B媽Letting Go孩子放手飛~

英法比荷遊學7.26

We were heading to Belgium this morning. The highway was pretty empty, and you need to pay by yourself at the tool station. The machine actually looked strange. :P We went pass a wind power station, though I didn’t know if it belongs to France or Belgium . We also went under an airport runway. :D It took longer than I had expected, and we stopped only once in the middle of our way.

Their rest stop was different than ours. There is only one store, not a big one, but they have automatic machine that sells coffee. :D They sell bunches of sandwich packages with chips and drinks inside like the packages in England . I started to cherish the rice rolls in Taiwan , they are better than cold sandwiches. Though there weren’t many restrooms, there wasn’t a long line waiting outside of it. Drivers needed to serve themselves if they need gasoline, you know, just insert coins in it.

It was noon when we finally arrive Brussels , the capital of Belgium . The weather wasn’t good (the wet street showed that it had been raining), and the cloudy weather made the streets looks even older. I barely see any modern buildings on the way, and the strange thing is, you can see small radar receivers on the balcony. o.0 I guess it’s for Internet or TV something like that. = =

Since it was noon, our first stop it to enjoy lunch, though I wasn’t hungry at all. We went into a restaurant ( Sharon said it’s famous), and it actually looked more like a bar at the first glance. I like the decoration; it makes people wants to relax in it. :) If going into the bathroom, a woman will be standing in front of the entrance telling you to pay 0.3€ as something like tip. o.0

餐廳一樓

We had a three-course meal. There were bread and butter on the table when we arrive, and the butter tasted great. It’s different that the ones I had had before. The appetizer, however, wasn’t really good, it was too fishy, and I don’t know what it is. The mussels were pretty good though, the also served fries as well. There was one of us who didn’t like seafood, so I gave her my fries, and they also tell the waiter to bring more bread.

Sharon and Edison ordered beer to go with the mussel. Lisa kept interrupting their conversation by asking them if she can have a tip. I think that the dish was good enough without the beer. :) Dessert was EXCELLENT. I’ve never ate such a tasty waffle before. The cream on it is a delicacy itself. >_< Most of us like the dessert. :))))

令人一口接著一口的甜點 >//<

After the meal, we headed to the Grand Place . It was really cloudy, which makes us feel colder. Unlike other places, not much people were walking on the street while we’re on the way to the Grand Place . It proved that I was wrong as soon as we got there.

There were a lot of chocolate stores on the street. Sharon introduced a bakery which sells traditional bread and snacks. Well, there weren’t many customers if it’s a famous one. = = Sharon also introduced us a chocolate shop called Leonidas, which she said was one of the cheaper chocolate stores. I also saw a Haagen-Daz ice cream shop and Carrefour as well! But their Carrefour is more like a supermarket, than a hypermarket.

就是這間麵包店,不過說真的裡面沒什麼人

We finally get to the Grand Place . It was a square with 4~ 5 bigger buildings surrounding it and the buildings were all gothic (I guess). One of them were under renovation, so they put the original photo on the outside it, so we couldn’t see it. It’s better than seeing the broken building itself.

 布魯塞爾大廣場~

A few pictures later, we headed to the Manneken Pis (尿尿小童). There were a lot of chocolate shops on the way, and also a few waffle stores with the sweet, alluring smell coming out of them. We went pass a building with one of its side painted famous comic series ‘Tintin’, with the caption, Tintin, and his dog getting down the stairs.

丁丁歷險記的三大主角

We were attracted by a statue of Vincent Van Gogh (梵谷) that stands tilted on a box. Actually, we didn’t notice that it’s a statue until we found the unwrapped water bottles behind it. :P The owner of it then came while a few of us were poking it, and few of us took picture with him before we left.

I might have walked pass the Manneken Pis without noticing it if Sharon didn’t tell me to look at the left corner. The statue is much smaller than I thought, only about 50cm ! The whole fountain was fenced at the corner with some tourists surrounding it. There’s a Chinese tourist group then, so we all listened to the explanation together. The guide told us that in some special holidays, there will be beer coming out of the fountain instead of water! I wonder how they can take a sip of the beer when it was fenced. :D

尿尿小童(真的很小一隻!)

