Day 1 – Brussels – October 26
We got into Brussels after dark around 8:30. We trained from the larger Midi Station, outside of town, to the central one, then only had to walk a few minutes to our hotel. Most of the hotels in Brussels were already booked so we splurged, using Ryan’s Marriott points to stay for free in a luxury downtown hotel for 3 nights. We got to the hotel and immediately put on our fancy bathrobes and slippers. We spent the night lounging in a divinely soft bed.
Day 2 – Brussels – October 27
It’s great staying in a hotel with a gym, and we took advantage of their cardio machines and free weights. We’ve been getting fat this last month and it was time to burn some calories. After rinsing off the sweat, we dressed and headed to the huge cathedral for Mass. The church is stunning, showing off a classic Gothic design with rows of beautiful sculptures along the aisles. In line with their multiple official languages, the service was half in French and half in Dutch. They also had a beautiful choir backed by a booming organ, which made the 1.5-hour service seem not so long. After walking around the church, it was time to find some food.
The city center of Brussels is casually beautiful, with a series of imposing, old buildings in unique colors and architectures. We walked through the indoor mall area that is lined with chocolate stores and cafes. When know Godiva is Belgian and is basically non-existent. After passing by a dozen or so, we broke down and stopped into a quaint little shop to buy a small assortment of chocolate raisins and nuts to snack on as we found some lunch. We are getting pretty chilly walking around in 50-degree weather without any real warm clothes.
We walked through the main squares and into a beer shop to see all the wide array of Belgian beers. Belgians are quite proud of their beer and known far and wide for a particular type of yeast they use, which gives the beer a distinctly funky flavor. Finally, we found lunch at an outdoor stand called Fritland. You line up and at the window choose between 10 different sauces to cover your french-fries and sandwiches. We got a gigantic sausage sandwich that was covered in onions, fries and spicy samurai sauce. It was so good going down, but left Elizabeth feeling like a sack of poop, though she says it was totally worth it. We found a classic Belgian pub called Roosters and got a few beers, while we pretended to watch soccer and hang out.
By late afternoon, we were itching to return to our fancy room and bathrobes. On the way home we stopped in one of the 100 waffle shops to get a Belgian waffle covered in chocolate. They were still cleaning our room when we got up to it, so we had to get a few cocktails in the hotel bar and plan some of our future trips. Once they were done cleaning, we ended the night lounging and relaxing. Ryan insisted we watch the movie In Bruges to prepare for our trip the next day to the medieval city.
Day 3 – Bruges – October 28
The next morning, after another desperate workout to get those French fries off us, we splurged on the expensive hotel buffet breakfast. Ryan loves, and he means loves, a hotel buffet breakfast. They must have experienced a small power outage right as we sat down because the staff was scurrying around and some of the porridge etc. was cold, it worked out well for us in the end, because they waived the bill and it was still pretty good. After eating as much breakfast as we could, we got on the hour-long train heading west to Bruges.
The city of Bruges is absolutely stunning. It was full of tourists, but didn’t feel as overwhelming as other small medieval cities we’d been to. Ryan pulled up the In Bruges movie tour and we wandered to places where scenes from the movie were shot.
Eventually we found ourselves in front of the big cathedral called Church of Our Lady Bruge and we walked inside looking at all of their brilliantly crafted paintings and statues. The church has a separate museum where you can see Michelangelo’s statue of Mary and Jesus, but we didn’t think it was worth the 5-dollar ticket. The free part of the church was impressive enough.
We continued wandering along the canals and other gorgeous buildings. There were a plenty of tourists on little canal boat tours and it reminded Elizabeth of Venice, but on a larger scale. Eventually we found the main square and the Belfort, or the tallest tower in the city. The line to climb to the top had a 45-minute wait and a 12 euro fee, so we elected to skip it and admire it from the ground.
Next, we went to the Basilica of the Holy Blood. They have a relic that is believed to be a cloth soaked in Jesus blood retrieved by Joseph of Arimathea when he was cleaning Jesus’ body after his crucifixion. You make a donation then walk up a small flight of stairs to look at the bottle that is guarded by a priest. They know the bottle is a perfume bottle believed to be from the Byzantine empire in the early 1100s. The bottle has never been opened and has been a relic at this church since the early 1200s. You couldn’t take pictures of the relic or it’s altar but you could of the rest of the church, which was also intensely decorated.
