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After a wonderful 2 days in Ghent and Bruges, I headed into Brussels for my final 2 days! While there, I stayed with Charlotte, a foreign exchange student from my high school. I hadn’t seen Charlotte for probably 6 or 7 years so it was great meeting up with her! She had to work most of the weekend which gave me the opportunity to explore Brussels. It is a pretty confined city so it is easy to get (almost) everywhere on foot.
Thanks for an awesome end to my weekend, Brussels! Enjoy the pictures below : )
Town Hall
The girl version of the peeing man…dressed in Belgian colors!
Besides just walking around and getting a feel of Brussels on my first day, I also attended an event put on by Brussels Food Friends. When I initially planned my trip to Brussels, I reached out to Annie from Montgomery Fest. I’ve mentioned this in a previous post but she runs an amazing blog and was absolutely the sweetest. I’m so glad I saw her when I did because she is moving to San Francisco really soon! I feel like I might need to go out there to visit her :) We just hit. it. off. As she explained in her blog post, there were lots of “oh my gosh…me too!” We realized we have a mutual love of J.Crew and follow many of the same blogs. I don’t think her husband was as excited over our random excitement but he was too sweet to actually say anything :)
Annie told me about the Brussels Food Friends meet-up and invited me to come along. Although I don’t really talk about food on my blog, I do love eating food! We had a wonderful speaker and lots of yummy food! It was a well-spent afternoon :)
oh hey, USA! Not pictured, the intense security to the right
Federal Parliament
Royal Park
The Royal Palace…although the Royal Family doesn’t actually live here
Main museum square
Tram for Belgium? or for Germany?
Charlotte!
WWI and WWII memorial in downtown Brussels
awkward selfies
Of all the things I did in Brussels, my favorite thing was seeing the European Union (well, the European Parliament European Commission) and going through the museum! I’m such a political science nerd so things like that really geek me out :) I’ve taken a class on the EU at a uni in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany so I’ve been exposed to so many different perspectives and opinions. If you go to Brussels, I would definitely recommend visiting the museum. It is open every day of the week and is fantastic! Probably one of the best museums I’ve ever visited :) It is totally interactive, well laid-out, and keeps you very engaged. I spent about 2.5 hours in the museum and could have easily spent another hour or two there.
European Parliament
Giant map of Europe. You rolled the podiums over different circles/cities and they showed you videos!
European Commission
Antoine’s fries. Huge line but worth the wait!
Belgium vs. Russia World Cup game. Belgium won!
My brother lives in Brussels, but I’ve only spent a weekend there once, at Christmastime, and the rest of my visits have all been coffees at the train station on my way through! You’ve made me keen to visit it properly again and the EU museum looks great – will definitely put that on my list. Thanks :D
You must got back! The EU museum is seriously so amazing! I keep telling anyone/everyone going to Brussels to go visit it. Hope all is well!
This was another wonderful post from you. Makes me want to be your shadow and go everywhere you go! Hope that doesn’t sound to creepy (even though I’m your mom!)
Mom, you’re the funniest! Shadow me as much as you would like xoxoxo
jordan! no YOU’RE the sweetest. now I’m expecting you in SF. I mean, you put it out there. i’m really glad you’re lil EU lovin heart got to go to the parliamentarium! it’s one of my favorites…its done soo well! it makes me happy how excited you are over brussels (and flags!! hehe) and that you had such a good time….ps. whens the relaunch?
ummmm, I’m on the next flight over to SF! Hoping to launch September 1st but we will see how that goes! I’m off to Normandy next week for a week, back to the states for my Grandparents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary party, back to Michigan, friends visiting, etc. How does life get so busy during vacation/break time?! Hope the move went well! Loving all your pictures from SF!!!
I quite liked Brussels. I’m glad you had a good time.
It is a wonderful place, isn’t it? :)