The famous chocolate brand, Godiva, is right across the Manneken Pis, selling chocolate smoothie and chocolate. All of us, however, went into the Leonidas because we were told that this one is cheaper. It’s not actually what we called ‘cheap’. The chocolate inside is about the price that we can easily found in chocolate stores. It also sells ice cream, and it’s the cheapest ice cream I’ve seen in these days, it only costs 1€ per ball. Sharon gave all of us a treat, and I chose the chocolate flavor again. :)) Yum~ It tasted really good even in the cold weather.

The delicious smell of waffles floats in the air, teasing our sense. One of us was going to buy one, but there were too many people waiting in line, so she gave up her mind. I don’t think that all of the waffles costs 1€ if they put fruit and chocolate on it. At least all of them look delicious and tasty.

There were a few statues of Manneken Pis on the street and in the chocolate stores. One of the stores even has seven of them lined up in front of the window, painted in seven different colors! We went into every chocolate store on the street; I was disappointed when I found that not all stores have small slices for customers to try out. :P

I didn’t buy much chocolate, not even the souvenirs. In fact, I bought a T-shirt that was printed with the word ‘chocolate’ that has the design similar to Coca cola. :D One of the T-shirt has a lot of flags on it, and it says ‘ Brussels The capital of Europe ’. :) It’s a glad thing to find Taiwan ’s flag on it. ^ ^ I get some ‘cheap’ chocolate from Carrefour when I was leaving the Grand Place . I regret to buy it because I finished it, and it got me too full for dinner. :(

There is a ruin underground covered by glass besides the road. I think it will be a fun thing to have a closer look at the remained brick house on the platforms below, but none of us know how to get down there. A record store stood besides it, and there’s a bullet hole or something on the window, which makes it freaky.

There’s time left after the shopping, and most of the people in our group sat on the stairs of a public building (I forgot what it is, but I think it’s Bourse Beurs) waiting for dinner time. I was the only one to leave there and get myself a walk in the alleys. I was afraid to get too far, but it’s a great thing to have tourist maps on the sidewalk.

There weren’t many people on the road, not even the people living there. I first went to an old…station I guess, but it’s a café now. :P Seeing there’s more time, I walked further to a church. Without the cross on the roof, I wouldn’t recognize it as a church. :P People draw pictures on the walls, I found a branch sticking out of a tree, but the branch is drew on the white wall behind it. :D

  真的很不像教堂的教堂

It’s easy to get lost here in Brussels , the streets and alleys weren’t straight. I tried not to walk on the same street again while wandering there. There’s another supermarket called LIDL, and the things there are cheaper than Carrefour! The 2L bottle Cola costs only 0.57€ with Pringles 1.75€! o.0 It might sound expensive, but it’s cheap here. However, the serves is pretty bad, this is my first time to see cashier ‘staring’ at me, just because I wanted to pay when she is leaving for a tea break.

We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant that serves Chaozhou (潮州) food. They have heavier flavors than Taiwanese dishes, but I was surprised that I enjoyed the meat ball with slight taste of ginger in it. :D Good news is you don’t have to pay for the toilet here; you do have to pay for the toilet in the McDonald nearby. :P

The hotel wasn’t in downtown, there’s actually quiet a distance from the downtown, because we got onto the highway. It took us a while to get to the hotel, and all of us were surprised to see such a great hotel after climbing up the hill. There were a few buildings there and I didn’t know if all of them belong to the same one.

The hotel room is GREAT, I mean, it’s better and bigger than the hotel we stayed in France . All of us were on the fifth floor which is the highest floor, and every room has a small balcony! :D Our room faced the parking lot and the trees surrounded on the outside with houses standing in it. Flo and Becca live next door, and they came into our room to take a look at the picture besides to closet, for they said every room is different.

There is free coffee and tea bags on the table, and also a safe in the closet. The coffee package is different than the ones in Taiwan . It wasn’t three in one, but has the coffee, the sugar and the creamer in three different packages. What’s better, the hotel provides free Internet for the occupants here!

That night, I don’t know where Karen goes, but I spend myself in the room using the Internet and served myself with coffee and the chocolate chip biscuits. :)) How I had wished to stayed in a hotel like this when we were staying in France . Well, it must coast a lot if we did. :P

     咖啡+餅乾=宅的一晚