We were starting to feel a little thirsty so we found a bar called De Garre, which was located at the end of a narrow and virtually hidden alleyway. It was a really neat little pub, with the beers delivered on linen doilies and silver trays. We sat on the top floor drinking local Belgian beers, the house beer is brewed specifically for this bar, and eating delicious cheese. After a few rounds and learning all of the above information about the precious blood we headed back out on the town.
We hadn’t had chocolate in a while so we stopped in a shop called Leonidas established in 1913 and got their variety pack. They were so rich and delicious we couldn’t eat them all. That of course didn’t stop us from visiting another shop down the road, thinking they had chocolate covered Rice Krispy treats, only to be disappointed upon taking a bite and finding it was just chocolate covered crispies with no marshmallow. The walk back to the train station was beautiful and we’d highly recommend Bruges to anyone going to Belgium. To quote the movie, “It’s a fairy-tale fucking town, isn’t it?”
After our hour train back, we decided to have a convenient dinner at the hotel restaurant, we’d spied a beef wellington on their menu the first day. We had some pre-dinner cocktails, best cocktails Elizabeth has had on this trip, then split the wellington with a side of fries. We like fancy things and staying in fancy places, but mostly we like French fries.
Day 4 – Brussels to the Hague – October 29
Since we’d splurged our Marriott points and wouldn’t be back in a nice hotel for a while, we decided to take the morning easy and utilize the late checkout. We worked out and lounged in a very comfortable bed. Finally, around 1:30, we packed up and headed back into Brussels to grab some lunch before our 2:50 train to the Hague. We obviously wanted more French fries smothered in sauce, so decided to try a new place. The line was long, but we stuck it out and when we got to the front, they informed us they couldn’t make over 75% of their menu. Not cool. So, we went back to Frites, our first French fry experience, where the line was long but moved fast. Today we tried the “hamburger” which we think were actually pork patties with lettuce, grilled onions, fries and spicy sauce, and a side of French fries with different sauce. It was again a fat kid’s dream and our faces were covered in the sauce.
We walked to the Brussels Central Station and easily found our train. It was a slow 2.5 hours to The Hague, but we didn’t have to change trains and didn’t have to pay much attention to the travel. Once we arrived, it took us a bit to figure out their public transportation, but were soon on a tram towards our Airbnb. We are staying in a family’s attic and they are redoing their kitchen floor. The room and house are very nice. We have a friend, Nate, that Elizabeth knows from South Carolina who works for Shell and is in town for a work trip. We hopped back on the tram towards downtown to meet him and some of his coworkers at a Vietnamese restaurant called Little V. The food was delicious and we shared the basil beef and rice. We next went to a bar called Hoender en Hop to catch up, chat, and be harassed by a crazy old man who claimed he was being stalked by the KGB and needed us to call a number for him and swear we didn’t work for the police. After finishing a few rounds, the boys had to go home and get ready for another day of work. We promised to meet up for rock climbing tomorrow. Luckily, we were out past midnight so we could buy the one-day tram card and use it all tomorrow while we are sightseeing.
Day 5 – the Hague – October 30
The next morning, we took our time getting up, dreading the cold weather. We used our passes from the night before and got on the tram back into downtown to find some more Asian food. We ate lunch at a Chinese Dim Sum restaurant called Full Moon City. It didn’t taste anything like American Chinese food, which meant Ryan loved it, and Elizabeth didn’t. We ate some shrimp wontons, shrimp and pork buns, and pepper beef. To complete the authentic experience, the dining area was full of Chinese people and the old couple next to us were munching on boiled chicken feet.
After being grossed out we walked around town in what felt like freezing winter in our fall weather clothes. We stopped in a few stores to browse sweaters, but stayed strong, we are headed to warmer climes in less than a week. We walked along the outside and through the gates of the parliament building, which was just gorgeous beautiful and looks out over a small pond. The Hague is a extremely international city and is home to the UN court of justice.
