The Hustle and Bustle of Brussels

The next day, I got up with more than enough time to repack before getting onto the metro to get to the Thalys train station for Brussels. When I walked onto the platform and was looking lost as I usually do when I'm taking a new form of transportation, an older gentleman stopped me and started saying something in French while making hand motions to his face and something far in the distance. I could pick up some words like beautiful and incomparable so I figured it must have been a compliment so I stood there and smiled as he finished talking. When he finished, I gave him that "Desolée mais je ne parle pas le français" apologetic face and so he translated what he said to some broken English and it had something to the effect of "I paint many beautiful landscapes and when I saw your face, I thought that it is incomparable to what I have painted." I smiled and said thank you and he gave me his website to look at his paintings (readers, you can decide if what he said is a compliment or not - www.philippepingusson.wix.com/peintures-paris). With that, he walked away and I found a nice little pillar to sit down next to while I waited to board my train.

The Thalys train

Sitting next to a pillar munching on last night's baguette

Like Superman!(?)

With a short one hour train ride, I made it to Brussels right in time for the rain to come down. My couchsurfing host, Frederik (Fré) had told me that he had a short two hour break in the middle of the day because he is a chef so we had planned to meet up during his work break. I had about an hour and a half before his break so I walked close to where his flat was and ducked into a little bar called Coq D'Or and waited out the rain. The bartender kept looking at me because I sipped my beer very slowly to try to make it last the full hour or so that I had to wait. I took the time to add to my blog post for Ireland and watched this older man play some sort of pinball on two machines side by side but it looked like he was also placing bets on some sort of screen so I'm not exactly sure what the game was.
Finally getting a text from Fré, I quickly gathered my things and walked up the street to his flat. Once I put down my things in his flat and saw that Fré had exactly the same Ikea foldout couch as my previous host, Clem. I thought that was pretty funny and I wonder if lots of my hosts will have the same couch but we shall see. So since the rain had subsided and Fré had some time for lunch, we walked to a small little square near his and had a bit of lunch. With my cappuccino, they gave me a little piece of chocolate and apparently chocolate comes with everything! Well, almost. I ordered a yummy carrot and cardamom soup and croque something that is like a grilled cheese but with goat cheese and zucchini. The menu was written in French on one side and Flemish on the other side but Fré told me that very few people speak Flemish. He told me that there's tension between the Flemish, French, and I think English speakers in Brussels but told me it was fine to speak English in most places.

Cappuccino with chocolate

Yummy lunch

After lunch, Fré was really thoughtful about recommending where I should go to explore because in my planning, Brussels had come as an afterthought so I didn't really know where to start. So Fré pulled up a map and showed me all the things I should see and recommended a path to take to check them all out before he had to head back to work. I guess I didn't realize how tired I was because I sat down for a bit to type some more for my blog and ended up falling asleep after he left. But the wonders a little nap will do!
Feeling refreshed, I went to explore the different things that Fré had recommended that would lead me to the city centre to meet him after work. I started at the Palais de Justice where I could get an elevated view of Saint-Gilles, the part of Brussels that I was in, and since it was getting dark, I got to see the city lit up. Walking around to the other side of the building, there's a huge elevator that brings you down to the lower street but there was no button to call the elevator so while I searched for a button, someone was coming up on it so I didn't have to search for too long.

View from the Palais de Justice

Elevator going down

Taking the elevator down, I knew that I was walking in the general direction towards the Mont des Arts and passed by a nicely painted alleyway so followed that path. As long as I knew that I was going in the right direction, I continued to take little paths and wandered a bit on little streets. I passed what looked like an old piece of a castle wall next to a newer looking building and a bowling alley and later, when I showed Fré the contrast of it, he told me that it was the remnant of the wall that used to surround Brussels. After a bit more wandering and following the very well-marked signs, I got to the Mont des Arts but wasn't sure that I was actually there because I had followed the signs but didn't know what to look for when I got there but I knew it was worth going to because Fré had recommended that I go. It was really peaceful to walk through the garden and the lights that were along the side of the museum created different colored shadows which was really cool so I took some time playing with my shadows. This night walk was kind of surreal because as I continued to walk, I could hear the smooth sounds of a saxophone being played in the distance. Walking up the steps, I found the saxophonist so gave him a few coins that were in my pocket, making sure that they were all Euro coins of some denomination.

The alleyway I turned into

A cathedral

Cool store front

Remnants of the old wall around Brussels

The gardens at the Mont des Arts

Playing with my shadow

View from the end of the gardens

Up the steps where I found the saxophonist

Getting out of my dreamlike state, I headed to the park and passed by the Royal Palace of Brussels on the way. There were a lot of runners out at the park which made me realize how out of shape I'm probably getting... I didn't walk through the park because it was dark and there were red cloths on all the lamps throughout the park which gave it this eerie feeling. So I walked the perimeter, having runners pass me every so often. Even though Fré didn't recommend it, I went to find the Manneken Pis which is apparently a huge tourist attraction and it was on the way to where I was supposed to meet Fré anyway so I went. It was this cute little statue on the side of a building and worth the detour because that's where I found a waffle shop. Fré told me that waffles aren't a thing for locals but I had to be a tourist and get one anyway.

