Belgium - Day 2

After a restless night of sleep, I couldn't wait to start exploring.  First thing first though, Breakfast.  The hotel I was staying at included breakfast in the price, and what a spread it was, not your typical European breakfast.  There were fresh baked goods, meats, cheese, fruits, fish, eggs, bacon, etc. etc.  A great way to start the day.


My first stop today was the Chocolate Museum.  Just a little FYI Belgium produces 172,000 tons of chocolate per year, and has over 2,000 chocolate shops.  I was in Love.  The museum was an old home located in the Grand Place, and every 15 minutes had a demonstration along with a tasting.  Although the history of chocolate was interesting, I was most amazed by the fact that there was actual clothing made out of chocolate, that looked as real and wearable as anything you would find at a department store.   There were also sculptures of all sizes with such detail, it appeared to be art. 




These dresses and hats are 100% chocolate!

After the chocolate museum I headed back to the Grand Place area.  It seems that every European city has a square, and the Grand Place did not disappoint, with it's guild houses, and Hotel de Ville, it is Flemish Renaissance at perfection. Even though this is a definite tourist spot, where you might pay a little more for a beer or snack then you would at the cafe around the corner, I just couldn't get enough.  I found myself on several occasions imagining what life would have been like in this Medieval and Baroque square 400 hundred years ago.  " Who stood where I'm standing?", and "Who walked these same cobblestone streets I'm walking?"  

As I was walking around I started to notice how many Greek restaurants there were.  Then as I turned the corner I couldn't believe my eyes.  Greek Town in Brussels.  An entire street of Greek restaurants, about 20 or so.  I literally burst out laughing, and started taking pictures.  My husband is not going to believe this.  Since he had no desire to see Brussels, he decided to skip this trip, I bet he would have liked it now.

 



 

I decided at this point to head towards the Palais Royal (the Palace.)  While the Royal family is on Summer Holiday they open up the formal rooms to the public, and it is FREE!  I am a sucker for Palaces and Castles, and although it was not the most grand of Palaces that I have seen, It was still breathtaking.  It amazes me that people actually lived, and still live like this.  The most beautiful thing about this place was the chandeliers.  They were gorgeous, and they were everywhere.  Every door that I would pass through seemed to lead to an even more impressive room than the last.  As with every palace though, the most impressive room is always the ballroom.  I stood there just taking it all in, imagining the costumes, and the dances that had taken place in this grand space.  Honestly, standing there in my sundress and sandals, I felt completely under dressed.  Time to move on. 

One thing that a lot of people don't know is that the SMURFS originated in Belgium.  Oh, and they are not called Smurfs, their real name is SCHTROUMPFS.  I grew up watching these blue creatures, and to this day they are still my favorite cartoon.  So I could not pass up a visit to the comic strip museum to see how it all started.  I am not really into comics, but took the time to walk around, and have to say the museum was quite charming with a lovely gift shop, and of course a bar in case you need a beer break.  It was time to find the SCHTROMPFS.  It was interesting to see some origianl drawings and comics, and to see that not much has changed since the beginning.
 



 

After the comic museum I decided to head back to the hotel to freshen up.  Tomorrow I booked a day excursion, and I had to be up early.  So after a quick shower, and relaxing for about an hour, I headed out for dinner.  I headed back to the Grand Place, and treated myself to my staple dish - Beer (actually 2) , Fries, and Carbonnade Flamande.  DELICIOUS!!!

Country 3 - BELGIUM (Day 1)

Country 3 - BELGIUM (Day 1)

When I started planning my next adventure I can honestly say that Belgium was not at the top of my list.  It actually wasn't on my list at all.  I knew I wanted to go somewhere in Europe, and I was debating between Budapest and Bucharest.  How I ended up in Belgium was quite simple, the flights looked good.  Since there are no direct flights from the USA to either of my top choices, I started looking at where I could fly.  After days of checking loads (since I was flying stand-by and not actually purchasing a ticket), and connection options, my plans were taking my to Brussels. Not knowing a whole lot about this city, I started to do a little research, and decided to put Hungary and Romania on the back burner for now.  After all how could a country that is known for Chocolate and Beer be that bad?

The one thing with flying stand-by (as many of my fellow airline friends know) is that you have to be flexible.  By the time the day came for me to leave, the flight to Brussels was oversold.  No Problem, the flight to Dusseldorf, Germany was pretty much empty.  Once arriving in Dusseldorf, I bought a train ticket to Brussels, and waited for my train (I was lucky that there was an actual train station at the airport.)  I got on what I thought was the right train, and settled in.  According to my ticket, I had 2 stops before changing trains, but when we arrived at the first stop the conductor told me this was the end of the line for this train and everyone had to get off.  Hmmm, I'm by myself, in one country trying to get to another, haven't slept, and basically not off to a good start.  After a little investigating I figure out that since I got on the wrong train I now have to buy another ticket for a different train, but it doesn't leave for a couple of hours.  The only thing in the train station is a McDonald's, so I am quite embarrassed to say that my first meal of my trip was french fries and a coke.  