We stopped into a café called Filtro to spend a few hours eating cakes and deliciously brewed coffee. They have their own weird way of brewing it, which involves a strange bulbous pot and a square extraction mechanism. We never actually saw the process in action. All of the students sitting around us were speaking English with various accents, so it was fun to eavesdrop on their college issues. Full of caffeine, we walked up to the royal palace, which was slightly underwhelming, then across town to a rock gym called Klimmuur Den Haag. We got there around 5 pm not realizing our friend Nate wouldn’t make it until 7. Needless to say, we got a long workout in both top roping and bouldering for 4 hours. After climbing, it was challenging to find a place still closing dinner, since it was a Wednesday at 10 pm. Eventually, we found a place called Bar and Restaurant Milú with 5-euro cocktails and a kitchen that would sell us some finger food. Our waitress was friendly and very, very, very chatty. We thought she was going to pull up a chair and join us indefinitely. After a few cocktails we set out to meet some of Nate’s friends in a different bar. Along the way we found a McDonalds and shared a Big Mac with fries and made it to the bar just in time for one last beer before closing. We said good-bye and hopped on the tram back to our AirBnb.
Day 6 – the Hague to Eindhoven – October 31
Our Airbnb was redoing their kitchen floors and we were awoken around 8:30 to the sound of sanding and cutting wood. We packed up and headed for the train station to catch the one-and-a-half-hour train at 11:23 to Eindhoven. Our friend Angela, who used to live in Houston but is marrying a Dutch man named Tobias, had graciously invited us to spend time in their new home. We arrived in the town around 12:45 and caught the bus to their house. They were both still working so we did what any sensible adult would do, and took a nap.
Around 5 pm we all piled in the car and headed to the grocery store to get some dinner and snack supplies. Tobias made a great Bolognese spaghetti sauce and we got tons of snacks like Doritos and candy. In the Netherlands they sell candy in the shape of different letters to celebrate SinterKlaas, Santa Clause, which takes place on December 6th. The stories are similar except for a few minor differences: instead of stockings, you put out your shoes, if you are bad instead of coal you get a bundle of sticks, and if you’re really bad Sinterklaas takes you back to Spain. Kids put out a carrot for his horse and cookies and beer for Sinterklaas. We got a couple letters to try the different chocolate flavors.
That night we ate dinner and drank some beer and wine while playing board games. Elizabeth’s favorite game is called Regen Wormen and involves rolling dice and stealing tiles with different numbers of worms on them. Tobias and Angela are devoted to games, so we are excited to spend the next few days in competitive mode.
Day 7 – Eindhoven – November 1
The next morning, we hung out around the house, since both Angela and Tobias were working. The weather forecast predicted it to be pretty rainy and crappy all weekend, unfortunately. In the early afternoon we walked through the forest of changing leaves to get to a rock gym less than 15 minutes from their house. We spent about 3 hours climbing, fighting through the soreness from our workout just two days prior.
Angela and Tobias got a note from their neighborhood that kids would begin trick-or-treating at 6:30. Angela was excited for more American traditions making their way across the ocean, even if it was a scheduled day late. To decorate the house, we colored some print out witches, cats, ghouls etc. to hang up and awaited the arrival of children. Tobias and Angela bought tons of candy. We were quizzing Tobias on how to say things to the kids in Dutch and learned that words like Trick-or-Treat, costume, and cool are the same as in English. The kids were dressed up and rang the bell and Angela handed out huge handfuls of candy, trying to establish best house dominance. We played drinking games and sampled several types of beer before calling it a night.
Day 8 – Eindhoven – November 2
The next morning, we lounged around again and ate breakfast at the house. We learned that the Dutch love sandwiches and commonly eat them for breakfast. We also ate what seemed like a fancy corndog, basically a sausage wrapped in a soft dough called Saucijzenbroodje. The forecast looked clear for a few hours in the afternoon, so we piled into the car and headed for the city center. It was pretty crowded, presumably since the weather was semi-decent and it was a Saturday. We walked along the shops and restaurants then stopped in their big cathedral called Saint Catherine’s Church. Inside, the choir was rehearsing, so we walked around the interior investigating their collection of relics found during church construction and reconstruction, including various bones and the twisted spine of a hunchback. There were also pictures of the church in ruins after it was bombed during WW2.
In our Google preparations we noticed that there was a Taco Bell in Eindhoven, so obviously we had to go. This was the fanciest T-Bell we’d ever been in and seemed like the place where the hip young crowd hung out. They didn’t have cheesy gordita crunches, but we got crunchwrap supremes and a fajita quesadilla. Ryan even got a Mountain Dew! The crunch wrap was delicious, insider secret, they put the hot or mild sauce inside, but the quesadilla had too many vegetables and not enough cheese. Overall, we didn’t feel 100% after eating, so you know it was legit.
