A Day In Brussels

After a terrible night's sleep I head out early to try and avoid the crowds. It's the weekend so there are loads of tourists to the point my hotel was only available for 1 night , so I've bitten the bullet and booked a late bus to Bruge. I dropped my bags off last night and experienced a couple of hours in the square and crazily ordered Thai food at Fanny Thai. It's confirmed Belgium Thai is nowhere like the real thing.
My first stop this morning is at the flea market. The oddments here of trinkets and antiques and junk is immense. It's held in Jeu de Balle square. After leaving here I walk up to the petit Sablon square which is surrounded by 48 bronze statuettes depicting ancient Brussels professions,a really pretty place to just sit down and take the weight of your feet. Directly opposite is the 15th-century Église Notre-Dame. The viewpoint of the City takes me to Mont de arts a garden overlooking the city. One of the things Belgium is famous for is the mannekin de pi's , which depicts a young boy weeing into a fountain. Everyday they dress him in a different outfit and with over 2000 outfits he even has his own museum It's become that popular they have followed suit with a dog. I always like to experience local food and here in Belgium it's frites and waffles. The famous place here is fritland where they offer multiple sauces to go with your chips. I continue ambling about the streets for another hour or so before collecting my suitcase and heading to the station. It's so hot that I get an Uber and the city is really walkable except with a pull along suitcase on the cobbled streets. I arrive at the station well in time but when I ask someone I am in the wrong place and have to walk ten minutes to get to the pick up point. There is very little directly around the station so I just sit it out till the bus arrives. It's only 90 minutes but as soon as we leave the guy next to me falls asleep and keeps slouching on me. After a few gentle nudges he gets the message. It's a short walk to the hostel and I'm pleasantly surprised, it's a beautiful old house which has been sectioned off into dorms. I've opted for the 4 berth girl dorm and with only the option of the top bunk I drop my bags and climb up to lay my head. Even though it's still quite noisy I drift off to sleep.Read more