A few days in Belgium - Brussels, Gent-Sint-Pieters, Bruges, & Waterloo

As part of our last trip to Europe we included a few days to explore Belgium, including Brussels, Gent-Sint-Pieters, Bruges, and Waterloo. The weather was not the best -- it rained on and off and was chilly -- but we made the best of the time we had. 

We did not spend a ton of time preparing an itinerary like we usually do so we really just wandered around exploring the. We stopped by the Grand Place, which was right around the corner from our hotel. It was stunning to stand in and slowly spin around to see all of the Baroque guildhalls, the city's Town Hall and Brussels City Museum is also there. The Guilds of Brussels was a thing in medieval times....like 1400s! 

While we were wondering around we came across the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, which of course dates back to medieval times as well, as are the patron saints of the city. One of my favorite things about visiting Europe is the architecture.

Naturally, when one is in Belgium consumption of copious amount of certain food is mandatory. You know the items...belgian waffles, fries (with mayo of course), and CHOCOLATE!

And shopping.

Before I end this portion about Brussels I have one last set of photos to share....a trip to Brussels would not be complete without stopping to see Manekin Pis. I have no idea what the significance is but it is a very tiny peeing statute. There is actually a little boy (Manekin Pis), a little girl, and a dog. Yes, we saw them all.  

Can someone from Belgium please tell me what the deal is with these??

After Brussels, we saw Gent-Sint-Pieters for a day trip. We find that it works best when we pick a home base city and then do day trips to other smaller towns that we want to see too.

Gent-Sint-Pieters was really neat. It was picturesque and a bit warmer that day so we enjoyed walking around that much more.

My favorite thing was climbing the belfry and also visiting the Castle of the Counts.

The Castle of the Counts is a medieval fortress -- it has a moat and everything.

When they say "they don't build them like they used to" this is what they mean...

Gent also has an interesting street where there is all kinds of graffiti. 

And we had more fries...these were seriously the best fries I have ever had in my life. They were from Frites Atelier.

We also saw the Town Hall or City Center. There is a fire-breathing dragon that they use for town festivals. 

And more chocolate shops...

We walked around the canals before deciding to go ahead and do a canal tour. There is no better way to see a town than from the water!

In Bruges, we started by walking about 15 minutes from the city center to one of the historic gates. I honestly cannot remember but I think this one was called Kruispoort Gate and it's from 1402. And right near the gate are some original windmills. 

We did more walking. I could wander these streets forever just turning corners and meandering down paths, stumbling across picturesque views I wasn't expecting.

I wish I could spend a few months living in a historic town like Bruges. That is the stuff of daydreams.

We stopped in at Kantcentrum, a lace museum. I love lace and enjoy learning about the process. They had a beautiful wall of work on display and we ended up buying the little pink tulip in the picture.

Then wandering some more.

We found our way to the Friet Museum -- yes, a museum dedicated to fries. It was paradise for a spud lover like myself.

The town square had the Basilica of the Holy Blood, which is where a vial that contains a cloth with the blood of Jesus Christ is kept. I actually had no idea it was there until I noticed a queue of people standing in line and walking across to see a little vial thing.  

We also stopped at a Chocolate Museum. 

Did you know that hot chocolate was originally looked at as a very fancy drink?! There were special drinking vessels even!

The super old chocolate molds were really really neat.

And finally, we stopped at a Musical Instrument Museum. It had all of your standard instruments but then it also had impressive organs...

And even instruments made of human bone!

Before we left Belgium we decided to take a quick trip to Waterloo on a whim. I was listening to Abba when my husband was at the gym one morning and it dawned on me that Waterloo was in Belgium. So I started googling.

I am not a history buff and I did not know what Waterloo was other than "that night, at Waterloo, Napolean did surrender." Visiting other countries and places make me so regretful that I did not pay more attention in history class. It all seems so much more interesting when it's in front of me!

The Lion's Mound is a large hill (it's HUGE) that commemorates the battlefield of Waterloo. Visiting battlefields are always sobering to me because obviously it is in a totally different state than when it was a battlefield but I always think about all the souls that perished. It feels bizarre to be visiting. 

For perspective, the hill is HUGE. 226 steps I believe.

But the view is impressive. 

We really enjoyed our time in Brussels, Gent, Bruges, and Waterloo. Of all the places I thought I would visit Belgium was not tremendously high on the list but man I am so glad we fit it into our travels. It is so worth a trip!