my self guided chocolate tour.

since my guidebook (the kick ass rick steves) suggested i do my own chocolate shop tour, i decided that i should definitely take his suggestion. Around the grand place, there are many chocolate shops, but the big 4 belgian chocolatiers are on one street!

stop one: leonidas.

stop two: not pictured - neuhaus
stop three: a random chocolate shop (there are tons!) - they had a sign in the window to try their chocolate fountain - for free!! oh yes, free is good!

stop four: godiva. the lady behind the counter was so super nice. i'd decided on two different chocolate pieces to taste. a caramel and a macadamia nut one.

and i was trying to converse in my terrible french and she was so nice and she was asking me if it was my first time to belgium/brussels and i said it was and how much i was loving it. so... she said she had a gift for me. what?! gifts?! i love gifts... that means freeeeee! and with that she put a milk chocolate strawberry filled cone like the ones above in to my bag! those things were like 6e too which was like 3x what i'd spent on my two measly pieces of chocolate.

with all my chocolate loot: several single pieces from a few different of the chocolate shops (plus my dumon chocolate from bruges), i sat myself down in the square to taste test. i had 3 or 4 pieces plus my whole chocolate strawberry cone to devour. ALL delicious. i highly highly recommend the whole browsing through the chocolate shops and conducting your own tasting tour!!

a few of my faves.

i haven't done an otis montage in awhile so here are a bunch of my favorites that i've captured on my phone's camera. even if you aren't a big cat fan, how could you possibly not love mr otis?!

check me out... i'm all snuggled up under the pillows.

don't tell anyone i'm watching crappy reality tv again!!

just stretching ouuuuuuuuuuuuut...

what, it's hot in this place!!

curled up here with my mom. i don't do this often...

i sure do show off my tummy a lot though!

i'm so comfy...

hi! just hanging out between the pillows.

my paws are ginormous!!

mussels in brussels??! you bet!

sorry, i just had to use that for a title... i mean, i did eat mussels in brussels, but i wish i'd found muscles! anyways... some people don't love this city. i did! i'm not sure if it's bc i spent just long enough there not to get bored or if it was my new outlook on my travels, but i really loved brussels!

i started the morning peeling back the covers to a rather comfy bed, enjoying a nice shower with the l'occitane products, skipping the 25e breakfast and heading out on the town to explore. and explore i did! i meant to head to the old town square first which is called the grand place in brussels, but instead... i misread the map (shocker, i know!) and found a street of very expensive shops - think rodeo drive - and then came upon this square with a war memorial:

it's hard to read in the picture, but it's a memorial to WWI. even though these guys look kinda mean, i also kinda liked them. it was kind of like they told me "yeah, chica... wrong way!" and i was all "there is no wrong way b/c lost = exploring!". yes, i talked to the statues. it may or may not have been out loud! and so... i went to check out the view.

belgium has basically two levels to the city: the high part and the low part. this is a super cool elevator (that's free and no i didn't take) that takes you to the lower part of the town. i chose to meander and find my own way down the hill.

this was on a memorial in the middle of the square. i just liked it. perhaps b/c i cold actually understand it. perhaps i liked the font.

i saw these in paris too and loved that you could just grab a bike, use it, and return it to any of the stations that happen to be convenient for you! i thought, wow, the US could use these! then i went downtown one day when i got home... and saw a bike station. when the heck did we get those?! and where are they?? not near me... i'd totally use it!

after making my way down the hill and seeing some more parks, churches, sites, etc... i found the bell tower in the distance! if you haven't figured it out by now: bell tower = old town square = tourist area!

and this was on the way to the square in front of the church.... i liked the colors.

my attempt at being creative at a photo

leave it to me to find the world's first shopping mall! this is the galleries st. hubert and it was opened in 1847. it's more of a sight to see the architecture than for shopping (i thought).

me in the middle of the Grand Market/Grote Mkt.

that is an overwhelming amount of signage!!!

legend has it if you rub this statue, it's good luck! so duh, of course i had to touch it! and pull out the hand sanitizer promptly afterwards!

