totomai.net: Belgium

Friday, February 17, 2012

Belgium

I must write it NOW before I completely forget our trip to Belgium. After Denmark, Sweden and Germany, Belgium was next in the itinerary. This was the first time that the three of us (Kat, Caloy, Totomai) will be together after being constant e-mail pals with Caloy being the common link for the three of us. But our adventure didn’t start on a right note. After a mini-argument with the check-in officer, found out later that my baggage was left behind. The weather was perfect and we did not allow these misfortunes to ruin our mood. Paola, Kat's cousin who was based in Belgium, served as our walkathon guide.

Belgium is known for its waffles, beers and chocolates. Those three were our energizers throughout the trip. We should have checked our sugar in-take for that particular day. I must say the day was perfect. It was warm, everyone’s donning summer clothes and out of their houses. Perhaps Mr. Sun only rarely visit Brussels.

One of the popular attractions is the Manneken Pis. Normally the statue is naked but during our visit, it was fully clothed. There was some sort of ceremony / tradition that required the statue to be covered. This small piece of sculpture is like magnet attracting both foreigners and locals.

My favorite place would be the Atomium, with its name inspired to chemistry, it would be so wrong not to pick this spot. This is one amazing piece of work. Slightly off-topic, I recently saw The Amazing Race season 19 and this is the pit stop where my favorite team was eliminated.

atom formation

sized up a gazillion times

an elemental

Brussels is not that big. One day is enough to go from one place to another. There are lots of architectures but I cannot remember the names anymore. Staying at the heart of the city at night is a bonus treat. One can fully appreciate the majesty of these buildings.

The next day, we went to Brugge. Everyone claimed it to be Venice of the North but I haven’t been to Venice yet. So I'll let you decide by looking at these pictures whether it is indeed like Venice.

I wasn't rushing to finish this blog and please don't think it as an uninspired entry. I was just having a hard time looking back and at the same time, I'm thinking ahead on what to write down for our adventures in Luxembourg and Thionville.