My train finally arrived, but when I boarded I noticed that it was full.  Not a seat to be found.  I saw a girl sitting on her suitcase on the floor, and she asked me to join her.  What the hell, not the most comfortable option, but it will work.  After talking to her, we realized that we were on the same flight together to Dusseldorf from the States, and we were both heading to Brussels.  What a small world!  The train took about an hour, and since I could barely keep my eyes open at this point, made an executive decision to take a taxi to my hotel. 

I stayed at the Scandic Grand Hotel, and after checking in, the first thing I did was take a long hot bath, and an even longer 5 hour nap.  Normally when I travel to Europe, I try to get my body adjusted to local time, and try not to sleep a lot the first day.  I just couldn't help it, what should have taken just over 2 hours to get to Brussels took me 7,

After waking up, I decided to do a little exploring.  I was staying a block away from "The Grand Place", which is an amazing square in Brussels.  I explored Grand Place a Little, and then started searching for a place to eat.  I was starving!  As I was walking through one of the many streets filled with restaurants, and bars, when a  gentleman offered me free Champagne if I ate at his restaurant.  What the hell, I was sold.  Since I am not a huge fan of Champagne, I was actually able to change it for Beer (which turned into 3).  I ordered Carbonnade or Flemish Stew (which is basically Beef braised in Beer), French Fries (everything comes with french fries), and for dessert, a Belgium Waffle (my very first waffle of my life.)  I was in Love.  Everything was amazingly delicious. 

I decided to walk back to the hotel, and call it a night. It has been such a long day, but amazing day, and I couldn't wait to go exploring tomorrow

 

Our Last Day - Exumas, Bahamas

Usually when my husband and I take a vacation, we come back always saying we need a vacation just to relax from our vacation.  However this time, we decided to take the time and RELAX!  And that's exactly what we did on our last day in the Exumas.  So this post is going to be short and sweet as our day pretty much went like this. . .

Woke Up, had another amazing meal prepared by chef (breakfast), set up our lounge chairs, read a little, walked the beach, took a swim, played with the owners dog (who for some reason loved chewing on my husband's toes,) napped, packed our bags, went to dinner, played with a crab that walked into the restaurant (and basically into his funeral as the cook snatched this guy right up to turn him into a meal), and called it a night.  Today was all about much needed r & r.  I think for the first time in 6 years we actually came home rested and rejuvenated instead of exhausted and worn out.  This trip was everything we hoped for and truly look forward to coming back.

Thank you Chef, Claire, & all the staff at the Exumas Palms for an amazing time!

Hint for Country # 3. . . Beer, Chocolate, & Smurfs

 

Day 3 - Exumas, Bahamas (Stocking Island)

Today we decided to do a little exploring.  Chef's girlfriend was heading into Georgetown (the capital of Great Exuma) and offered to give us a ride. 

Georgetown is extremely small, just a few restaurants, bank, grocery store, a couple shops, and some houses.  After stopping by the grocery store to pick up a few snacks and drinks for the day we headed to the docks to catch the water taxi over to Stocking Island. 



Water Taxi

Stocking island is a gem.  The water taxi drops you off in a small cove that is home to quite a few houseboats.  You follow a small path past the beach bar, and onto one of the most amazing beaches I've ever seen.  We grabbed a few chairs, threw down our towels, and jumped right into the glistening waters.  We were told by several locals to come here to see sting rays, so off on the hunt we went.

After swimming around a little, we headed back to the shallow waters, and wouldn't you know, a huge, friendly sting ray appeared. 

It was 10:00 in the morning, and the local conch shack just opened.  As the young boy was making his first conch of the morning, I asked him if I could have the discarded parts to feed the sting ray.  I learned how to actually feed these unique creatures at Sea World, and thought I would try my knowledge with this large fella.  So I sat in the water, and as he swam towards me placed the food between my fingers and laid my hand flat on the ocean floor.  It didn't take long for him to come over and devour it.  This guy would not leave my side at this point, and would swim up in my lap just like a puppy.  Now this was an amazing experience.  Soon the other tourists saw what we were doing and decided to join in.  After awhile we had three sting rays, all playing with us.  I could have stayed here all day. 

My husband and I decoded to take a walk around the beach.  Every corner we turned was just another more gorgeous beach then the last.  When we reached one spot, we donned our snorkel gear and went exploring.  There was nothing but small reef after small reef.  The corals were gorgeous, completely untouched.  At one point we actually found a what seemed to be a memorial next to the corals.  After swimming around, we headed back to play with the sting rays some more. 

Once back to our beach chairs, we broke out our snacks, bought two Kalik beers from the beach bar, and just relaxed.  We had a couple more hours until the last water taxi would pick us up and take us back to Georgetown, and I honestly couldn't care less if he never came back, but as the saying goes "All Good Things Must Come To an End."

Next on our agenda was food.  We were starving.  As we were walking through the streets of Georgetown, looking like the lost tourists we were, a car stopped.  It was the waitress from the Exuma Palms Hotel we were staying at.  We asked her where she recommended we have dinner, and without hesitation told us to get in her car she would take us (the people here are so friendly).  We  ended up at a small restaurant that is known quite well by the locals.  The food was great (especially the pea soup) and the service even better.  The only thing we haven't figured out at this point was how we were going to get back to our hotel.  Sophie (the owner of the restaurant) called her cousin, and that was it. 

We made it back to the hotel, shared our adventure with Chef and some other patrons, and called it a night.