Chocolate wasted in Brussels

This weekend we decided to keep the travelling light, and just do a day trip to Brussels, Belgium. The trip was 4 hours and £5 each way, courtesy of Megabus (Yes they have that here too! This one is run by the UK). We arrived to Brussels at 3:30PM and it was rainy and gloomy, but I had worn my Hunter boots so I wasn't too phased by it - Vivian: 1, Rain: 0.

We walked to Galeries Royales St. Hubert and made our way through a few of the stores. The first store we stopped at? A chocolatier of course. The chocolate stores smelled beyond heavenly. There were so many different types of chocolate, I just wanted to eat them all. Letizia managed to snag a free sample even though they didn't really give out samples... something she was quite the expert at doing the whole day. After, we stopped briefly at a small market before finding a restaurant that served Belgian fries, something that Belgium is apparently famous for. We found ourselves at Belgian Frit 'n Toast where we each ordered a cornet of fries, and dipping sauces. I found their Andalouse sauce (a mixture of ketchup, mayo, and pepper) the best tasting, so I recommend trying that if you ever decided to order Belgian fries. Not really a fries person anymore, I didn't find the fries themselves to be anything particularly special, just that they were very potato-y.

Inside Galeries Royales St. Hubert

Window display of a chocolate shop

They don't look too special, do they...

Being the Statue of Liberty

After we finished our fries, we tried finding the Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate. We asked at least 3 different people but we still couldn't find it. We made our way towards the Grand Place, which was absolutely stunning, even in the rain. For those who don't know what the Grand Place is, it is essentially a square surrounded by buildings on all four sides, one of which is Town Hall.

Grand Place

Brussels Town Hall

After walking around the square, we eventually learned that the chocolate museum had already closed for the day, so we had to think of other things to do for the rest of our time in Belgium. We made our way down a street to look for more chocolate shops. We stopped at La Belgique Gourmande, as well as Elisabeth, where we did some serious damage. I bought lots of chocolate to bring back home as souvenirs and a few truffles for myself which were simply delicious. We wandered through the streets of Brussels, looking for more chocolate shops and just exploring the city. We somehow managed to unintentionally find the Manneken Pis, which is a famous statue of a little boy peeing into the fountain.

Chocolate spoons you mix into hot milk to create hot chocolate - these ones involved alcohol

Our collective chocolate haul

Manneken Pis

Manneken Pis corkscrews...

We then decided to go find our much awaited Belgian waffles. We picked The Waffle House, mainly because it had seating for its customers, as opposed to many of the small waffle shops where you could only grab a waffle and go. I decided on a legere waffle with dark Belgian chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Legere waffles are made with a dough instead of a batter, and has little pieces of sugar in it which makes it sweet and fluffy. People are not lying when they say Belgian waffles are amazing. The waffle I had was the best waffle I had ever tasted, words cannot even describe... I'm drooling again just looking at the photo.

At this point it was around 9:30, and we had nothing else to do. We decided to go watch Taken 2 (something we were supposed to watch back in Paris but didn't end up going) to kill a few more hours before our 2AM bus back home. We went to a UGC, and wow, boy were we surprised when we got into the actual theatre. It was painted and decorated with gold, the seats were ridiculously comfortable, and the screen was huge. However the movie itself was mediocre. There really was no storyline, and was just packed with fight scenes and car chases. After the movie, we stayed in the theatre for a bit, waited for everyone to leave, and then ran to the front of the stage and started prancing and dancing around. We eventually saw that one of the employees was watching and laughing at us from the top part of the theatre where they projected the movie. By this point, it was 12AM so we found a Quick burger restaurant to sit at where we killed an hour before making our way to the bus stop.

Inside the theatre

Private ballet show?

Irish for the weekend

Our original plan for this past weekend was to go to Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest. However we found out the whole trip was going to cost us quite a bit of money, so we decided to go to Dublin, Ireland instead.

Our flight was at a normal time so we didn't have to wake up too too early. We were flying out of Paris BVA so we had to take a 1.5hr shuttle bus from the Port Maillot bus station, which I hated because that particular bus always made me carsick. 

