I have mixed feelings about Belgium.

We arrived in Brussels just after 1 pm; as the train pulled up to the platform I immediately wanted to run back to Amsterdam. However, we had an exceptional host for our first Airbnb experience; he spent about an hour explaining the city to us and showing us where to go on the maps.

In the end, I was underwhelmed with Brussels as a whole, luckily there were still some very enjoyable moments and then there was the day trip to beautiful Brugge that was the highlight of our Belgium leg.

CHOCOLATE
I live and breathe chocolate. I got weak at the knees when I see chocolate so it’s only natural I went on a shopping spree in Belgium. More on the wonderful superfood later; I’m going to do an entire post of the 10kg of chocolates I brought back to Australia sooooonnnn!!

Free walking tour
The Sandemans Walking Tour really beautified Brussels! Our Airbnb host told us it takes time to get to know this city and visitors usually find Brussels boring when they don’t take the time. That’s exactly how I felt up until the walking tour; then they let you in on the history of the place and seeing gorgeous building after gorgeous building helped too. The tour was looonng and I was pretty much dying by the end (with added help from the heat) but the experience was wonderful and I urge anyone who visits Brussels to go on this tour.

Everything Brugge
Beautiful, calm, serene Brugge won my heart; 28€ train ride ‘n all. The lumpy cobblestones, the endless streams of chocolate shops, the “museums” – I loved them all.

A two-for-one deal for Choco-Story and the Friet Museum. Dork and dorkier. Luckily they advertised the two-for-one deal otherwise we might’ve skipped the Friet Museum. Of course, the chocolate lover that I am took about a million photos at Choco-Story and read just about everything stuck to the walls. I even bought me a cute (read: lame) mug from the gift shop; hello mug collection!

Off to the Friet Museum and this time Chen was the giddy one. So many potatoes and forks hanging from wires, framed on walls, tucked away – it was just weird. The fries at the end of the Museum weren’t half bad, though – much more exciting than the evolution of the potato!

We didn’t stop there! Might as well be incredibly touristy and hit up the Brugge Historium too and just as well we did, because it wasn’t as lame as we thought it’d’ve been, much like the Amsterdam Dungeon. The audio guide with the tour and the fun rooms with the videos were rather enjoyable.

Would I go back to Belgium? Brugge, yes. Brussels, probably not. Brussels was underwhelming for us; in fact, we didn’t even get a proper photo with the Mannequin Pis. There were enjoyable moments, and the free walking tour certainly helped with upping the enjoyability factor for Brussels, but it’s not somewhere I would see myself going back to in the near, or even distant, future. Brugge, on the other hand, was incredible and I would love to spend a night or two there, or some other Flemish part of Belgium, actually.