in my guidebook, it told a funny (to me at least!) story about the statues that sit atop the buildings in the grand place. this guy supposedly says "ugggggh, what's that smell... and pointing says - was it you that farted?!"

to which this guy replies "ummmm, no! it must've been that guy!"

and then this guy hangs his head in shame and fully admits it was him. yep, 12 year old humor and i found it funny! no idea who thought that one up, but there it is...

i wandered away from the square after spending quite a bit of time there and came upon a gorgeous old church with a big park in front of it and these super cool looking benches!

so i had to test them out. and they were actually super comfy! there was a bit of sun, but too soon it was too chilly to sit there any longer and i didn't have a book to read anyways... so i went to check out the church that sat high upon a hill with a fabulous view of the city.

it kind of reminded me of notre dame in paris... though obviously it is not. but it was gorgeous! after checking out the inside and paying my respects... my walk continued on...

now, is it just me or does this look like toilet to anyone else?! gosh, they put these big signs up everywhere and it looks like toilet to me!!! ladies, it actually says "to let" as in hey, if you want to lease this building... but still... toilet to me.

and then i headed toward a big shiny pretty object b/c hey, why not?! it was another big pretty church - on the dome there were such pretty gold/bronze stars all over it.

i continued walking and found myself in the very obviously very muslim/turkish area. i was most definitely the only tourist and while i wasn't scared, i wasn't very comfortable either... and it's not exactly like that area was on the map or in my guidebook... nor was this church so i don't really know where i was, but i headed towards a big street and recognized it as the outer ring to the city and walked. and explored! and eventually found...

the city building... i'm not sure exactly what was housed here... but all of a sudden a bulb went off in my brain and i felt stupid. very very stupid all of a sudden as i realized that i had been there this morning! and how close i had been to everything and not known it b/c seriously the maps are crazy in europe and i realized that as i looked down the street in one direction was the war memorial and literally if i looked in the other direction, there was the star cathedral and omg, seriously!? my hotel was just over there and i realized that, wait: i had been exploring and seen so much more of the city! so what if i could have done less meandering... isn't traveling all about discovering different things about a city?! so what if i could have walked a straight line!?! and suddenly, i felt much smarter. especially b/c then, then i really knew my way around and how to get to and from various places!

ha! looking to the right straight down the street... the star cathedral!

and looking dead left... the building that was in the same square as the war memorial.

ghent, then brussels.

i spent a few hours in ghent which is right smack in the middle between bruges and brussels and you pretty much stop there anyways so i got off and decided to have a look around. i'm not a fan. maybe b/c i was cold... maybe b/c i got super lost and ended up wasting hours of time. ok maybe not hours, but what should have been easy - getting on a tram to the city center... which i did double check i was getting on the right one and some stupid passenger must have just said yes to say yes (probably b/c they didn't understand me and yes sounded good!) and i found myself way way far from the city center. luckily the tram driver could point me to the bus stop that would take me in to the center. so then i had to wait about 45 mins for the bus to come which sucked. in the cold, ridiculous wind... had a cab come by, i would have gladly jumped on board, but it didn't... so i took the bus... which took me another 30ish mins to get to the old town where i was supposed to be. phew... i made it! but it wasn't a good start to my afternoon in ghent and it made me feel super dumb and unhappy about my map/directional skills (gps! i need gps!!!).

but once i got to the old town square, i found a beautiful church... which i did not go in... instead, i decided i was starving (hadn't meant for a 2.5 hr detour) and ate lunch at a place on the square. not delicious, not terrible... i ate inside bc of the insane wind!

not sure why it seems so dark... it didn't rain! but there's the old bell tower. every good town in brussels must have one!

this bell tower was totally worth the cost. i can't remember what it was at this point, but prob 5e-ish. and for that you got a map/explanation of what you were seeing and it was much bigger and squarer than bruge's bell tower. this is one of the dragon's that was atop the tower at one point in time. he's had to be replaced a few times over the years.

there were several levels to stop and check out the various things inside: hear are some of the gears, another level featured the above dragons, another featured a variety of bells, etc. pretty nifty!

self portrait... i was trying to show how narrow this particular stairway was - i practically had to walk sideways to fit!

