Au Revoir, Bruxelles!

It´s been a while since I last updated my blog. In the past week or so (April 24th, to be exact), I ended my program in Belgium. The 24th was a Thursday, and my coworkers at The Bulletin got a cake for the end of the day to celebrate my time there (hopefully not to celebrate the fact that I was leaving...). It was the perfect departure, and I couldn´t have asked for more.

That night, Gareth threw a dinner party for all of us Brussels kids. It was nice wrap-up for the program. He made us a huge Morrocan style meal, with sausages, couscous, delicious food dips, etc. It was GREAT. It was also really nice for all of us kids to get together one last time before we all started jet setting around Europe, or back to America. I thought there was a large chance I was going to cry. I didn´t. Way to go, me!

The next morning, I woke up around nine-thirty to start packing. I had to make sure everything in my room was a least starting to get organized before I met up with my Mom and sister, Martha, when they came in. I was so excited, I buzzed around my room in a frenzy trying to get everything packed. It didn´t work too well, but I at least got a start on it.

Once Mom and Marth were in, checking into their hotel, and a little bit settled, I headed over to their hotel (where I was staying as well). They stayed at Le Dixseptieme Hotel right near Gare Centrale and the Grand Place. I would recommend it to anyone heading to Brussels! It was absolutely beautiful. That day, we stuck around Brussels, doing the Atomium and Mini Europe. It was really fun, and I couldn´t have been happier to do it with Mom and Marth. It felt nice to have family, once again. I also took them to Mamma Roma, my favorite pizza place in Brussels. It was so very satisfying, but sad to part with it for the last time. Oh Mamma Roma, if only you had branches in the States! For dinner, we headed to St. Gery and had some Thai food. YUM.

Over their stay in Brussels, we went to Bruges and Antwerp. Luckily for us, on the day we went to Bruges, the weather was beautiful and we were able to catch a canal cruise, definitely one of my personal Bruges favorites. It was so nice to see everything that I hadn´t before, and to learn a little bit more about the city itself. For lunch, I had moules soupe (my last taste of mussels)...it was bitter sweet. That evening, we met up with family friends, the Browns, who were in Brussels picking Sara up. We went to an Italian restaurant called Bocconi. It was SO good. I haven´t had a meal like that in a while!

When we were in Antwerp, we were no so lucky on the weather (it rained), but we were there on Heritage Day, so all the museums were free. We were also there on a day of a huge marathon...that was... interesting, as well.

The last day of their visit, the three of us headed to the Grand Place in the morning to meet up with our bike tour tour guide. After a few minutes, we headed out on our bikes and, let me tell you, it´s not as easy as I remember. That phrase, get back on the bike...yeah, I´m coming up with a new one. The bike tour was great, we went all over Brussels, through the EU areas, Louise, Les Marolles, and we stopped for lunch at Maison Antoine. Frites and beer don´t exactly sound like what you´d ordinarily eat on a bike tour...but it works.

For my last dinner in Brussels, I had made a reservation at Belga Queen. The atmosphere was very cool and the food was, once again, very, very good. I had salmon and vegetables, and I wish I could eat it everyday, it was THAT good.

It was sad to leave the next day, though I had to to start my next adventure. Mom and I were able to get up and get breakfast, which was the best breakfast I´ll probably have during the remainder of my time here in Europe. Oh well, I´m a college student traveling, how bad can it be, right? Anyways, at 8 am I parted from the two of them and headed to Charleroi to catch my plane to Italy! And so...the adventure begins!