Brussels, you're lucky you have waffles!

Our hostel was a bit outside the city center of Brussels, Belgium, so when we arrived we picked up a map and started to explore. The map was "made by locals for travelers," so it had handy tips and fun facts in it. One of the walking tours took you around the northside to the green labrynth, a park, a bridge, train station, and by some prostitutes. The city that we saw looked dirty, decaying, and ghetto. Not what I was expecting at all. But, fun fact, french fries were invented in Belgium, despite the name. There were fry stands all around, and the norm is to eat them with mayonnaise. So we ordered a large to share and it came in a paper cone with a pile of mayo on top. This large was meant for 5 people, not 2, because by the end, we both wanted to die. We didn't even find any waffles, so by the time we returned to our hostel, we were sorely disappointed. The made by locals map makes me think that locals wrote it to turn people off from Brussels so tourists wouldn't take over their city or ever want to come back. So, the next day, we gave Brussels one more shot, and visited the city center before getting on a train to Amsterdam. The main plaza was gorgeous. There were buildings with gold ornaments and large, pretty cathedrals. The main attraction was just down the street, a fountain of a peeing little boy, the mannekin pis. He was about a foot tall, and got a new outfit a few times a month. Today, he was dressed as a scottish boy. The waffles were de.lish.us. They were filled with caramelized sugar and were excellent plain.

I ate my waffle before I remembered to take a picture, so these were the ones on display :)

I

The NIMBUS 2000. Yea. And my wand. The one with Cho Chang written on it.

Brussels is SO strange

So if you are planning to visit Brussels, set aside 4 hours max, get off the train at the city center, and grab some waffles and fries. I guarantee on your walk to the food stands, you will see everything the city has to offer :)