Next on the agenda was a trip to Brussels for Easter. My friend Trish had mentioned it about 2 months before Easter with another friend Fiona, so we booked a package with eurostar for 3 nites. Another friend Veeral happened to ask what I was doing and mentioned I was going to Brussels and all of a sudden, there was a group of 8 of us! Trish, Fiona, Brent, Veeral, Jaime, James, Andy and I. So off we went!
We meet at Waterloo Station where the Eurostar departs London from at 7am on Good Friday, very early start seeing as I'd gone to bed at 2am the nite before, after a workmates birthday drinks. 4 of us were quite keen to get some more sleep on the 2 hour Eurostar trip to Brussels but the other 4 were keen to start drinking! We were in 2 separate groups about 15 carriages apart due to booking at different times, so those of us that wanted to sleep could do so, and we did!
We arrived in Brussels about 10am and made our way to the hotel. We were also staying in 2 different hotels but Veeral had made sure they were within walking distance of each other, good job! What I didn't realise was that French is the main language in Brussels (followed closely by Flemish) so I felt a bit at ease when I realised I can cope with a little bit of French which would make the trip better!
Met up again and thought we should do some touristy things before too many drinks. We walked to some gardens and made our way to the Cathedral before finding the town square (called Grand Place) where there were lots of cafes, which in Europe, generally are bars as well. After the boys enjoying a stein of beer each, we wandered around the shopping area of the town.
Our first nite out was at a restaurant where we managed to score a free glass of beer each (thanks to Andy) and then a 3 course meal for 18 euro. In Europe they have what's called a set menu where you pay one price for 3 courses. The food was ok, we just made sure the alcohol kept coming!
We also went to a bar after where we had a metre of beer! Which we were confused about at first but is actually several glasses placed in a bracket that is a metre long... quite clever!
We were all quite tired at this point, seeing as we had been up since about 6am, so made our way back to our hotels.
On Saturday we decided to day a day trip to Brugge. First of all was our breakfast included in the price of the room. We weren't sure what to expect but we very happy to see if was a full cooked continental breakfast. Scrambled eggs went down a treat! So we were well and ready for the day.
We had all heard different things about Brugge so wanted to make sure we actually got there. The train ride was about an hour out of Brussels where we found ourselves in a qaint village. We wondered along the river and into the town and found a place to eat. Now what we the staff didn't tell us was that only 1 chef was on duty so our food would take at least an hour. Which I think we would've been happy to wait if they had've told us, but they didn't. So after asking where our food was, they apologised and offered us drinks on the house. Of course, we all chose the more expensive ones. Hehe.
After finally leaving the cafe, about 2.5 hours after going in, we came across a store selling lots of yummy Belgium beer which we all stocked up on and found a park to drink in, making the most of the last bit of sunshine. We also found a geniune Bruge/Belgium bar where the boys learned how to play a slightly different version of pool with the locals. Was amusing to watch the game!
We finally made it back to the train station and headed back into Brussels. Only after missing the first available train because the boys desparately wanted more beer and the beer machine wasn't working properly so they took longer than expected! Fortunately the next train was only 30 minutes later.
We decided to try have a nite out in Brussels so went back to our respective hotels to get ready. Unfortunately Brent and I had a snooze which probably wasn't the best idea! I ended up staying at the hotel which Brent, Trish and Fi went to see the others. Turns out they were all too tired in the end as well and went to bed as well.
Sunday morning meant a sleep in, after making sure we made it in time for breakfast by 10am. Back to bed for more of a snooze, before Trish, Fiona, Brent and I made our way to the Hiltion, where the others were staying. We had a yummy lunch at the Brussels Grill as well as Long Island Ice Teas. Was a lovely afternoon in the sun!
When Andy and James had arrived, they had been upgraded to the delux twin room which for us meant the perfect party room! We started going through all the beer we had bought in Brugge trying the different ones. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner so we wandered to town again and ended up finally at a Chinese restaurant about 11.30pm! We weren't sure if they were about to close when we arrived but with 8 mouths to feed, I think they were happy for us to come in. After a rather loud meal, us girls were also given a present, a nice little jewellery box. Very sweet of them.
Easter Monday was an early start to make sure we had breakfast before checkout at 11am. We took a hop-on hop-off bus around Brussels although didn't have enough time to go around the whole trip. We did get to see the main feature of Brussels which is a little statue of a boy and also went back to Grand Place to have waffles with strawberries, ice cream and chocolate sauce, oh it tasted so good!
Our Eurostar back to London was at 5pm. When we turned up at the train station, it was packed! But we were all looking forward to a relaxing ride back to London.
Yay for long weekends! I would recommend Brussels for about 3 days if any of you are heading over that way :)
