fries and beer: the only food groups

with only a couple weeks before i left for canada, martijn and i took a two day trip together. our first trip, actually. the destination?? brussels. i had some apprehension about the city we chose since i didn't fancy antwerp too much, but as long as martijn was there i knew it would be a great trip!! and it did not disappoint.

we opted to try out a secret hotel webpage which a friend had recommended to me. basically you say which area of the city you want to stay in and it offers you a hotel - no name, just the price. once you pay for it, you get the details about which hotel it actually is. for a very reasonable price we were able to stay at the crown plaza, which was awesome!! very good tip, hanna!!

our first day there, we opted not to do a lot. our goal was to relax and have fun together. goal accomplished!! our first stop...belgian fries (i'm travelling with martijn, what else should i have expected). we also stopped by manneken pis (and later janneke pis) to take a few pictures. after that we pretty much moved from terrace to terrace sharing a couple beers, then food, then beers and chatting. for dinner we moved out of the busy area to a more deserted street to share some pizza. as we finished our meal, i looked up to see someone very familiar walking down the street. martijn was a bit confused when i jumped up yelling "jon!" but it all made sense when i brought jon over to introduce him. i had known that jon was travelling europe since i had spent a few days with him in den haag earlier that summer, but what are the odds you'd run into each other on a street in brussels!! we joined him on a visit of a rum bar and then he joined us on a walk around the city. brussels had a music festival going on at the time and we just layed in the grass talking and listening to the music. perfect :). eventually we parted ways and martijn and i headed back to our hotel.

the next day was nothing like the first. our second day in brussels was PACKED with things to do. we had to visit the atomium as well as minieurope. first to the atomium!! it was built for the 1958 world fair and instead of being torn down 6 months after its compeltion, it is still standing. we were able to walk through the nine different spheres and see pictures of other exhibits at the 1958 world fair as well as how the atomium was built and the history behind it. next was minieurope, which i thought was very cool!! basically each country in the european union has an exhibit where it creates a mini version of famous attractions stemming from that country (ie. a mini eiffel tower, mini windmills, a mini big ben). it was very cool to see some of the countried i'd visited with their miniattractions. plus, it was a great opportunity for martijn to quiz me on the countried within the european union.

our trip ended with dinner at a mexican restaurant (surprisingly good mexican food for a mexian restaurant in belgium) and listening to extremely bad karaoke from the bar next door. it was such a good trip, and very indicitive of the great times we will have on the many trips to follow.