Tea Time Travels

There are a few countries you can travel via the Eurostar train from London. This is a quick, easy, and extremely relaxing way to get to several European destinations. One of the places you can go from London is Brussels, Belgium. We decided to take a weekend in November and spend the night in Brussels.

We caught the Eurostar bright and early to allow for a full day on Saturday in Brussels. The train ride is just under two hours and by 10AM we arrived in the capital of Belgium. Unfortunately we didn’t have the best weather for our trip but were well equipped with our umbrellas. There was no way the weather could rain on our parade in such a lovely city!

After a delicious Belgian breakfast (no waffles yet) we visited Saint Michael and Saint Gudula Cathedral. The construction for the cathedral started in the 13th century and took about 300 years to finish. It was a beautiful cathedral with stunning stained glass.

We headed to the city square and admired the impressive architecture of the Grand-Place. Standing in the square you are surrounded by beautiful gothic style buildings with touches of gold details on all of the buildings. You could spend quite a bit of time just standing in the square taking in the stunning view.

As Belgium is known for their chocolate, we decided to go to the Chocolate Museum. Here we learned about the origins of chocolate production and how it grew into what we now know and love to snack on.

We learned how the Aztecs used cocoa butter to treat illness, and the French nobility and upper class would drink hot chocolate all day long in the 1600s. We got to sample a variety of delicious chocolate and saw a demonstration about how they produce pralines.

To continue our Belgian food tour, we went and got some Belgian fries and moved aside in line as the staff brought in huge bags of potatoes to make fresh batches for their customers.

That night we went to Delirium Café, a brewery which boasts they offer over 2,000 different kinds of beer. We tried a couple and enjoyed an evening of good music and great beer. We wandered to the city square to admire the city at night. it was lit up by beautiful purple lights and had a magical feeling that was even more charming than when we saw it earlier.

The next morning we decided to take the train to Bruges, which was another quick hour train ride. I have always heard Bruges was a beautiful city and that weekend I was able to confirm first hand it was.

Bruges was a very easy city to explore and walk around. We spent most of the day wandering the quaint streets and admiring the multicoloured houses. We really enjoyed seeing all the medieval buildings and even went into a basilica built in the 12th century. It was amazing to casually walk by buildings with such rich and extensive history.

After patiently waiting all weekend we finally had our first Belgian waffle and it was certainly worth it! You could have different toppings such as chocolate, strawberries, ice cream etc. but I wish I would have gotten the waffle on it’s own- it was so good in itself it didn’t need the toppings!

We made our way back to Brussels to catch our train back home to London. On our way to the train station we admired all of the street art. Brussels has many murals on buildings throughout the city that you can appreciate while you roam the streets.

Although it was a quick trip we really enjoyed our time exploring Belgium. With it’s easy access to London, beautiful buildings, delicious beer, and yummy treats it was the perfect weekend getaway.