Back in Brussels

        Once we were back in our lovely prostitution area of Brussels we watched some Storage Wars (great show by the way) until we fell asleep. The next morning we were craving some waffles and were told by the information desk that the Waffle Factory is a really famous waffle shop in Belgium. It was right near Manneken Pis so we figured we would go there for breakfast. The guy told us though that there are two Waffle Factories right next to one another, and the smaller one is the famous shop, not the bigger one next to it.

We found it!!!!! What's that sign on the door you ask?

I can't read French so I don't know. But I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it was closed. I might have shed a tear at this moment in time, but I was so hungry that I don't remember. So naturally we went next door to the "other" far-less-known and definitely not famous Waffle Factory. 

Still delicious though! 

Sarah got a waffle with dark Belgian chocolate. 

Maddie got one with Nutella. 

And I went the savory route and got a bacon, mozzarella, tomato and basil waffle. Yum. 

Then we went to see what Brussels is famous for....a statue of a peeing boy.

It was a little bit overrated but you can't go to Brussels and not see the peeing boy! I mean come on its a statue of a peeing boy. 

Then we went to the Royal Palace Museum. O0o0o0o that sounds fancy Laura! That's what we thought. The outside was pretty impressive. 

But then we got to the actual museum. I guess its technically an archeological site and museum which is why all we saw was this:

And thats about it. Probably something my dad would like. 

Speaking of things my dad would like, after that thrilling museum we went to see Atomium, which is a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Can I get a woop woop?

You could go up in Atomium to get a nice view of Brussels but you had to pay and we wanted to eat that night so we passed. After going home and making dinner, we went to Delirium! 

Delirium is a bar in Brussels that has over 2,000 brands of beer from over 60 countries.  It holds the world record for the most number of beers available at one time! This is just a small list of the beers they have on tap...the real beer list is apparently in different binders depending on what language you choose. 

I was going to steal this boot glass until I realized there was a 30 euro deposit on it...

We tried the Delerium beer and mango beer (I think...we kind of just pointed) but both were delicious! We might go back again because I hear they have cookies and cream beer. Combining my two favorite things could either be delicious or just entirely wrong. A great ending to our spring break! 

We got back to the Hague around 10:40, and I knew that Pita Gyros closes at 11, so we sprinted there because I had been away from them for over a week. They were cleaning up the grill and I was devastated, but I knocked on the door and Stavanos (yes, we are now officially on a first name basis), recognized me and made me the last pork gyro of the night. That's what I call love.

Chocolate, Beer and Ticket Collectors

Yes. Our hotel is in a prostitution area. Weird. BUT we have a TV for the first time since we have been here, and even though most of it is in Dutch we don't care!!!

The next day we decided to take the train to Bruges and do some sightseeing. The guy at the ticket station said it would be 30 euros cheaper to buy a stack of ten tickets that you could use for any destination instead of three individual round trip tickets, so we bought ten tickets and were on our way. The ticket collector came to check our tickets and we handed them over. He asked where we were going, and he filled out the tickets so it had the date and our destination on them. About an hour later we were in Bruges! 

Hello? Is anyone home?!

The streets were eerily deserted. 

We finally saw signs of life near the city center! 

The first thing we did was climb the 366 steps to the top of the Belfry Tower! Prepping myself for when I go back to the Hague and eat a delicious pork gyro. I admit it. I'm in love with a sandwich. 

It was an awesome view, and the bells started ringing when we got to the top!

Once we climbed back down, we made our way over to see Michelangelo's Madonna, while stopping at every chocolate shop along the way. Seriously even the streets smelled like chocolate, I was in Heaven. 

My first Belgian chocolate!

What Maddie decided to get in a Belgium chocolate store....are you human?

Really decided to get detailed on the right...

After one bag of chocolate, a new purse, and a failed attempted to get the world's best hot chocolate (still mad at Sarah and Maddie for not letting me get some...I mean the sign says it's the best!)

 we finally made it to the Church of Our Lady Bruges!

This is the only sculpture by Michelangelo to leave Italy during his lifetime.

After the church we went to the Half Moon brewery just in time to catch a tour!

We climbed to the top of the brewery and got a nice view of Bruges! 

And then we had to climb back down...

Definitely harder than it looks. But at the end a nice cold beer was waiting for us!!! Lets be honest that's the main reason we did the tour. 

Boys we met from France and Brussels. They were weird. 

Straffe Hendrik Quadrupel! LOVED this beer, surprisingly more than the Brugse Zot which is the only beer actually brewed and lagered in Bruges. After a few beers we decided to walk back to catch a train home because we didn't know when the last one was leaving, and with our luck we would be sleeping on a park bench for the night because the trains had stopped running.

 With a nice beer buzz, we were just about to fall asleep on the train when the ticket collector came around. I opened one eye and saw Sarah handing him our tickets so I closed my eyes again. Then he asked for our IDs. Hmm....that's weird. But we handed over our IDs, not sure what he was going to do. After a couple minutes, I realized he was writing down our information. We asked if there was a problem and he said we didn't have the date and our destination filled out on our tickets. I thought, "Oh that's it? Let me reach in my purse because I have multiple pens we can use!" So I whip out a pen and hold my hand out to write down the information. He looks at me and shakes his head and says we were supposed to fill that in before we got on the train, and now we are going to have to pay 73 euro each for riding on the train without a ticket. 

You're telling me that because we didn't fill out "February 28" and "Brussels" on our tickets five minutes before, we were going to be fined 73 euros each. I don't know if it was the beer talking or the fact that that was the dumbest thing I had ever heard, but we started causing a commotion and asked for his supervisor. He got his supervisor, who we thought would tak pity on three young international students, but no, "You didn't have your ticket filled out". We were still confused why it made a difference whether it was filled out then, or five minutes before, especially because Rick Steves didn't tell me we had to fill out our tickets! Damn you Rick Steves you are supposed to be omniscient!! The ticket collector then asked if we had cash or credit cards and we naturally said no we spent it all on chocolate and beer. Duh. Then he "cut us a break" and only wrote up one ticket for 73 euro, that we could all split. Yippee. He gave us the ticket which we promptly crumpled up, and then un-crumpled so we could frame it when we got home. 

You sir, are on my list. See if I ever come back to Bruges again. And no, I'm not paying your stupid ticket. So there.