Saved by the Belgium

Now that I have your attention, I’d like to tell you about my weekend in Belgium’s capital city – Brussels.

Being the first trip of the semester, the entire NSPICE group (all 18 of us) participated on this little weekend getaway. I hate traveling in large groups, so hopefully the group sizes will get smaller as we get deeper into the semester.

Our method of transportation for this trip was everything but a car. We biked to the train station, took a 40-minute train to the bus station in central Holland, then traveled the remaining three hours by bus.

We arrived Friday in the early evening. After dropping off our bags at the youth hostel, we quickly made our way to the city’s center to sample the nightlife. The city was very alive with bars, restaurants, chocolate shops, waffle stands, and specialty shops, all of which we partook of.

The most impressive feature of the city is by far the Grand Place. (Scroll over the picture for a description) With its impressive 17th century architecture encompassing you from all sides, standing in the center of the square is truly a breathtaking experience. Despite being scattered with modern restaurants and shops, it still has a very archaic feel to it. It has also been labeled by many as Europe’s most impressive square.

Naturally, the expedition the next morning was centered around the magnificent Grand Place. The city is littered with history, with a wide range of churches, town halls, palaces, and statues, which is evident from the pictures. One particularly interesting feature of the Catholic church architecture I noticed was the extravagant nature of the pulpits in nearly every church. It was usually the centerpiece of the building, reflecting the Catholics’ beliefs about the clergy and church hierarchy. As shown in the pictures, the pulpit often told the entire story of the Bible through art and architecture. I guess that was for the people who didn’t feel like listening to the sermon (or were too distracted) – they could get their spiritual nourishment by just looking at the pulpit.

Perhaps Brussels’ most famous attraction is the classic Mannekin Pis. You know, it’s the statue of the little naked boy peeing…it’s a fountain…Anyways, every single gift shop or store in Brussels is full of souvenirs of this thing. Miniature statues, t-shirts, stickers, you name it – they had it. So naturally, by the end of the day we were dying to see this little gem. What a disappointment. Anticlimactically located on the corner of a few dirty souvenir shops, it is no larger than two feet. The backdrop is a graffiti-covered store wall, and hose going into the statue’s backside is huge. So bad, I refused to take even one picture.

Interestingly enough, we finally attended a church service in English while in Brussels. Sunday morning we went to the International Baptist Church of Brussels for morning worship. It consisted mostly of American and British couples who work for their respective governments in Brussels. It was good to hear a familiar language again – especially the sermon.

The rest of the details are boring, so I will get to what everyone really wants to know about: the waffles, the chocolate, and the beer.

The waffles: Even for as much hype as they receive, I still think they are highly underrated. You can hardly call it a waffle. Made right before your eyes, they are an oasis of goodness. They are hot and gooey in the middle with a crisp, sweet coating. When topped with whipped cream or strawberries, they put a regular waffle to shame.

The chocolate: I didn’t try actually try any, but I would say that it is overrated. To me, chocolate is chocolate. So, all I had to do was glance in the shop windows, read the price per ounce, and keep walking. Unlike the waffles, it seems to be somewhat of a tourist trap.

The beer: Different. Their most popular beer, Stella Artois, was nothing special. But all of their other local brews were well worth sampling. They make a lot of sweet, nectar-like beers, ranging from strawberry to apricot to cedar. At only $1.50 a pop, it was fun trying all of the different “flavors.”

Finally, for those of you who think I have forgotten my roots, I searched, but never did find, the Belgic Confession.