Belgium: waffles, fries, chocolate, and Bruges, which is NOT "a shithole"

Okay, let me just say, I love Belgium. Despite the gauntlet that it was getting there, it was a really great weekend. We started in Brussels, and even though our very first impression of the city was Shana getting pickpocketed on the metro, the weather (sunny, warm, PERFECT) and the city itself really helped keep us in good moods. The coolest thing, I think, about at least big cities in Belgium is that they mix so many languages; in Brussels, we spoke English and French, plus people spoke Dutch and German and Spanish, and usually one or more languages were mixed together on signs and stuff. We were able to walk from the train station to the hostel through the financial district, which later was cool to compare to the historical city center. We used "2 Go 4," which has multiple hostels in Brussels and throughout the major cities of Europe; overall, they were really helpful and professional and their hostel was clean and well-located, all for a reasonable price; I would recommend them to anyone. We had to wait for our keys since we were supposed to check in the night before, so we walked around the city some. The awesome thing about Brussels is that it's small enough that you can walk to most places in about 5 or 10 minutes. We walked to the "Bourse" (a.k.a Stock Exchange), which is the center of things, and ate lunch, which was delicious (but no fries yet). We then walked to "Grand Place," which is like the old square with 4 of the most beautiful, ornate buildings on each side. We had a map done by locals for "young travellers" that ended up being really helpful; it recommended getting a free view of the city from some random parking garage, which was so cool. Then we saw the Manneken Pis, which really was much smaller than expected, but still cool to see (I'm not a fan of them dressing it up though because it just looks ridiculous haha). We went back for our keys, used their internet to get back in touch with the world, and headed to our hostel, which ended up being right off of Grand Place in the best location I could have imagined. The room itself was so cool, and much nicer than expected for the price; Shana and I were exhausted, so we took naps before heading out to meet our new-found friends at Delirium, one of the really popular bars in Brussels. We were at the main part of the hostel when we met Josh and Ravi, both of whom were stuck in Brussels trying to get back to California and the UK, respectively. We ended up having a pretty fun night just talking and trying some of the 2,000-something beers at Delirium; we also went to another bar where I got somewhat peer pressured (okay, not really) into trying absinthe...which is legal in Europe and which also didn't do anything because it was just one shot haha the next morning, Shana and I headed back to the train station to go to Bruges; despite some confusion at the ticket counter with the "retour," we got everything worked out and to the train in time. We met this couple from the UK who were going to Bruges (as a lot of people seemed to be) on the way to get a ferry back to the UK, since flying wasn't an option for them at all and trains were all booked up. It only took an hour to get to Bruges, and once we got there, the owner of the bed and breakfast where we were staying came to pick us up from the train station. He and his wife own the B&B just as a hobby, and they were both such amazing people. I could rave all day about "Jaak and Rose" (Titanic anyone?). The house that we were staying in was really awesome too, and in a great location; we were staying there with a Finnish couple and a French couple, and it was nice to get to interact with them, however briefly. It was only noon, so we walked up to the main square of Bruges (the former market), and were immediately enamored with the city. Seriously, I love Bruges. We got some fries from a stand with some kind of sauce that I can't remember the name of but that tastes like curry and mayonnaise (a.k.a good). Then we climbed the 366 windy, skinny stairs to the top of the tower; it was pretty different from how it was depicted in the movie "In Bruges," but it was still a really nice view. After lunch, we walked back to the bike rental shop we had passed earlier and rented bikes for the afternoon/evening; there was supposedly a trail that would take us to the beach, and even though we ended up getting lost and not taking that trail, what we did see was absolutely enchanting. We were pretty tired after about 3 hours, having climbed the tower already, so we turned our bikes in, grabbed some food, and headed home. The coolest thing about Bruges was how quickly even I learned my way around; if you don't know, I'm really directionally challenged, but I learned our part of Bruges really quickly. Bruges doesn't have much of a nightlife so we spent the night in watching "In Bruges" (Shana's first time seeing it after I had been quoting it obnoxiously all day haha) and drinking the beers we had bought in Brussels (I bought cassis beer since cassis is my new favorite flavor...but not in beer haha). It was, once again, a great movie, and it was really cool to see places we had been; p.s the B&B we were in was where the film crew had stayed when they filmed it...holla! We were tired from the combination of tower-climbing, biking, and beer-drinking, so we went to bed after a quick chat with the Finnish couple (who were totally adorable and the girl looked like Marketa Irglova from "Once"). The next morning, Rose came and made breakfast for us (like a real, huge breakfast, not the French idea of breakfast), so we ate with the 2 couples (I'd like to reiterate that as much as I love Shana, we are NOT a couple. Though I don't know that everyone quite understood that haha) before we all went our separate ways. Shana and I still didn't know for sure when and how we were getting home, but the trains we had seen online were for around 4 pm from Brussels, so we had a couple of hours still in Bruges. We decided to do a boat tour through the canals, which ended up being a great idea; it was so beautiful and the weather was, once again, perfect. We were on the boat with French-speakers so opted to not be the only ones to ask for the tour in English (because that's so obnoxious and "American" when we understood in French anyway). We were reminded so many times this weekend how, even though we aren't fluent in French, we can understand the tours and information given to native French-speakers, so we should be pretty proud of our progress. We had to leave Bruges and the B&B much sooner than I would have liked (definitely going back there because it's so charming and small enough without being too small). Not a "shithole" like they say in the movie :) so my assessment of Belgium (or at least Brussels and Bruges) is that it's small but really diverse in the best way possible; we didn't try any waffles, but the fries are good and the chocolate is amazing, which might have swayed my love for it a little ;) I want to go back to Belgium and see more of Brussels and Bruges (since we only had one day in each), but also to see other cities and some of the countryside. Despite the hell that getting there and back was, Belgium was totally worth it, and I'm so glad we went!