We wandered a little more downtown passing the bar district, art museum and city hall. We stopped for a beer at the square sitting on the outside patios under heaters. On the way home we stopped by the grocery store to get supplies for Ryan to roast chicken and vegetables. They had something called a black chicken. We spent the night drinking wine and playing more board games.
Day 9 – Eindhoven – November 3
For breakfast Angela took us to get traditional Dutch pancakes at De Proeftuin the Pannenkoekenrestaurant (pancake restaurant). The restaurant is located out of town and has it’s own orchard on the grounds. We ordered a savory and a sweet pancake. The savory had bacon, mushrooms, leeks, onions, and bell pepper with cheese. The sweet one was thinly sliced apples and warm cherries, which we of course added syrup to. They were absolutely delicious and thinner than our fluffy american pancakes, but thicker than a crepe. After lunch, we spent our afternoon and evening playing more games and watching the Grand Prix. We ended the night by ordering “Chinese” food. We ordered the mixed platter for 2 and got enough food for the 4 of us to eat with leftovers.
Day 10 – Eindhoven to Amsterdam – November 4
We spent the morning alone at their house finishing up laundry and planning for our upcoming trips before finally boarding the 1-hour train to Amsterdam. Ryan found us a cool hotel called Easy Hotel near the soccer stadium a little outside of the city center. The hotel check-in was straightforward and almost completely automated. We noticed a movie theater across the street and decided to see Joker and enjoy probably our last opportunity to see an English-speaking movie for a while. It ended up being an ordeal to pay for our tickets, this country doesn’t like credit cards, and eventually headed to the snack area. It was so efficient, there were aisles of fresh popped popcorn (both original and kettle), beer and candy like a grocery store that you carry to the cashier. In the theater we shared a little love seat. The movie was just okay, but it was a nice experience nonetheless.
Day 11 – Amsterdam – November 5
The next morning, we piled onto the train to go to the Food Hallen, basically a bunch of mini-restaurants crammed into a courtyard, for lunch. According to Google it opened at 11, but most of the stalls didn’t open until 12. We had about 30 minutes to sip a beer and consider all our options, and there were a lot. We shared Belgian fries, a pita full of delicious chicken shawarma, and a Vietnamese bánh mì, a street sandwich with pork belly. It was hard to drag ourselves away and not just eat all day.
Next, we went to the Anne Frank House. The lines were huge and we didn’t intend to go it, but it wasn’t clear which house was hers. The ticket office and corner building were all redone, but hey we found the area where she was forced to hide out. Next, we enjoyed wandering for a few hours through the city center, past the palace, and numerous picturesque canal streets. We walked down the red-light district, but on a Tuesday afternoon it wasn’t too lively.
We found a bar called Beer Temple and settled into a bench in the back. They had a whole corner of games and Ryan found a family favorite from his childhood called Mastermind and Elizabeth found Rummikub. We spent a few hours sipping beers and playing games. Next, we hopped back on the train and went back to our hotel area to find some dinner. We settled on a Japanese restaurant next door. We sat at the bar and drank sake and plum wine with tempura and sushi. Exhausted from a day of walking, we headed back to the hotel.
Day 12 – Amsterdam – November 6
We packed up our bags and caught the train to the airport. After checking our bags, we made it through security and immigration. We are only allowed to be in the Schengen Area for 90 of 180 days. We left on our 90th day. The immigration officer looked at our passports and asked how long we’d been here. I told him we were on our 90th day and you could see in his face he debated about running our numbers and double checking. Luckily for time’s sake he stamped us and we were through. We found the AMEX lounge and enjoyed a few Heinekens and lunch snacks before we boarded our 4.5-hour flight to Tel Aviv, Israel. We loved getting to spend so much time in Europe, but we are ready to leave and start exploring more foreign cultures.
Things we’ve learned in Belgium and the Netherlands:
- Everywhere smells like weed all the time.
- Canals make any city more beautiful.
- Belgians really do make the best chocolate and their French fries are really good too.
Ryan and Elizabeth Goss 