Brussels - April 13 - 18
Monday, April 13
After what seemed like the worst train ride in the world, we made it to Belgium, finall
y! The actual trip was only an hour and a half, and the train ride itself was quite pleasant, but Gare Du Norde the Paris train station, was anything but pleasant. Being in the confusing and dirty train station was the last thing I needed. Somehow, after hours of waiting at the dirty station and the actual travel, we made it to our very nice hotel in Brussels. We took much needed showers and dressed and headed out into Brussels to begin the second leg of our trip.
Before I begin plotting out our trip, I will need to explain our main purpose for going to Brussels. First Joe brews his own beer and Belgium is well known as having the best breweries in all the
world. Secondly, one of our favorite shows is Three Sheets. Its host, Zane, is a comedian and his job is to tour the world and learn the local drinking customs in different countries. (How is he so lucky?) One of the first episodes was Belgium. The instant we saw this show we were both like, we have to go there. So, our goal in Belgium was to visit the bars that were featured in this show. We did a pretty good job. First, on our agenda though was dinner. We were starving. Belgium is famous for their chocolate, their beer, their waffles and of course in Brussels, brusselsprouts and mussels. So that is what we got at one of the most famous mussel places in Brussels, Chez Leon. The things I mentioned above are what Brussels are well known for but really it should be their fries, or frites. They look like steak fries but are so much more crispy and more flavorful. I think I could eat them three meals a day everyday and be totally happy. Oh the food in France and Belgium, I think I will miss that the most.
After dinner we headed for one of the bars we saw on Three Sheets and probably one of our
favorites, Mort Subite. This is an old bar that is owned by a quirky owner and his famous dice game 421. They brew their own beer. It was here that Joe, connoiseur of beers, gained a new appreciation of two new style of beers: kreik and geuze. The kriek is a cherry flavored beer. Now I am a classic type of beer girl. I like my beers to taste refreshing and like beer. When I heard of this beer, all I could think of was cherry cough syrup, but when I tasted it, it was actually quite good. Just the other day I had a taste for it and wished we could break into the stash of Mort Subite Kre
ik that we brought home, but I know that can only happen for a very special occassion. The geuze is a very sour beer, I did not care for it very much but Joe was a fan. This is probably also the time to mention Pleepleus, also from the show Three Sheets. Pleepleus is a toy monkey who accompanies the host on his drinking excursions. Joe got a Pleepleus for his birthday and he came along on the trip with us. He is a good drinking companion.
After Mort Subite we walked the streets of Brussels. It was a lot different than Paris; much smaller and a little more rough looking. The heart of the city is called Grand Place. It was a very old town square with beautiful old buildings. Standing in the square at night, you felt transported to the Europe of long ago, you almost feel the centuries of history as you stand there in the cobblestone streets. It was a nice, warm night out and we walked through the galleries and looked at the shops and found a chocolate shop that had the best truffles ever. We went to that chocolate shop every night before we returned to the hotel. We ate our chocolates and crashed after a long day.
Tuesday, April 14
We woke up and realized we had a much nicer hotel room in Brussels but the break
fasts were definitely not free. We got breakfast (the international which was our typical toast eggs and bacon) and did a little shopping. After such a tough morning, we decided to reward ourselves with a beer from the bar that is the Guiness world record holder for most beers in one bar, Delirium. You guessed it, Delirium was also featured on our favorite shows and it was definitely a place you need to visit if you are a beer fan. The atmosphere is quite hippy, flower child but the music was definitely 80s. (Along with the fashion in Europe. Skinny jeans are definitely in there.) There are 
2,500 beers to choose from so I played it safe and just got one of the 25 that was on tap. Joe was a kid in a candy store with all the posibilities. We stayed for a couple of hours and headed back to the hotel. Time for another nap and to get ready for dinner. The whole trip from GR to Paris to Brussels we were blessed with goregous weather and not a drop of rain. This night though it started to drizzle a little bit. We didn't venture too far from the hotel, we actually ate in the hotel restaurant that night and ended up buying some beer and bringing it back to our hotel room to watch tv. In Paris, our very modest hotel room did not have a tv with working English channels. This hotel however had BBC and it was like Christmas to be able to watch tv that we could understand!