Once we got to Dublin, we got into a taxi and realized that the cars drove on the opposite side of the road there, and that the driver's seat was on the left instead of the right. I sat in the passenger seat so it was definitely really trippy to be in that seat while the car was moving, but it wasn't I who was driving it!

We then arrived at our hotel where we checked in, expecting to get a king sized bed for the 4 of us to share (which is what we originally booked), but when we got to our room, we found 2 single beds and a double bed. It was a super pleasant surprise!

We then went to explore Dublin, and very soon I noticed Dublin reminded me a lot of Toronto! The buildings were not too old (like in Paris or the other countries we have visited), and everything was actually in English. We had lunch at KC Peaches which one of our new Irish friends recommended to us, and it was absolutely delicious!

Grafton Street

KC Peaches

After that we wanted to go to Penneys, and asked one of the waitresses where the nearest one was. The waitress was kind enough to come out from behind the counter and stand in the street to draw us a map and give us directions. People in Ireland are so nice! On our way to Penneys, we found a Tim Hortons inside of a Spar convenience store. It was soo weird and unexpected! Let's just say Letizia and Karen were beyond ecstatic. We then get to Penneys, and let me tell you... Penneys is THE best store in the entire universe, I cannot even express my love for it. I spent a ridiculous amount of money there but got the best stuff for so cheap! (ie. a thick circle scarf for 4€, slipper socks for 1.50€, shoes for 12€... what?!) I ended up buying 4 pairs of shoes and it was a mission and a half to fit all my purchases into my backpack. I ended up having to wear 2 thick scarves and my hat, shove my slipper socks into my jacket pockets, and hide my purse and camera under my jacket for the plane. Shopping in Europe is seriously the best, so many cute things and more variety than in Canada. 

Tim Hortons section

My Penneys purchases! (with the exception of a few small items)

Anyway, kind of went off on a tangent there... back to Dublin. After Penney's, we went to get fish & chips at Leo Burdock's, a place that the hotel recommended. When we got there, we found out that many celebrities such as Tom Cruise and Jackie Chan have also eaten there which was pretty cool. The portions at Leo's were HUGE for the price we paid. I don't think I had ever seen a bigger piece of fish! The taste of the fish & chips itself was not bad... it was pretty good but I've had better. After dinner, we met up with Brianne's friend who was on exchange in Dublin, along with some of her new friends. We headed over to Temple Bar, in the Temple Bar area, where we had a few drinks. There, we actually met a guy from London who had gone on exchange to ISC Paris a few years back. What a small world!

Leo Burdock fish & chips

Dublin at night

Yummiest drink

The next day, we met up with one of Rebecca (one of our new Irish friends)'s best friend, Sarah. She took us to a crepe place called Lemon Crepe & Coffee Co. where we grabbed breakfast and chatted for a bit. Then, she took us through Stephens Green Park and Trinity College (where she actually went to school!). After we explored the streets of Dublin some more, and then stopped to get 99ers, something Letizia was the most excited for. 99ers are soft serve vanilla ice cream cones with Flake bars stuck into the side. They were deelicious! Best soft serve I had had in a while. We then went to Penneys (again) where we picked up a few more items, before saying goodbye to Sarah and making our way to the Guinness Storehouse. 

Lemon

Pretty fall scenery at Stephens Green

Trinity College

Us with our 99ers

At the Guinness Storehouse, we learned about the Guinness brewing process, got to taste test some of the beer, and finally learned to pour our own pints!! I would say I like the taste of Guinness in small amounts, but I definitely could not finish a whole pint to myself. We also got to go to the Gravity Bar at the top floor of the storehouse for some panoramic views of Dublin.

Not a fan of the taste

Us with our Perfect Pint certificates!

After we left Guinness, we went for dinner at a greek restaurant named Corfu. I ordered feta pies to start (SO good), chicken souvlaki, and baklava for dessert. We ended up staying at the restaurant for like 3 hours because the waiter would never come to our table. 