here's a view of the church from the tower. it's quite a lovely view!

see?! i can be artistic!

and by the time i saw the square, i was feeling a little anxious about finding my way back to the train station and also finding my hotel once i got to brussels... sure i had directions, but seriously folks my track record had been terrible up to this point!! so, i started to figure out how the heck to get back to the train station... and... it's not on there. awesome, they tell you how to get in to town, but what about getting back?!?! ummm... well, i saw on my map a spot for cabs... so i tried walking there. and found it! but there were no cabs there. and so i walked around... i called it exploring. and you know those people that stop you on the street to try and get you to donate to them or sign a petition? they are all over the street where i live... highly annoying... but hey, they have a job ... i digress. anyways, after a few of them stopping me there in ghent and me saying so sorry, 'je parle anglais' or probably 'i speak english'... i got the bright idea to ask one of them how to get back to the train station! brilliant. this one girl was thrilled to help me... well, maybe not thrilled but super nice and she directed me to a spot that i actually found and the tram actually came and i got on the right one and before i knew it, i was back at the station! thank you greenpeace for having campaigners there in ghent! you may be asking why i didn't just ask someone randomly... ummm, b/c it was really intimidating trying to figure out who spoke english and i was by myself and scared - i admit it! i didn't wanna ask!!

the stanhope in brussels.

oh yes, a whole post on my hotel in brussels... who's excited?! i just had to do this in a post before the brussels post got too long...

so... i easily made it to brussels. and even more so, i figured out how to navigate the metro system there! i followed the hotel's directions to find them - the only problem was once i popped up out of the metro, the directions got vague and i of course got confused. then lost. and my map of brussels? yeah, didn't have such a good one of those yet. but luckily after trying to figure it out, a nice lady who spoke english was able to tell me and luckily as the hotel said - they were just around the stupid corner from the metro (the stupid part may be my addition to the narrative).

and here it is! preeeeeeeetty! and luxurious... oh yes! my other hotels had been great so far, but this is one i was super excited for... brussels is a total business hub and not only does it empty out on the weekends, but it also empties in august. ding, ding... perfect timing for me wanting a deal! and deal i got!!!

seriously?! this is the lobby!? oh yesssss. yes it was. this was actually one of the mid-range places i stayed... if you can believe that!

this is the elevator in the hotel. i loved it. these are like real books that have been cut off at just before the spine to make a 'bookcase'. i started looking at the books closer and they cracked me up:

i don't know what a franc is worth since it doesn't exist, but i'll take it as a euro. how to live on 900e a day?! oh yesssss please! tell me how to do that!!!

and then i saw 'working to a budget' and cracked up since it was near my 'how to survive' book. hmmm, i may need this budget book before i get to the surviving on 900 francs...

and now for my room. i walked in and died! died! a couch, a curved staircase?! omg! a huge tall window?! i was on the second floor so the view wasn't fabulous, but it wasn't bad and omg, this room was heaven!

looking towards the door to the room. so cute! it was small, but perfect! i was kinda ready to move right on in!

the tv even welcomed my mom to the room... wait, what?! my mom wasn't there... but i was apparently mrs. harper!

and at the top of the stairs, my bedroom and a big lovely bathroom with l'occitane products. i loved the headboard and bedding and it was super comfy.

so after my day of navigating from bruges to ghent... around ghent (lost and frustrated)... and then to my hotel in brussels... i decided i needed some down time. to relax... do nothing... watch a movie on the tv maybe (or not - they were 15 bucks each! yikes, ummm, no). and order room service!! you'd expect the room service to be ridiculous in a place that wanted to charge me 25 bucks for b'fast (um, no thanks), but it wasn't... some might even say cheap! besides i was so filled up on waffles and chocolate that i just wanted a light dinner. so i ordered room service and readjusted my attitude towards the day's events and the past frustrations of feeling so lost... and decided that lost is so passe. lost is now: exploring! lost is now finding places i otherwise would or would not have seen, not necessarily on or off the beaten path... just roaming and exploring! and so, with my new attitude in place and a fuller belly of chocolate and room service i ascended the curved staircase to my adorable lofted bed and called it a day...