Wednesday, April 15 - Bruge
We woke up and got a quick coffee and headed to the train station to take a day trip to Br
uge. The trip was just under and hour and when we got there it was like stepping into a little quaint Dutch town. In Brussels and Bruge, people speak three main languages. French, Dutch and English. Its amazing how they can fluently go from one language to the next without missing a beat. We stopped in many shops and had lunch at a rustic cafe. The weather again was so 
nice and so sunny, it was actually hot. We stopped in the first H&M we came to and I bought myself a short sleeve shirt to change into so I wouldn't sweat. After some more shopping we stopped at an ice cream and waffle place. I had the best waffles with the best chocolate sauce and the best whip cream in the world. After that we went in search for the elusive beer Joe had come to Belgium for. It has been voted best beer in the world for 9 years. We went to a couple of beer stores and finally found a bottle. The store keeper had it cold in the back and let us take that one and we walked the streets of Bruge, drinking the best beer in the world. We stopped and watched some old time dancers dance in the streets. It was a very European experience. We knew that was the way to end our trip to Bruge on a high note. We took the train back to the hotel, cleaned up and went to dinner again at Chez Leon. It was a good day.
Thursday and Friday, April 16 and 17
Our good luck ended Thursday, the rain came and pretty much never left until we did. We did a little more shopping on Thursday for beer and souveniers and again returned to Delrium and Mort Subite a couple more times. These places were very good to us. Thursday night we had a truly amazing dinner experience at Chez Stans. For 19 euros each we got a three course meal. Our meats melted in our mouth and the dessert was to die for. I had passion fruit mousse. It may have been the most interesting and sweetest thing I've ever had. It was like a smooth almost key lime pie like taste. If I wasn't so full from the amazing shrimp and mussel gratin appetizers and the Flemmish beef stew, I would have licked the glass clean! Both nights after dinner we followed our dinners with a walk through the gallery and a stop at the chocolate shop to get our truffles. It was a very romantic trip.
Saturday April 18
Honeymoon is over! It was a wonderful and unforgetable trip. We hope to return!
Favorite foods in Paris/Belgium
1. Escargot at La Comete Bistro in Paris. Hands down.
2. Passion fruit mousse at Chez Stan's in Brussels.
3. Bagel with brie and honey at cofffee shop in Brussels
4. Moules Frites at Chez Leon in Brussels
5. Rotisserie Chicken and frites at Chartier in Paris
6. Ham and cheese baguette, Paris
7. Nutella crepe from street vendor in Paris
8. Croque Monsieur at Juliette’s in Bruge
Favorite Beers
1. Westvleteren 12, Bruge
2. Westvletern Blond, Brussels
3. Kriek, Morte Subite
4. Gueze, Morte Subite
Favorite Wine
Etienne Lalande Cotes Du Rhone, Paris
Monday, April 13
After what seemed like the worst train ride in the world, we made it to Belgium, finall
y! The actual trip was only an hour and a half, and the train ride itself was quite pleasant, but Gare Du Norde the Paris train station, was anything but pleasant. Being in the confusing and dirty train station was the last thing I needed. Somehow, after hours of waiting at the dirty station and the actual travel, we made it to our very nice hotel in Brussels. We took much needed showers and dressed and headed out into Brussels to begin the second leg of our trip.Before I begin plotting out our trip, I will need to explain our main purpose for going to Brussels. First Joe brews his own beer and Belgium is well known as having the best breweries in all the
world. Secondly, one of our favorite shows is Three Sheets. Its host, Zane, is a comedian and his job is to tour the world and learn the local drinking customs in different countries. (How is he so lucky?) One of the first episodes was Belgium. The instant we saw this show we were both like, we have to go there. So, our goal in Belgium was to visit the bars that were featured in this show. We did a pretty good job. First, on our agenda though was dinner. We were starving. Belgium is famous for their chocolate, their beer, their waffles and of course in Brussels, brusselsprouts and mussels. So that is what we got at one of the most famous mussel places in Brussels, Chez Leon. The things I mentioned above are what Brussels are well known for but really it should be their fries, or frites. They look like steak fries but are so much more crispy and more flavorful. I think I could eat them three meals a day everyday and be totally happy. Oh the food in France and Belgium, I think I will miss that the most.After dinner we headed for one of the bars we saw on Three Sheets and probably one of our
favorites, Mort Subite. This is an old bar that is owned by a quirky owner and his famous dice game 421. They brew their own beer. It was here that Joe, connoiseur of beers, gained a new appreciation of two new style of beers: kreik and geuze. The kriek is a cherry flavored beer. Now I am a classic type of beer girl. I like my beers to taste refreshing and like beer. When I heard of this beer, all I could think of was cherry cough syrup, but when I tasted it, it was actually quite good. Just the other day I had a taste for it and wished we could break into the stash of Mort Subite Kre
ik that we brought home, but I know that can only happen for a very special occassion. The geuze is a very sour beer, I did not care for it very much but Joe was a fan. This is probably also the time to mention Pleepleus, also from the show Three Sheets. Pleepleus is a toy monkey who accompanies the host on his drinking excursions. Joe got a Pleepleus for his birthday and he came along on the trip with us. He is a good drinking companion.