Walking along and came upon this large square

The park welcomed me!

The Royal Palace of Brussels

The eerie park

I just liked the sign all the way on the right :)

The Manneken Pis

Waffle!

With my waffle in hand, I walked towards the Bourse, where I was supposed to meet Fré. The Bourse was bustling with crowds of people and looked like there were lots of little restaurants and other businesses along the little side streets. Fré asked if I passed La Grand Place on my way there and I wasn't sure because I had taken little side streets but he said I would have known if I did and he was right because when we walked there, the path opened up to this huge courtyard with these amazingly grand (haha) buildings. One building was supposed to be symmetrical but apparently the money to build the entire building ran low so one side is shorter by a section which I thought was what gave it personality.

Asymetrical building at La Grand Place

Perpendicular to the asymmetrical building

Next to the previous building

Fre said that this is one is his favorite.

Another building at La Grand Place

After walking through La Grand Place and finally figuring out how to eat my waffle, we made it to Delirium Café which is the biggest beer bar in the world, having 2003 different types of beer available in 2003 and I think now, they have close to or over 3000. I never would have thought that there could be so many different types and brands of beers! The lower level had the ceiling and walls completely covered with model bottle caps for different beers and it just looked really retro I think would be the word to use. By the end of the night, I had tried six different types of beer, two of which I ordered in French - a banana-flavored one, a coconut-flavored one, a cherry-flavored one, a raspberry-flavored one, a Karmeliet, and an Orval. Not a beer connoisseur yet but I'm getting there!

Taco technique for waffle

Cheers to a new friend!

Bottle caps everywhere!

Paris

Bonjour! I really had to dig deep into the dark corners of my memory to pick out some French words I recognized because I just felt like a silly Americaine (all french words are said in a french accent in my head as I write this) most of the time in Paris even though it was just a quick little trip. The metro line looked comparable to that of New York's so it was actually pretty easy to get from the bus station to Clement's, my Couchsurfing host, and as much as I try to not look like a tourist, it gets pretty difficult when you're carrying a large orange travel pack.

The metro map - Pretty easy to navigate

Scrabble in the Metro?

Luckily, Clement spoke fluent English so we didn't have to play any charades. I just felt bad every time he had to translate between me and his friends. But anyway, even though it was fairly late when he got finished with work and I met him, we still grabbed a drink down the street, where his friend owned the bar. I spent most of the night just staring at them while they spoke because I was trying to pick up the words I recognized but I guess it must have looked pretty awkward of me so every so often, they would ask Clement a question to translate or they would try to speak to me in English. They also gave me a drink called anise I believe because it's a traditional French drink but none o them liked it so wanted to get my opinion. It was odd and I couldn't figure out what it tasted like but as I almost finished it, I realized it tasted like licorice and I'm not a huge fan of licorice. No more anise for me.

Ikea sofa bed

Since I felt so bad having to need a French translator, I'm making the commitment to relearn French and to come back after having a better speaking knowledge of it. I know I might feel like that after going to every new country that doesn't speak primarily English but for starters, French.
The next day called for a lot of rain but I was on a mission to see everything so with my trusty hoodie and rain boots, I was off. Since Clement lived in the northern part of Paris, I started at the Sacre Cœur and walked around it to get to what I believe were palace steps. I stumbled upon what looked like a very touristy marketplace and there were artistes walking around asking if we wanted to get our picture drawn. I walked through the little shops then decided that my first french sustenance was going to be crêpes so I got one with nutella and bananas. Yum! And I continued to walk through the marketplace and down the palace steps when these street hustlers approached me. There were a bunch of people selling bags and hats and trying to talk to people and I tried to avoid them the best I could but one of them somehow got a hold of my hand and he wrapped a string around my finger. I kept pulling my hand away but he kept making conversation and telling me that it was okay. I told him that I had nothing to give him but he kept on anyway until he wrapped the bracelet around my wrist and told me it was Hakuna Matata. I told him I didn't have anything to give him but he insisted that since I was American, he was going to be nicer to me and I could give him whatever I wanted so I just grabbed a two euro coin from my pocket and gave it to him. That will be the only time I am getting swindled!

Sacre Coeur

With guards outside

Touristy marketplace

Front view of the Sacre Coeur

View of Paris

Paris "souvenirs"

Waiting for my crepe!

Crepes!

