Day 2

I woke up very early (Monday, November 11, 2019) and did some studying for the midterm I have Wednesday. Around 8am I woke up Hunter and we got ready to go out for the day. Our first stop was the Grand-Place station. We wandered around on our way to a donut shop and passed some very cool buildings and shops. We passed by a chocolatier and as we entered we witnessed a pigeon fall into their chocolate fountain. It was covered in chocolate flapping around the ground and I think it broke its wing on its fall. We quickly moved passed it and looked at all the chocolate. They had some very cool treats like a chocolate gear and wrench. It was a little expensive, so we didn't buy anything here, but it definitely made me want some chocolate. As we kept walking, we passed a grocery store with my favorite brand of biscuit treats, Milka. We quickly went in to see if they had the ones we liked, and they had almost every kind except the one we were looking for. We decided to pass at this store and try another which had the ones we wanted and we also got chocolate cows! I was excited to bring back a treat and try a new one.

Early morning view

Getting brighter and you can see the clouds starting to come in

My jacket is so warm and cozy!

A spider we saw at our hotel - it was outside thankfully

Walking through the streets

We passed a candy shop that was sadly closed. The candy looked amazing

Some colorful street art

Chocolate gears!

Grand Place

Belgian Brewers Museum

We continued in the direction of the donut shop and we passed a waffle factory, which we had to stop at and try! It turned out to be so yummy and perfect timing as Hunter's blood sugar was a little low. We got a Liege style waffle with strawberries and whipped cream. We ate in the restaurant and sat for a little using the wifi planning our day a little more. After a sufficient amount of time, we continued to the donuts!

Our waffle from the waffle factory

Manneken Pis or little pissing man

The donut shop we reached was called Coco Donuts and is run by 2 ladies. They have so many crazy donuts it was hard to pick what to eat. Hunter ordered a praline donut that was one of their monthly specials he had seen on Instagram. I had a cookies and cream donut that was delicious but crazy sugary. The donuts were huge. Hunter barely finished his and I couldn't quite finish mine. His was covered in a delicious whipped topping - I tried some of it and it was quite yummy. We left full and happy and walked past a beautiful old church. It was starting to drizzle some which was a bit disappointing but we had lots to do with our day.

Yummy donuts!

Coco Donuts

After donuts, we took a bus to the EU Parliament Commission. It was raining quite a bit so it was perfect to do something inside. Once we arrived, we went to the visitor center where they have a model that you can use iPads to learn about each building on the model using VR. Next we walked to the hemicircle where all the EU Parliament meets. Funnily they have a second building in France they sometimes meet at basically because the French threw a fit and demanded it. It would be crazy if they moved the captial to Winnipeg every few months because Manitoba whined enough. There is a lot of people, more than what the US and Canada have in their parliament. We did an audio tour and learned a ton. Hunter was really excited to see the parliament as he had covered it extensively in school. They have over 700 legislators which organize into internal political parties. However, things are a bit different than national parliaments such as that of Canada. There are EU Parliament members such as those of the British Brexit party that believes the EU shouldn't exist but are still in the EU Parliament. It's a very odd concept as all the MPs in our parliament obviously believe Canada should exist! The EU is really complex but it was cool to learn about and see a little of how it works.

Cool iPad VR system to learn about the massive EU parliament complex

The center of the EU parliament campus

Statue outside the parliament holding the euro

A part of the Berlin Wall

Inside the hemisphere building, they have an audio guide tour. The first stop is at the model of the campus

A cool sculpture inside the building

They have many art pieces inside the hemisphere building

Inside the Hemisphere where all the parliament people gather

 

Hunter with all the EU flags

After spending time at the parliament, we headed to Atomium, a giant iron crystal structure that was made for a World Expo event. Hunter as well as some of my friends, didn't know it existed and asked me how I knew about it, and I'm really not sure how I found out about it, but I have known about it for quite some time. When we got there, I was so excited to see it! Even though it was raining harder now, because I spoke too soon when we got off the train about it slowing down, I was still excited! Hunter was really happy to see me so excited. He loves taking me places I never dreamed I would see.

The atom!

It was huge!

After taking pictures and looking in their gift shop, we headed to lunch at a burger place that had awesome reviews back near the area by our hotel. It was about 3 pm and Hunter and I were both starving, the exciting part about this place was they had unlimited fries! Hunter had their 2×2 tower and I had the Magic Tom. IT WAS AMAZING. The staff was super nice and the food was delicious and very filling. They have dozens of burgers and I'm sure we could go back more than a few times. If you ever go to Brussels, make sure to stop by Huggys burger bar.

Waiting for the train

Sleepy Stormy! I might have had a little nap on our 30 minute train ride

Waiting for food!

Hunter's blood sugars look like the tetons!

DELICOUS BURGERS

Once we were done, we were very tired so we decided to head back to the hotel which was a 10 minute walk. Hunter picked an awesome hotel this time! Great room and location! We also had really nice front desk agents who were extremely helpful with random questions and even let us call KLM from their desk phone for flight information. When we got back it wasn't very long until I was asleep. I set an alarm for 3 hours and around 8:30 was awake. Hunter and I debating going out, but there wasn't anything we were dying to do, so I got out my notes and kept studying while Hunter flight researched. We settled on a plan and then went back to sleep as we had to get up at 3am!

Heading back to the Hotel

Recognizing the Jewish people that were deported from here during the Holocaust

Sunset from our hotel room