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Stop #1 - London,
England
Stop #2 - Dublin, Ireland
Stop #3 -
Amsterdam, Netherlands
The last day of our Europe adventure was en
route to Brussels, Belgium. We took the 2 1/2 hour intercity train ride from
Amsterdam Central Station to Brussels Central Station and the fare was EUR
39.00 (CD$ 54.78) per person/way.
When I planned the trip and despite my
numerous travels worldwide, I was hesitant of initially going to Brussels because of
the bad reviews for mugging and theft in the city. But I asked my sister Jay
about her experience in Brussels and she said that she did not have a bad
experience in the city, instead it was in Rome, Italy when someone tried to
pickpocket her.
When we got out of Brussels central train
station, Amit and I noticed numerous gypsy beggars who were insistent for
some coins. We held onto our wallets and belongings as we walked towards our
lodging place,
Opera Hotel. On
our walk towards the hotel, we passed by an information counter and there
were multiple signs to be cognizant of pickpockets. It was a matter of
getting away from the gypsies as they have been reported to be the major
offenders of tourist theft in Brussels.
Opera Hotel was clean but typical of European
hotels, the room was very small. Since it was our last day, we started
immediately towards the
Grand Place. Typical tourists, we had our pictures taken and just looked at
the architectural design of the buildings. Walked around the area towards
the famous Manneken Pis
which was one of the famous icons in Belgium. Amit and I were excited to see
what was the big deal about the statue but when we got to the area, it was
hardly noticeable because of its size. It was only about 2 feet tall and it
was disappointing to see. Just like the Mona Lisa in Paris, which I thought
was a grand size painting, it was just small and probably measured 25" x
20". The chocolate statue beside the Belgian waffle store was a better sight
than the actual one.
We had a taste of authentic Belgian waffle
which was enormous in size. There were various selections of strawberries,
bananas, without or with whipped cream and topped by either white or regular
Belgian chocolate. Waffles sold for EUR 1 (CD$ 1.40) for the plain ones and
EUR 3.50 (CD$ 4.91) for the fancier waffle.
Continued with our adventure and had my photo
taken with the statue of the famous Belgian cartoon character for
The
Adventures of Tintin. While walking around, Amit and I were already
looking at the best bargain for Belgian chocolate.
We just had a photo shoot at the
Palais de Justice
which was 2 blocks away from the
Palais Royal
. From the palace facade, we crossed through Brussels Park towards The
Cathedral of St.
Michael
and St. Gudula . Brussels was very small and within half an hour from
the cathedral, we were already back at the city center.
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