Europe Trip: Belgium > Brussel! (06/06/07)

Another thing to take note is that there are comic strips or comical pictures painted on quite a number of buildings in Brussels. Not just that, there is also a comic museum for those who comic lovers. I also found a few comic shops along the street while I was here...with all comics translated in the English version! :D

We left our hostel in the early morning and headed straight for the flea market!The scale of this flea market is actually rather a small one, selling mainly secondhand goods and antiques. There is already quite a crowd when we arrived here in the morning...well who don't like treasure hunting in the flea market right? :PFor me, the stuffs that are sold here is very much different from the flea market we had back home. You can really find those old European style collectibles, musical boxes and utensils that are overpriced in those antique shops you find in most Asian countries. Paintings, I noticed, are pretty much a popular item to be sold here as well. Oh manz...I feel like I am walking into the scenes in the English movies...ha! :DBrussels (french: Bruxelles; dutch: Brussel; german: Brüssel) is, not only the capital of Belgium, but also the capital of Flanders (consisting of both the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region) and of the French Community of Belgium. Hence, it is very often that you get to see shop names spelled in French or Flemish.

And if you ever bumped into this road stall when you are in Belgium, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you to have a meal there! There were people filming and interviewing some of the locals when we were having our lunch by the roadside here...needless to say the food is super delicious! :DThere are not much varieties of dishes on the menu but there are always people waiting and queueing behind the standing table, waiting to give their orders too. To make thing worse, the menu on the chalkboard is in French and there is NO English menu at all! Both Daryl and I really just play guessing games while we place our orders. In the end, we got ourselves a plate of silver fishes, salmon burger...

...and a escargot soup!

What attracts me to this stall that you can taste really high class seafood and super quality french food here...at a roadstall!!! You will be surprise the people who dine, standing to the table at the counter, are all well-dressed working group. Yet, the price for the food is very reasonable and in fact cheaper than most places providing the same quality of food...MUST TRY!!! :DAfter the nice seafood lunch, we headed for the icon of Brussels -- the Atomium!Built for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo '58), the 103-metre (335-foot) tall Atomium monument represents a unit cell of an iron crystal (body-centred cubic), magnified 165 billion times, with vertical body diagonal, with tubes along the 12 edges of the cube and from all 8 vertices to the centre.

See there are many ways to 'play' with this crystal structure wor...hahaha...lolThis hamster running wheel look-alike is actually the wheel for spinning out the lucky numbers for the lottery! Hahaha....ooops! :PFrom the Atomium, we took the bus back to the central to look for the very thing we need to buy for our friends and family -- the Belgium chocolate (street)!The whole stretch of this street is dedicated to the high class chocolate and pastries.

Wittamer (above) is famous for their pastries and also chocolate as it is the brand that is used by the Royal family of Belgium. It was said that when there is functions for the Royalties, they would order the pastries from Wittamer. Just look at the range of cakes there! Awww... *drool*Guess how much this tiny piece of chocolate cake (with a gold foil on top) cost me?

[Hint: I bought it from Wittamer...to have a little Royalty experience.]

Well, the answer is EUR7.50 (approx SGD15) for a tiny piece of cake like this that you can finish it in just one gulp! Burnt a big hole in my wallet manz...OUCH! :S An expensive lesson learnt here: REMEMBER TO CHECK FOR THE PRICE BEFORE YOU ORDER!!!

But after tasting it, I can understand why the wealthiest and the royalties would order their pastries from. It is probably one of the best cake you can ever get in Belgium, or even the world.

But beating Wittamer's chocolate is this shop that has its own individual building -- Pierre Malcolini. Wittamer is more well-known for their pastries but not as much a specialist in chocolate. Whereas, Pierre Malcolini, after research, is the most expensive chocolate in the whole of Belgium. Wanna know why?THERE these are the Macolini's chocolate. In the shop, you will find the display of the chocolate is similar to those jewelleries display in the jewellery shops: Both looks like the precious treasures that the owner will risk his life to protect them from harm and patiently waiting for its rightful owner to buy them home...This is the box of chocolate from Malcolini that I exclusively bought for mummy and daddy. It costs me EUR17.50 (SGD 35) for this box of 250g chocolate (or 32 pieces in total).

I would say for this price, it is considered quite high for chocolates alone. But you will be surprised that there are lots more higher pricing chocolates here in Singapore, like Godiva is one of them. And if Pierre Malcolini's chocolate is ever sold here, I believe it will inflat by many times higher...heehee... :P

It's dinner time...and for the last night here in Belgium, I am going to eat my Belgium mussels!Look at the big, juicy Belgium mussels! Does this picture make you drool? Hahaha... :PLike the tourist street back in France, this street in Belgium is also a food street meant for the tourists as every restaurant offers you with the 3 course meal (entry, main, dessert) at approx. 12-18 EUR. So the only thing you need to choose when picking the perfect dinning place is the ambience and interior designs, the variety of food it offers and the friendly services.

For us, we picked this simply but elegant restaurant in which we even bargain for two free glasses of white wine before we enter...which the owner is more than happy to offer us! :)) After dinner, Daryl brought me to experience the Belgium beer at his favourite place which brews its own beer -- A la Mort Subite.

The shop is very spacious and surprisingly crowded even on the weekday. I ordered the draught beer (meaning the house beer which is poured straight from the barrels)...it taste great! I also tried a few other fruit beers from the shop coz I simply cant resist the fruitty taste of the beers.

Ladies, if you can't stand the bitterness of the normal beer, get yourself a fruit beer next time if you need to...though be aware too that fruit beer has a slightly higher alcohol level than normal beer too...so don't drink too much of it... *wink*

One last look at Brussels before going back to hostel. The streets are always packed with people dinning out under the big umbrellas, enjoying either a cup of rich coffee or a big glass of the good Belgium beer...and guess what the sun only sets around 11pm in the summer...woohoo! Reaching the train station early the next morning to catch the Eurorail back to London, marking the end of my 18 days Europe backpacking trip around 10 places and 4 countries:

Warsaw, Krakow, Ausztwich and Birkenau(Poland); Prague (Czech Republic); Vienna (Austria); Venice, Florence, Pisa, Rome (Italy); Brussels (Belgium).

Saying goodbye is always the hardest thing to do when you don't want it to end... *sobz*