After London, I headed down to Brussels for a couple days to meet up with some more friends. I have to admit that it was very nice spending the past 2 weeks in English speaking countries but upon entering Belgium I was back into some fun new linguistic challenges. Belgium is interesting, as depending on where you’re at the language of choice changes. Officially the language is Flemish, which is basically dutch, but some areas speak primarily French or German. Luckily most people also speak enough English to get along, so it was fine, but I like to at least be able to thank people in their proper language and this proved challenging to keep track of in Belgium. Several people advised me not to go to Brussels and recommended other beautiful cities in Belgium such as Bruges or Antwerp. However, by this point I had seen enough cool European castles and churches to last a lifetime, I was really just interested in getting some good Belgian beer. And Brussels was the easiest to get to from London, so that’s where I went. The beer did not disappoint, as a matter of fact, it was incredible. I checked out some cool bars and then went to the Delirium village which is literally like a whole street with 8 different bars located within it. The bars served the world famous Delirium beers, of course but some also had others available, including one bar which had over 2500 different beers available. They hold the world record for the most beers available at a bar.
On my 2nd day in Brussels I met up with my friend Mark and his girlfriend, Britt. Mark and I had originally planned to do 3 months traveling together in Europe, but he had some health issues that delayed his trip. It was great to finally meet up with him, and we continued traveling together for the next several weeks. In Brussels we checked out the Grand Place, which was appropriately named as it was extremely impressive, especially at night when all the beautiful gothic-style buildings were lit up. Additionally, there was a cool park across the street from the Belgian palace that we spent some time wandering through.
After 2 days in Brussels, I spent a day in Ghent on my way to Paris. I went to Ghent based on a recommendation from my former boss, who is Belgian and studied there and gave me some great recommendations. Ghent is a really cool little city with some interesting history. My first stop in Ghent was Sint-Baafs Cathedral, which is most well known for being the church that Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was baptized in. If you, like me, had no idea who that was then let me educate you a bit. Charles V served as Emperor of a vast empire spanning across a lot of Europe as well as the American colonies in the 1500s, prompting the saying that “the sun never sets on Charles V’s empire.” Other fun facts about him include that he married his first cousin, had a well-documented affair with his step grandmother 😳, and suffered from some serious health issues throughout his life due to heavy in-breeding within the royal family bloodline (see other fun facts…). The cathedral is also home to a well-known as Ghent Altarpiece. This Altarpiece was painted in the 15th century and is considered the first major oil painting ever created. The most famous section is known as Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, which features the lamb of God on an altar, surrounded by lots of additional religious symbolism. I’m not a big art guy, but this painting was one of the coolest pieces of artwork I’ve ever seen. The amount of detail within it, combined with the fact that it is nearly 600 years old was extremely impressive. After the cathedral, I walked down to Gravensteen castle. Gravensteen castle was built in the 12th century and is very well maintained considering it’s age. I didn’t go inside, as previously mentioned I’d seen my fill of European castles at this point in the Eurotrip, but it was cool to check out from the outside and I got some good pictures of it.
My last stop in Ghent was a jenever bar called ‘t Dreupelkot. What a cool little bar. It was made up of just one small room and there was an old man behind the counter who was grumpy and not in the mood to talk to me about all the different types they had (they had over 100 different types). Jenever is basically a type of gin, popular in the Netherlands, Belgium, Northern France and Germany. It is typically drunk straight, as opposed to within a cocktail. After a few, the old grumpy man finally started warming up to me, however. He would fill a shot glass all the way up, with the equilibrium extending over the brim of the glass, to the point that you couldn’t pick them up without spilling. There was a big sign behind the bar that said “No spills, leave the drink on the bar and slurp it for your first sip, before picking up the glass.” There was one other old man in the bar with me, who was very interested in talking to me about American politics. This has been a constant theme of the European portion of the trip, it’s amazing how closely Europeans follow American politics. If we’re being honest, many of them follow it more closely than I do. I hate politics. Anyway, I humored him and we had a good little chat, in exchange he bought me some more jenevers, which was a fair trade. After a day in Ghent, I caught a train that night for Paris.
In Paris, we spent the first day doing some sightseeing. We climbed up to the Sacre Cour to check out the cathedral, along with a gorgeous view of Paris down below. We also walked down the Champs-Élysées and by the Arc de Triomphe as well as the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower surprised me, it is obviously one of the most well-known and photographed monuments on Earth and I didn’t really expect it to be much more impressive in person, however it was mind-blowing how big and beautiful it is when you are up close. We stayed in the 19 arrondissement in Paris, which was a really cool area. It was full of hipsters, street art and cool bars and cafes. Cafe culture in Europe is a really beautiful thing. We also had some nice parks and canals near our apartment. We also got the inside scoop on a couple really cool speakeasies near our place, from a friend who used to live in Paris. One of them was located through the back door of a taco shop and had some amazing tequila/mezcal cocktails whereas the other one was New Orleans themed, which was near and dear to our hearts. Our last night in Paris, we went to this great venue to see some live music and finished off the night (well, technically it was well into the morning) by watching the sun rise from the Sacre Coeur. We even saw a couple marriage proposals happen while we were up there!
I’ve done a lot of traveling around western Europe and always avoided Paris because I figured it was very touristy and that I’d be sure to make it there eventually. With that being said, I don’t know why I waited so long to visit. It is an amazing city, with incredible food and architecture. I feel like I only scratched the surface in the few days I was there and will definitely be returning in the future. After our short stint in Paris, my friend Mark and I caught a flight to Berlin for the next 5 days.
