When someone asks "why Brussels?" there are only a select few words you need in order to answer: French fries, waffles, and chocolate. When you can find a place that combines some of the best things in life, the better answer to "why Brussels?" is "why not Brussels?" And so, it was with this mentality that three students from across the United States studying in Roma for a semester set out for Belgium on a pilgrimage. A food pilgrimage, that is.
There are a few things one needs to know when traveling to Brussels. Some knowledge of French or Dutch is one (we knew none). The second is that the city is small –– small enough, in fact, that we walked almost the entire thing in one day. The third thing is that Belgians do not mess around when it comes to food, and by food I mean waffles and French fries. There are four types of waffles: the street waffle (dough with sugar inside that they make in waffle carts on the street), the Belgian waffle (coated in powdered sugar), the tourist waffle (an over-the-top waffle topped with strawberries, bananas, whipped cream, and chocolate), and the extreme tourist waffle (with everything already mentioned plus ice cream). French fries are not just French fries, they are meals, and come in trays or cones with every type of sauce imaginable. The most popular is mayonnaise, but as I cannot handle large amounts of mayonnaise loaded on top of my food, I stuck with ketchup and was more than satisfied. We survived our two-day stay in Brussels on two orders of French fries and six different types of waffles, and in the end we still wanted more. My favorite waffle was either the street waffle, with its melt-in-your-mouth sugar pieces embedded in the dough, or the chocolate dipped waffle we had upon arrival. The Nutella coated one came in a close third, while I was surprised to find that the tourist waffle was too much for me to handle. No one should have that much whipped cream in his or her system. It may not have been a healthy trip, but I am not ashamed in the slightest.
While at the core our journey to Brussels may have been based on our love of food and our eagerness to have as many waffles as possible, the city of Brussels is an extraordinary one in itself. A blend of different people and historical sites, it is a city that offers cultural diversity around every corner. Scattered with a number of parks and eclectic artwork in the most obscure places, Brussels is not only a food “Mecca” but an artistic one as well. With our map in hand we explored the city by foot, which offered us the opportunity to find local spots we may have otherwise overlooked had we stuck solely to public transportation. We saw almost every major site in Brussels with the exception of the atom, and devoured as many waffles as we could handle along the way.
Belgium has a different atmosphere than Italy, one where there is less rush to make it somewhere, a friendlier outlook, and a little more modernization. I have found McDonald's in Italy, but on this trip I also saw two Pizza Huts –– just like being in America. The map provided to us by our hostel had an "Act Like a Local" section, where it stated, "stay long enough, and Brussels is not a little postcard city like Bruges. On one day you can see the classics and drink the beers, but you need at least two more days to discover the good stuff. A year would be even better." Ours was a power trip through Brussels where we crammed in the sites and sustained our hunger with cheap food, and it was impossible to leave after only two days and feel like it was a sufficient amount of time. We may have walked for hours, seen an old army museum, the Palace of Justice, the famous “Manneken Pis” fountain, and photographed our way through the Art Nouveau areas, but I left with the feeling that there are endless finds down every street to be uncovered another time.
We left Brussels bright and early this morning following a few transportation issues –– our taxi did not arrive to pick us up and a large fare is required to actually make it all the way to the airport –– and we left with chocolate in our suitcases and a craving for more waffles. With any journey, there is a comfort that comes with returning home, and being away made me realize just how much I have started considering Roma my home. Being gone, even for just a weekend, made me "Rome sick," and it felt amazing to be back among the unorganized and laid back Italian airport system, where luggage size and the volume of liquid you are carrying makes no difference. It may have taken a plane, a shuttle bus, the metro, and another bus to get us back to campus, but walking up to the green gates of the JFRC was relieving. Though I am currently displaced from my room due to a water leak, this campus is a home base that makes traveling a little easier. I traded pasta for waffles and "buongiorno" for "bonjour" this weekend, and while I can see myself returning to Belgium over and over again, there is nothing quite like returning to Roma.
 |
| "It's the creme de la creme, (and you can bounce with that)" -A Tribe Called Quest graffiti in a Brussels alley |
 |
| Waffle #3 –– Street Waffle |
 |
| French fries in a cone |
No comments:
Post a Comment