Feta pies

We then went back to our hotel where we all struggled to pack our new goodies into our backpacks, and then just had a chill night in since we had to wake up at 3AM for our flight back to Paris. When we got to the airport, there was a lot more repacking of items and Brianne and Letizia even had to buy a water bottle from a duty free store so that they could get the plastic bag to put all their leftover items in it that wouldn't fit into their backpacks. 

My airport attire

All in all, Dublin was a fun city, especially to shop! Penneys, I will forever love you ♥

Bull Fights and Palaces

Continuing on our Spain adventure, our next stop was Madrid. Our flight was delayed 45 minutes so we were stuck sitting in the plane on the runway. Eventually we took off, and landed in sunny Madrid. What a change from the previous day's weather!

Streets of Madrid

We checked into our hotel, where we were informed that our friends that we were meeting up with were waiting for us at a nearby restaurant. We then met up with them, and made our way to the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas to catch a bull fight. Going into this, I didn't realize how gory and sad bull fights actually were. I didn't know that they actually killed the bull at the end, until a few days prior to that. There is definitely no way to prepare for what you actually see at the fight.

Las Ventas

The crew

First, let me say that the stadium was so cool! There were rows and rows of stone benches (somewhat like a baseball  stadium). We met a few people in the row in front of us who were from the US (Washington to be exact), who were there to teach English.

The stadium was pretty full

The bull fight began around 7pm with the entrance of all the people involved in the bull fights, such as the matadors, their assistants, and the picadores on their horses. To sum it up, a bullfight begins with a bull being let into the bullring, the assistants executing several moves with their capes to get the bulls going and figure out how they react. Then, a picador enters the ring on a horse and challenges the bull, and when the bull tries to charge at the him, the picador stabs the bull between its shoulder blades with a large sword. After, one of the assistants (or sometimes the matador himself) strategically stabs the bull with 6 barbed sticks between the shoulder blades to further weaken and anger the bull. At the end, the matador performs several more moves with his cape for the bull to charge at, and eventually when he gets the opportunity, he stabs the bull one last time with his sword and kills it. Then donkeys enter the bullring and pull the dead bull out of the ring. The first time I saw it happen from start to finish, I was in shock. It was beyond sad, and was pretty much animal cruelty. I still shudder at the thought of seeing the bull's blood dripping down its body. On a brighter note, one of the matadors reminded me of Antonio Banderas so we named him Antonio and got excited everytime he came into the stadium. He actually ended up getting hit by a bull's horn and got injured! But he ended up being okay (at least so I think...).

Entrance of everyone involved

One of the assistants with the bull

After the bull fight, we went to Plaza Mayor for dinner where I ordered paella. It was definitely not as good as the paella from the restaurant in Barcelona but was still okay. That night, someone had set up a large telescope and was offering free views of the moon with it. We took advantage of that and got to see the surface of the moon, which was pretty cool. After dinner, we headed back to my friends' hotel, where on the way we passed Puerta del Sol, as well as many people hassling us with free shots to go to their bar/club. At my friends' hotel, we sat on their balcony and popped bottles of sparkling wine and had a mini wine tasting. It was so chill, just sitting there listening to music and having glasses of wine. After, my friends went out but I was sick so I just headed back to the hotel and called it an early night.

Karen with the telescope

Plaza Mayor

Puerta del Sol

The next morning we woke up nice and early to go see the Palacio Real de Madrid, but when we got there, we realized it was closed to the public as there was a royal ceremony occuring that day. We watched the procession of soldiers and horses and cars, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone famous. Eventually nothing really great happened so we left, and went to hang out by a nearby cathedral and take in the beautiful weather.

Palacio Real de Madrid

Waiting for something exciting to happen...

In front of the church

After, on the way back to our hotel, we stopped by a few shops and did some shopping. There was a Pull & Bear there (one of my fave stores in Europe) and I found a pair of boots I really liked but they were just too expensive for what they were made of. We then made our way back to our hotel to grab our stuff and head to the airport to fly back to Paris.