This past week, Andy had a few US review to do in Brussells
and Mainze, Germany. We took a flight (forgot to turn our alarms on and made
the flight by minutes! Gotta love Home Alone StyleJ) up to brussells a few days
before the review so we could see a little of the City together.
We got checked into our hotel, and took a walk through the
city. Unfortunately, it was raining this first day, but that didn’t stop us
from seeing some cool things. We got kebabs near the Grand Place in downtown
Brussells, and then went uptown a bit to see this museum dedicated to the
display of war planes. We both
love history, and Andy especially loved WWII history. Belgium was one of the
main battlegrounds for both world wars. We entered this huge Edwardian
exposition center where there were planes and helicopters on display—from the
World Wars up to present day. Way cool!
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| Beautiful Archicture |
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| Call me a nerd, but I love the oxidization on these scuptures! |
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| Airplanes!!!! |
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| A map showing all of the planes that went down during WWII over Belgium. Humbling. |
We then headed over towards the Royal Palace and toured
through the BellVue museum, a museum about the history of the Royal Family in
Belgium. It was pretty fascinating actually!
We were pretty tired from waking up really early that
morning, so we headed back to the hotel and rested for a little bit. We then
went out into the city to get a traditional Belgian meal—Mussells, Steak and
Fries! I had never had mussels before, and I was pleasantly surprised! They
were seasoned perfectly and were delicious.
We loved seeing the Grand Place at night! Even though it was
February, there were still a ton of tourists! Everyone was taking pictures and
eating chocolate and Belgian waffles! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, the waffles………….
The next morning, we got on a bus and were on our way to
Ghent and Bruges! Now, I am not the biggest fan of bus tours, but this was
actually a great way to see a city we probably wouldn’t have otherwise seen. On
the way, we listened to a brief history of Belgium, Ghent and Bruges
specifically. It was a lovely ride through the Belgian countryside. We then
arrived in Ghent. I guess we didn’t have any expectations at all, but it
definitely exceded them! We first went into the main cathedral, with was pretty
spectacular. We have gotten so used to Swiss architecture, which is gorgeous.
But Belgian architecture is so different, and spectacular. Belgium has
definitely mastered the industry of brickmaking, which is obvious as you look
at the houses, the churches and cathedrals! I don’t know how they built these
magnificent structures and how these lofty ceilings are held up by bricks, but
they have managed to do it!
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| It was soooooooooo bright outside! Andy in front of the Cathedral |
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| Ghent Cathedral |
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| This ceiling is made up of tiny bricks. Dude! |
We walked throughout most of the downtown area, which was
simply lovely. There are a series of canals weaving through town, and all of
the architecture is stunning. The charm embodied by Ghent is definitely
something worth exploring if you are ever in Belgium! We definitely want to
come back when flowers are in bloom.
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