and half to three hours! It was so nice to be able to have a nice conversation and talk about all of our journeys so far. Some of our stories were so similar!

After a nice chat, Kristen, Evan, Andrew and I decided to go grab a bite to eat around the Grand Place. While walking there we came across a pretty neat light show that was taking place at the Town Hall building. We then walked to the "Little Greece" area of Brussels (because Evan was craving Greek food, haha) and had some simple Greek food and a beer. We later decided to head to a small bar to buy a home brewed beer, which was very tasty as well. It was about midnight and decided to call it a night, but made plans to meet back up with them the next day to do some more sightseeing! Good times were had by all!!!