The Hakuna Matata... Apparently

By the time I got down the palace steps, the rain had started just a soft drizzle and it wasn't too bad by the time I walked by the Moulin Rouge. Lots of sex shops near there. I had already mapped out my route in my head so the Arc de Triomphe was next but it was a bit of a way away so I tried to walk under overhangs as much as possible to stay somewhat dry. That didn't happen and the rain started to really come down at one point. To try to stay dry when it started to rain harder, I was looking for some sort of café but many places were closed due to it being Sunday. However, I did pass by this one boulangerie with so many different fresh breads that I was just overwhelmed by the fresh-smelling carbs. I wanted to get one of those stereotypical French baguettes and walk around eating it all day but I was not tempted by the idea of soggy bread so I ate a few samples and continued on. I'm so glad that there were many bus stops with maps that point out where you are and shows you a radius of where you can go in approximately five minutes and ten minutes by foot. I kept looking at those maps to make sure I was going in the right direction. One or two times, I found that I had taken a random turn and had to backtrack but there was always something to see so it was alright.
Finally making it to the Arc de Triomphe, it was really cool from afar but I couldn't figure out how everyone was getting to the actual structure so I looked around to see if anyone was walking directly through the large roundabout above ground to see if I could follow suit but no one was so I searched for a tunnel of some sort. Eventually I found it and joined all the other tourists in the center. The Arc is pretty much a hub for streets and I circled around to find the right one to get me to the Eiffel Tower and trudged on. Finally arriving there, I walked along the river while staring at the Tower. The stony street reminded me of one scene in Ratatouille and I couldn't help but smile thinking that I'm actually in Paris. I did that on a few occasions throughout the day and it still amazes me as I write this.

The Moulin Rouge

Shops after the Moulin Rouge

Walking through the rainy streets

Le pain!!

The park has such nice gates

Just randomly beautiful architecture I saw while walking across a small street

Getting close!!

Le Arc de Triomphe

Got to the center!

There are actually a lot of electric car chargers out and about

Walking away from the Arc

Made it to the Eiffel Tower!

Before getting to the Eiffel Tower, this is what lies across from a beautiful view of it.

Place de la Concorde

The Notre Dame was next and I walked along the river and passed by this market that seemed to be sampling all types of local foods. I tried some different cheeses which were very delicious and when someone tried to talk to me, I could only reply with an apologetic "Je ne parle pas le français." Walking across the bridge to get to the Notre Dame, there were so many locks with names on the railings to the point that there were larger metals pieces coming out horizontally from the railing to make room for more locks. And all along the streets, there were stands set up to sell drawings and postcards and various other Paris paraphernalia. Actually, it was all quite cute to me.

Local food market

As I walked along the river, I passed by so many beautiful structures that, to be honest, I'm not quite sure which was which. I do know that I crossed the river when I had gotten to the Notre Dame. After passing by the Notre Dame, my last planned stop was the Louvre. When I got there, there were so many people taking pictures like they were holding the pyramid structure that I was wondering if I should do that as a tourist but I decided against it and sat down to people watch for a bit. At this point, the rain had subsided so it was actually nice to sit down and just enjoy the fact that I was in Paris. As I walked to find a metro station, I passed by a lot of large fountain areas with people sitting around so I joined them. At this point, I had been walking for about seven hours so sitting was nice.
When I finally got up to walk again, I made my way out of the gardens that surround the Louvre and noticed that several of the notable sights were all nicely aligned with each other. From one direction, I could see the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower right behind it and from another direction, I was able to see the Arc right behind the Louvre pyramid. It was pretty convenient how these structures are situated.

The Notre Dame

The Notre Dame - side view 

Walking across the River

The Notre Dame up close

The pyramid at the Louvre

I made it! Nice out now

Chilling out by the fountains

Finally making it back to Clement's, we decided to cook a small dinner which I was actually really excited for since I haven't had a home-cooked meal in over a week and I had a knackering for one. So with that decision, we went to a local supermarket to get some ingredients and cooked ourselves a very non-french dinner of pasta with some veggies and lardons, which is like little chunks of pork that look similar to bacon. After some dinner and wine, we headed out to a little bar called Le Super Coin and I tried some different beers of which the names I don't remember. While at the bar, I attempted to roll a cigarette (the French smoke a lot!) but wasn't too successful. However, I did hash a plan to cut Clement's hair because he mentioned that he needed a haircut so after trying the three different beers on tap at Le Super Coin and talking to some Swedes, we made our way back to Clement's and I ended my last night in Paris as an amateur hairstylist.

The sliced baguette looked like bunnies!

Italian dinner?

Dessert - La religieuse chocolat

Snapchat geotag of Paris at Le Super Coin

Petit coin (small corner) is what the French call the bathroom for little kids and we were at Le Super Coin :)

Attempting to roll a cigarette

Success?

Being a hairstylist