Brussels, Belgium 29.02.2024

 Brussels, Belgium 

Travel day (29th February 2024) 

Now although this trip isn't solo as I am going with my dad and his GF it's still a new adventure, 28.2.24, we travelled up to London for the night, got a really cheap, pretty rubbish room for the night cost us £79 so only like £25 each but done the job just to sleep before catching the early Eurostar train, to London we caught the 18.48 train direct to London, walked round to St Pancras from Euston Station. The hotel we stayed in for the night was called The Belgrove Hotel and it was directly across from St Pancras so was perfect for location. We got up at 4.30am ready to go check in for the train. Was easy enough, go to departures, through security and 2 lots of passport control, ours and then the French. There was plenty to eat and drink in and around the train station, We got on the train and it was comfy, plenty of space and only took 2 hours to get to Brussels, only 1 stop on the way and that was at Lille. Once we arrived in Brussels we walked to our hotel which was about a 25 min walk through the streets of Brussels,, I think I'd be fine doing that on my own had I been solo felt pretty safe and a lot of people around. Once at our hotel (Bedford Hotel & Congress Centre - £273 - 3 nights incl bfast) we dropped our bags into the safe room as it was too early to check in and walked around the city. Of course it was raining but this didn't stop us, first stop was about a 5/10 min walk from the hotel and was the Grand Palace, a square that was surrounded by lovely buildings with gold on them, it looked pretty cool and I got some lovely pictures. 

Around the square there was a museum, Chocolate shops, Beer museum, Hard rock Cafe and each ally went off to more waffle and chocolate shops, Of course whilst there we went into a few chocolate shops and then completed the small brewery tour (2mins for €5), was very small (1 room) but got a drink included which was yumm! I had forgot how nice Belgium beers were. We walked out of the square and towards the central train station where we found Brewdog, so of course got my stamp, had a beer and some lunch. 

We met some nice people on our travels, the gentleman we spoke to in Brewdog gave us directions to the peeing boy so we walked about 25mins to the statue to get some pictures and have a look, the statue was much smaller than we expected and there was alot of people around taking pictures. 

Next, a chocolate tour at Choco-Story Brussels, this cost 14 Euro and was an interesting tour, we got to try some chocolate on our way round and although I am more of a savoury person than sweet the chocolate was very nice. Dad and Kaz went into a rum shop to have a look before we walked back to the hotel. Easy check in, got up to the room which was nice, I had a single room, was just perfect for what I needed, clean, tidy and on 7th floor so had a good view of the wheel. Once in and settled I had a nice rest and fell asleep for hr or so as we had done a lot of walking, especially for a first day and long day of travelling. Did manage to get back up at about 6pm and go to the rooftop bar in the hotel and had a couple of beers with Dad which was nice, before we settled in for the night ready for another long day of walking.

Day1 (1st March 2024)

I got up around 8.30am and had some breakfast, they had a good selection in the restaurant, once we was all ready we got the train up to the Atom, again a nice man helped us in the train station with getting a ticket and telling us where we needed to go. Once we found the right train it was easy enough, a 20 min train ride and we were there. Walked out of the station to the Belgium national football stadium and on the other side was the Atom. We did the tour of the Atom which was interesting, you got to walk up into each atom partical, each section had different information in from how they built it and different structures around the world, some nice views from up there as well, especially as by the time it opened and we went in it was pure blue sky, Tickets to the Atomium cost about 17 euro so a bit expensive but did also include entry to the design museum, but to be honest that wasn't our cup of tea, we didn't really enjoy walking round there and we found it a bit boring! We didn't really get it. Across the road there was a Japanese Comicon type thing going on so we saw a few randomly dressed people. 

Not far from the Atom there was a nice park we went through, we walked past a memorial for ours and the Belgium air force from WW2, a couple of Japanese type buildings which seemed really random. From there we went back to the train station and back into the centre of Brussels. We went to a lovely little traditional pub called Poechenellekelder, they had a massive beer menu! Dad and I tried 2 each in there at like 9% but they were lovely beers and would love to go back there and try more but this time we didnt have the time. We then found a lovely little local diner called B!9 mama and had some lunch which was also very nice, highly recommend visiting, moving on to having a waffle. Kaz had a Biscoff one and I had a caramel one, both very nice but very sweet. 

We then found a delirium beer cafe where Dad and I shared a taste board where we tasted 10 beers between us, most were around 8%, one was 12%! This cost us around 20Euro, these were mostly very nice, and a couple we weren't keen on. When we came out of the bar there was a band playing in the street, they were awesome, we had a good dance and followed them around the streets for about an hr before we left them to go and look at this shopping complex full of chocolate! We had a walk round there before heading back to the hotel where we had another couple of beers and some lovely bacon, cheesy chips!! A lot of beer for one day but as it was spread out through the day we didn't feel too bad by the end of it.

Day 2 (2nd March 2024)

Up early this morning to catch our tour bus to Luxembourg & Dinant (Get your guide - From Brussels: Luxembourg tour with Dinant visit - Cost £54 each), this trip was lovely, I met a girl who was travelling solo called Surina,  she sat with me on the coach and we got to know each other which was nice, she ended up staying with us for the whole trip, it took about 2 hours to get to Luxembourg and it is a beautiful, clean, fresh city and was a lot to see, our tour guide was lovely and very knowledgeable which made everything better, in our free time we went off and had lunch at a traditional Luxembourg restaurant, Surina and I had sausage in a white wine and mustard sauce with mash which was so good! 

After we finished in Luxembourg we went got back on the coach and onto Dinant, a very small town in Belgium. It was beautiful there, some lovely buildings/ architecture and the saxophone sculptures were du to the fact that the saxophone was invented there, hence all the pictures of them. Had to have a beer there as it is home to Leffe beer. 

Back on the coach and the 2 hours back to Brussels, we got there around 8pm and went back to the hotel, I was so tired by this point, just had a sprite and went to bed, but had such a good day.

Day 3 (3rd March 2024)

8.30 and went down for breakfast before leaving the hotel about 9.45 for our walk back to the Midi train station ready for the Eurostar back to London, all went smoothly and got back around 14.00 to London, by time we walked to Euston we was lucky as there was a fast train ready for us to get on and home about 15.30. Unpacked and straight to bed pretty much 😴.