Our second European adventure was to Belgium. Honeybun was 22 months and I was 26 weeks pregnant with Sugarplum. Belgium was the first place we rented a car and we took part of our time to visit different places outside of Brussels where we were staying.
The first day we landed in Brussels, we got our rental car and drove to La Roche-en-Ardenne where a portion of the Battle of the Bulge was fought during World War II. Hubby’s grandfather fought in the battle so it was exciting and important for hubby to see a piece of not only world and American history, but his grandfather’s history. After a nice lunch on the river, we visited the Battle of the Bulge museum which we really enjoyed (and hubby even found a patch from his grandfather’s unit on display!) The museum was small but very well set up and very informative about the battle and the city.
After the museum we wandered around the town a little and visited some of the tanks and other monuments before heading into Brussels for the night. The city was beautiful with a ruined castle sitting high above the little town which you can hike up to and explore (I wish we had had time!)
We stayed at the Marriot Executive Apartments in the European Quarter and while the room was wonderful (it was a one bedroom so Honeybun had a separate space), to location was not ideal. It was near the European Union and other important government buildings, but was not so close to the touristy stuff we wanted to see. We took the bus into the city centre a few times and walked a few times, but Brussels is an extremely hilly city (which maps don’t tell you!) and we were often exhausted by the end of the day!
The second day since we still had the rental car we decided to drive to Bruges, which is near the coast. Bruges boasts a lovely and very well-maintained historic city centre with tons of canals and tiny streets that we loved wandering around (after we found a public car park and figured out where to leave the car!) We had lunch in the city square where Honeybun was enthralled with the horse drawn carriages and we spent the rest of the day exploring and relaxing.
We also stopped in Ghent on the way back to Brussels but just did a drive through as we hit the end of day traffic and needed to return the rental car. We had arranged to return the car to a hotel location in the city rather than to the airport which seemed like an easy enough idea. Until we got to the hotel (ahead of our scheduled drop off time) and the car rental counter was closed. Then we loaded up in a cab to get back to our hotel and the driver scolded me for taking too long getting Honeybun’s car seat installed since he was blocking traffic. Not my problem, sir, I will take as long as I need to safely restrain my child!
The next two days we stayed in Brussels. Our time in Brussels focused on the area around the Grand Place which is the main square in the olde town and visited many museums right in the square including the Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate which shows the process of chocolate making as well as chronicles the history of chocolate. We also made a stop at the Belgian Brewer’s House and Museum which had a small exhibit on beer making (which we were already familiar with), a movie which we didn’t get to enjoy due to Honeybun’s curiosity and a free pint of beer, which hubby enjoyed but I had to pass on due to my tiny little Sugarplum.
We also visited the Museum of the City of Brussels. The museum has a great overview of the development of the city including a few models of the city over time which were really interesting to compare though I didn’t get to spend as much time looking over the displays as I would have liked since they were too high for Honeybun to see so we had to hold her and she wasn’t that interested in looking at the displays. But what she did enjoy was the costume gallery which houses all the outfits for Brussels’ famous fountain the Manneken-Pis (“little pee man” in Flemish). Honeybun loved all the little suits and we talked about where each was from.
Another place Honeybun loved in Brussels was the Toy Museum. The museum is a large extravaganza of toys both on display and out for play. Honeybun went crazy playing with everything and hubby and I enjoyed seeing reminders from our own childhood.
We also visited the Museum of the National Bank of Belgium which hubby wasn’t too excited about at first but we both really enjoyed it. The museum shares the history of money in the world, the development of the Euro and more. Even Honeybun, who was just starting to grasp the importance of money, stayed entertained.
We had a very busy but exciting visit to Belgium. And while we did so much during our few days, there was so much more to see and do and I would love to go back someday to see it all!
