Big thanks to Danielle for describing my pictures this weekend as looking like a storybook, which saved me the effort of having to come up with a title for this week's blog
Monday:
As predicted, today was a very long and tiring day. I bought a coffee at lunch to help get me through my afternoon classes and that night’s movie was an entertaining romcom which kept we awake in a dark room that would have otherwise been very conducive to a nap. Marivi and I watched clips of the Queen’s funeral on the news as we ate dinner (chicken with some sort of tomato sauce) before I headed to my room for homework and sleep. While I find great comfort in routine, I know it doesn’t make for the most entertaining of reading so my apologies as the weekday sections become more repetitive—the weekends are sure to still be full of spontaneity and adventure!
Tuesday:
Tuesday mornings bring my economics class, which means answering our professor’s questions about the prices in whichever city we’ve visited the previous weekend. Upon hearing a group of us will be in Brussels the upcoming weekend, he additionally tasked us with counting how many European Union flags we see since Brussels is the capital of the EU. My conversation class was largely spent discussing the differences between tourists and travelers, which naturally included many uses of one of the most fun words to say in the Spanish language: tiquismiquis (picky).
That evening we took Marivi over to her parent’s home as they needed some help so she would be staying with them for a little bit. Ricardo then drove us around the city for a little bit and stopped at a high point so we could get out and see some gorgeous views of Toledo at night. He warmed up some chicken nuggets in the microwave for dinner so clearly the classic dad backup dinner plan is internationally shared.
Wednesday:
Ricardo offered to drive me to school today (an offer I eagerly accepted) and told me that leftovers would be in the oven for me to warm up for dinner when I got home as he would still be working. Since we had some extra time after lunch, I walked over to a nearby grocery store with some friends to get some snacks and to send my dad pictures since he’s always so curious about grocery stores in different countries. It seemed fairly similar to ours, but the prices were definitely much better.
I warmed up Monday’s leftovers for dinner and enjoyed the relaxing night alone before heading to bed.
Thursday:
Like last week, today was mostly spent doing schoolwork and packing. This weekend, however, I would be flying so that entailed a few extra preparations. I had been warned by school and the airline website to print out my boarding passes to avoid any extra charges so I headed out to find a print shop in my neighborhood. Along the way I stopped for lunch and people watching at an outdoor cafe. They only serve a few fixed menus, which ended up being a great deal—three courses for just €10.
I also finally took the time to visit a nearby coffee shop modeled after the one on Friends!
I warmed up the pork chops Ricardo had made for dinner and desperately (but futilely) attempted to get some sleep before my 5 AM alarm the next morning.
Friday:
The morning began with a half hour walk to the train station where we all met to catch our train into Madrid. The 30 minute train ride was then followed by a 45 minute shuttle and we finally arrived at the airport. Much to my chagrin, airlines are now accepting digital boarding passes so long as you have downloaded their app so I think I was the only person under the age of 50 with a printed boarding pass haha! Security was relatively quick and reminded me of the infrastructure at smaller airports back home: a small conveyor belt and a simple metal detector. I had a randomly assigned seat on the plane and ended up in a row all to myself! (I’m sure my traveling companions who had paid for seat selection were less than pleased with my luck) The exhaustion of such an early morning full of travel helped me quickly fall asleep on our flight, although I was able to grab some photos of Brussels as we landed.
Upon checking into our Airbnb, we found the nearest restaurant for lunch and were reminded that none of us spoke French or German as we looked at the waitress with the blankest of stares. We translated the menu as best as we could and I ended up with some sort of chicken pasta dish and a cup of mint tea (the dreaded day where I found a European city where water is the most expensive drink on the menu had finally arrived.)
We then began exploring the city: wandering down pretty streets, visiting the Grand Place (a plaza that appeared to be setting up for a concert that night,) peeking into some churches, and getting a Belgian waffle, of course!
That evening we returned to the Grand Place to see what they had been setting up for and discovered it was an event celebrating 50 years of French-Belgian partnership. The singers wouldn’t be performing until later, but it was pretty to see the buildings all lit up!
Dinner was grilled chicken and Belgian fries (nothing like a visit to Brussels to remind you that it was actually the Belgians who created fries, not the French—clearly they must have gotten over it if they’re celebrating 50 years of friendship.) We ended the night with more walking around town and a visit to the Royal Palace!
Saturday:
Our morning began with yet another waffle before we started our trek around the city. We walked through several parks and gardens before arriving at the European Union Parliament! Not only was the museum there super interesting, it also saved us from more walking in the pouring rain.
Lunch was at a Belgian fry shop where I tried fries topped with Flemish Carbonnade (a beef stew that is another one of Belgium's famous dishes) which was pretty good!
Walking around some more, we discovered that the city was also celebrating a street performer festival that day and accordingly ran into several acrobats, flamethrowers, and marching bands! Even some of the statues were dressed up.
As we walked to the Parc du Cinquantenaire, we passed two churches named Notre Dame and grabbed a cup of hot chocolate made from Belgian chocolate! We also took a ride on a Ferris wheel overlooking the city, which was strangely right behind a World War I and II Memorial. The park itself was gorgeous and had a super cool archway that made the scenic walk over well worth it!
We attempted to go to a Belgian bistro for dinner, but they were out of almost all their menu items so we ended up at the Italian restaurant next door. Naturally, we had to end the night with a gelato as we walked back to the Airbnb. We did not see any of the Notre Dame game, but in case this blog is your only source of ND football news, we won!
Sunday:
After pancakes for breakfast (which almost feels like treason in a city known for waffles) and one last walk through the Grand Place (can you tell which landmark we were staying by?) we caught our metro to the airport.
The undisputed best part of the airport was a place offering free water! It was even cold too! So I was able to fill up my water bottle before we headed out onto the tarmac to climb up the stairs to our plane (lest you forget you're flying on a budget airline.)
The flight passed relatively quickly, save for a long promotion halfway through the flight where the flight attendants brought around perfume and lottery tickets for people to purchase? I think part of the proceeds go to charity? It was all very strange and I'm not quite sure what was going on. One of my travel companions wanted to save a few dollars by taking the bus back instead of the train and then got off at the wrong station, which caused us to miss the first bus back (and ruined my perfect public transportation streak on the last day of the week for the second time in a row!) But it wasn't a big deal and we were quickly on a bus back to Toledo where I was able to walk back to the apartment just as the sun was starting to set.
Ricardo and I had dinner, which was chicken and a bowl of gazpacho (gazpacho andaluza not gazpacho manchego, so it was the cold soup most people think of when they hear gazpacho and not the good pasta dish we had a couple weeks ago—really is a shame that such different dishes share the same name!) Now it's time to unpack, call home, and get ready for the week. Hope y'all are doing well!
Je t'aime et tu me manques tous,
Bryce
PS: My ballot came in this week so here's your usual reminder from me to make sure you are registered to vote for this November!!