Belgium: Chocolate, Frites, and Beer

October 19-24

Our journey to Belgium was our longest travel day yet. We woke up early in Berlin, said goodbye to Norman and Banana, and took the UBahn to the Hauptbahnhof just in time to see our scheduled 8:55 train was cancelled. This was the first time we've run into a travel problem like this, so we counted ourselves lucky and headed to the information desk to see what our options were. The kind woman at the desk said she could just transfer our tickets to the next train, which left at 10:55. Thus, a planned 8 hour travel day turned into a 10 hour travel day, with an exciting moment halfway through where we had less than 5 minutest to navigate the Cologne train station and make our transfer to Brussels. All in all, it was a bit stressful, but we were able to make it to Enghien, our home for the week, by 7 pm.

As soon as we entered the house that was to be ours for the week, we were giddy with excitement. Not only were we staying with a black cat, helping to ease the absence of Lando, but this was by far the nicest place we have stayed so far on this trip, and may be one of the coolest homes we've ever been in. It is an attached house in an old building, with 3 floors and high ceilings. The main floor has a beautiful entryway with a staircase that spirals all the way to the top floor. On the first floor landing, there is a stained glass window that perfectly frames the spire of the town church. The spacious kitchen had beautiful old wooden beams crossing the high ceiling, and next door to our guest room was a large studio where I could do yoga for the first time since we left. Our host--Kirsten--also left us several welcoming treats including chocolates, beer, and some guidebooks we could peruse while planning our week.

Esme, our feline host

After doing laundry and taking a rest day to recover from our travel saga, we set out to explore the town. The road next to the house was under heavy construction, but it was still easy to get around the streets and find our way. About 5 minutes from the house is the large Enghien Park, which surrounds the Chateau d'Enghien. These 182 hectares once belonged to the Arenberg family before becoming public in the late 20th century. There are beautiful rose gardens (which were surprisingly still in bloom), ponds, and groves. Most of the garden statues have disappeared to the many corners of Europe in the years since the Arenbergs' residence, leaving vacant plinths and crumbling altars which only added to the mystique. We walked around the grounds for a couple of hours before heading back into town to start enjoying the Belgian beer culture.

We walked into a small Beer Cafe in between the park and the house. We were the only people inside besides the bartender, who thankfully spoke English and was more than happy to help us start to explore the local brews. For those who don't know, there are over 1500 beers made in Belgium, and each one has its own specific glass with the brewery name on the side. According to our bartender, the glass helps the drinker fully find the most in each part of the taste experience, which he described as having 3 distinct parts: the smell, the taste, and then the "second taste." Now, in the weeks since having this conversation, Cal and I still cannot decipher what he meant by the "second taste"--aftertaste? Burping? Throwing up?--but we can say that the beers were unlike anything we had tasted before. When we told the bartender that we had just been in Germany and thought we had been in beer country, he said, "They don't have beer in Germany." Needless to say, the Belgians are VERY serious about their beer!

The next day we took an hour-long train ride to beautiful Bruges. The medieval town is one of the most beautiful places we have been yet--the whole place feels straight out of a fairytale. When we got off the train, we walked to the central plaza where there was a large market, featuring fruit and vegetable stands, butchers, waffles, and more cheese shops than I have ever seen in one place. As we were exploring the stalls to the charming sounds of the carillon bells, we were quickly interrupted by the passing of a motorcade. Turns out the President of Italy also thought it was a nice day to visit Bruges!

Click here to watch my video about our day in Bruges!

From the market, we decided we needed to have the full tourist experience by having a boat tour of the canals. We timed this perfectly, because we only had to wait about 15 minutes to get on a boat, and by the time we exited each and every one of the docks down the canal was packed with people waiting in line. From the canal, we strolled down the street to the Church of Our Lady, which dates back to the 13th century and features some incredible artwork, including not only a vast array of reliquaries, but also a statue by Michelangelo!

After the church, we decided it was time to sample some classic Belgian Frites. If you don't know, Belgium claims that fries actually belong to them, NOT the French, and they take them very seriously. Belgian Frites are double fried--once in advance and then again right before being served--so they are super crispy and super fresh. Then, they are slathered in the sauce of your choice. The classic is mayo, but we went for Samurai, which is essentially a spicy mayo. As a big sauce girly, I was thrilled with the proportion of sauce to fry, and as we ate them on the street we had multiple people come up and ask us where we had gotten them.

The frites naturally made us thirsty, so we had to go on to try some more Belgian beer. We continued our walk to Bieratelier, a small taphouse down the way with a famous 12 beer flight. Several of you got pictures of this, because I couldn't help but send it along--this was SO MUCH BEER! But it was fun to try several varieties at once, especially since Belgian beer is very different than what I am used to. My favorite was the Cherry Beer, while Cal favored the Triple. We both agreed, however, that the lambics--brewed with wild yeast, not brewers yeast--we sampled were the best of the bunch.

We ended the day with Moules Frites--a classic Bruges dish--at a small bistro near the train station. We also, of course, had to pick up some chocolate along the way, which was unfortunately not as good as the collection left for us by Kirsten. Still--Belgian chocolate! You can't really go wrong.

Our final day in Enghien was stormy, so we happily hunkered down inside with Esme the cat, finishing up laundry and resting before heading towards Paris. Both of us really enjoyed Belgium, and would happily return to explore more of the country. The cities are beautiful, the people are kind and welcoming, and they are deservedly known for some of life's best things: chocolate, frites, and beer.