Last week was reading week for me at TCD, but that also meant that I had two papers to write and a statistics problem set to finish. Luckily, some of my friends and I had planned for a trip at the end of reading week (After all of our work was due) to go to Belgium for a three day weekend. Even though I have traveled around Ireland a bit (and technically left the country when I went to Northern Ireland, it doesn't really count), this was the first time that I had gone to continental Europe. For an added bonus, my friend Amy (from Lycoming) is teaching English in France, and was able to come meet us in Belgium. It was great to see her after six months, and to see a familiar face from home.
Our trip started very early Saturday morning with a 4:30 am taxi ride to the airport for our 6:40 am flight to Brussels. It was a very quick flight (about an hour and a half), and after a taxi ride to our hostel, dropping off our luggage, getting a quick bite to eat and picking up Amy, we were off to the Zythos Beer Festival in St. Niklaas, in Flanders.
The beer festival was huge, there were over 200 variates of Belgian Beer, and people came from all over the world for this event. When you first enter, you buy tokens, however many you want, and "rent" a glass and trade tokens for a beer at any of the stands. We tried many different types of beer, but my favorites were Gulden Draak, Delirium Tremens, and Magnum.
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| At the festival |
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| The coasters for all of the beers available |
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| Me and Amy |
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On Sunday, we spent the day around Brussels. We walked down to the Grand Place, the medieval town square for a delicious French breakfast. From there, we went to see the Mannekin Pis, eat some waffles (what a trip be to Belgium without waffles?), got tea and coffee on a rooftop of a museum that overlooked the city, visited the Cathedral of Saint Micheal and Saint Gudula, and went to visit the Atomium, which was built for the 1958 World's Fair.
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| Grand Place |
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| Grand Place |
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| Our delicious breakfast |
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| Grand Place |
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| Grand Place |
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| Mural of TinTin |
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| Mannekin Pis, dressed up for the Academic Order of Saint Micheal |
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| Waffles! In Belgium, they are not breakfast foods, but street/snack food. |
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| The Waffles the Amy and I got. |
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| The Cathedral |
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| The group outside of the Cathedral and stained glass in the Cathedral (below) | | | |
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| Organ in the Cathedral |
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| A chapel in the Cathedral |
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| The Royal Palace |
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| The Atomium |
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| The Atomium |
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| The Grand Place light up at night |
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| The Grand Place light up at night | |
For Monday, our last day in Belgium, we checked out of our hostel and then headed off for a day full of politics naturally. Brussels is not only the capital of Belgium, but of the European Union, so we headed off to see the European Parliament and then got a briefing at the United States Mission to the European Union, which was set up by my classmate Clarissa, who had interned there.
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| Entrance to the European Parliament |
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| European Parliament |
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| Group shot at the EP |
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We then made our way to the airport for a very short (hour and fifteen minute) flight back to Dublin where lots of reading and statistics homework awaited. By any measure, I had a great time in Belgium. It was great to take a little vacation with a group of wonderful people, to see Amy, and practice my French (I remembered more than I thought I would, which is good). I can't wait until my next trip back to the continent!
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