After Mort Subite we walked the streets of Brussels. It was a lot different than Paris; much smaller and a little more rough looking. The heart of the city is called Grand Place. It was a very old town square with beautiful old buildings. Standing in the square at night, you felt transported to the Europe of long ago, you almost feel the centuries of history as you stand there in the cobblestone streets. It was a nice, warm night out and we walked through the galleries and looked at the shops and found a chocolate shop that had the best truffles ever. We went to that chocolate shop every night before we returned to the hotel. We ate our chocolates and crashed after a long day.
Tuesday, April 14
We woke up and realized we had a much nicer hotel room in Brussels but the break
fasts were definitely not free. We got breakfast (the international which was our typical toast eggs and bacon) and did a little shopping. After such a tough morning, we decided to reward ourselves with a beer from the bar that is the Guiness world record holder for most beers in one bar, Delirium. You guessed it, Delirium was also featured on our favorite shows and it was definitely a place you need to visit if you are a beer fan. The atmosphere is quite hippy, flower child but the music was definitely 80s. (Along with the fashion in Europe. Skinny jeans are definitely in there.) There are 
2,500 beers to choose from so I played it safe and just got one of the 25 that was on tap. Joe was a kid in a candy store with all the posibilities. We stayed for a couple of hours and headed back to the hotel. Time for another nap and to get ready for dinner. The whole trip from GR to Paris to Brussels we were blessed with goregous weather and not a drop of rain. This night though it started to drizzle a little bit. We didn't venture too far from the hotel, we actually ate in the hotel restaurant that night and ended up buying some beer and bringing it back to our hotel room to watch tv. In Paris, our very modest hotel room did not have a tv with working English channels. This hotel however had BBC and it was like Christmas to be able to watch tv that we could understand!
Wednesday, April 15 - Bruge
We woke up and got a quick coffee and headed to the train station to take a day trip to Br
uge. The trip was just under and hour and when we got there it was like stepping into a little quaint Dutch town. In Brussels and Bruge, people speak three main languages. French, Dutch and English. Its amazing how they can fluently go from one language to the next without missing a beat. We stopped in many shops and had lunch at a rustic cafe. The weather again was so 
nice and so sunny, it was actually hot. We stopped in the first H&M we came to and I bought myself a short sleeve shirt to change into so I wouldn't sweat. After some more shopping we stopped at an ice cream and waffle place. I had the best waffles with the best chocolate sauce and the best whip cream in the world. After that we went in search for the elusive beer Joe had come to Belgium for. It has been voted best beer in the world for 9 years. We went to a couple of beer stores and finally found a bottle. The store keeper had it cold in the back and let us take that one and we walked the streets of Bruge, drinking the best beer in the world. We stopped and watched some old time dancers dance in the streets. It was a very European experience. We knew that was the way to end our trip to Bruge on a high note. We took the train back to the hotel, cleaned up and went to dinner again at Chez Leon. It was a good day.Thursday and Friday, April 16 and 17
Our good luck ended Thursday, the rain came and pretty much never left until we did. We did a little more shopping on Thursday for beer and souveniers and again returned to Delrium and Mort Subite a couple more times. These places were very good to us. Thursday night we had a truly amazing dinner experience at Chez Stans. For 19 euros each we got a three course meal. Our meats melted in our mouth and the dessert was to die for. I had passion fruit mousse. It may have been the most interesting and sweetest thing I've ever had. It was like a smooth almost key lime pie like taste. If I wasn't so full from the amazing shrimp and mussel gratin appetizers and the Flemmish beef stew, I would have licked the glass clean! Both nights after dinner we followed our dinners with a walk through the gallery and a stop at the chocolate shop to get our truffles. It was a very romantic trip.
Saturday April 18
Honeymoon is over! It was a wonderful and unforgetable trip. We hope to return!
Favorite foods in Paris/Belgium
1. Escargot at La Comete Bistro in Paris. Hands down.
2. Passion fruit mousse at Chez Stan's in Brussels.
3. Bagel with brie and honey at cofffee shop in Brussels
4. Moules Frites at Chez Leon in Brussels
5. Rotisserie Chicken and frites at Chartier in Paris
6. Ham and cheese baguette, Paris
7. Nutella crepe from street vendor in Paris
8. Croque Monsieur at Juliette’s in Bruge
Favorite Beers
1. Westvleteren 12, Bruge
2. Westvletern Blond, Brussels
3. Kriek, Morte Subite
4. Gueze, Morte Subite
Favorite Wine
Etienne Lalande Cotes Du Rhone, Paris
This makes me want to go on another honeymoon! We didn't "blog" about them then - but I think a few years from now - you will be really happy you did!!! :)
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