After the Tour we hopped on a high speed train to Brussels. Upon watching Rick Steves' episodes of Belgium we decided that we did not really want to spend too much time in Brussels but more in Bruges (a great choice in our opinion). We got to Brussels late that night and stayed in a very clean private room hostel that was very close to the station, it was perfect for a quick stop. When I say quick stop I mean it, we woke up went to the station, bought a Belgian waffle and hopped on the train to Bruges. The waffle was excellent, chocolate, strawberries and whipped cream. Get prepared for some serious fooding! Belgium is easily one of our favorite food stops!
Here we are at the main square of Bruges, full of character and amazing architecture. Brooke and I have felt that we carry rain clouds over our heads, and we have faced rain very often; we immensely happy that Brooke purchased water resistant jackets for us.
One thing we have heard about time and time again was to eat fries in Belgium. Apparently this is where they really came from... "flemish fries." They were worth talking about! They have quite the fry frying set up in the shops that specialize in fry making. We had two great sauces that Brooke and I want back home. The first is curry ketchup. The second is what the fry shop called their "special sauce," consisting of curry ketchup, mayo, and fresh diced onions. I really like the special sauce, but Brooke loved it! They also had something called American sauce. Brooke and I tried it and had no idea what it was, so we question its American roots. Also in the picture below you will see five little fried balls in a container. These are known as bitterballen. We read about them and wanted to try them. They were AWFUL! Deep fried mushy meat, we are talking meat the consistency of mashed potatoes...yuck... Not even curry ketchup could help.
The next thing on our to-do list was to indulge in some real Belgian chocolate. Rick Steves mentioned two chocolate shops to try, the Chocolate Line and Dumon. Both are small chocolate shops that pump out large quantities of fresh chocolates daily. Below is a picture outside The Chocolate Line, where we tried a curry chocolate. They had quite the variety of flavors, including a guarana flavored one that I thought Adam might like.
We have actually seen this next company a few places around Europe, and we wanted to try it in Belgium, it is the Neuhaus chocolate company. We let the young girl operating the counter that our last name was Newhouse, and she gave us a small history of the company. It turns out the guy who started the company was from Switzerland and later moved to Belgium. (Pappy, you need to find this link on the family tree, so we can get in with this family business and get free chocolate.) We both really liked the Neuhaus chocolates!
Here is a close up of one of the chocolates, they had quite a few with "NEUHAUS" printed right on the chocolate as well. To any Newhouses reading this, they do have shops in the U.S. and they do ship.
This church is on the Market Square of Bruges and it is known as Notre Dame; it was one of the many amazing structures in the area.
This church is actually somewhat tucked into a corner of Bruges it is called the Church of Our Lady.
Inside the church you will find the famous Madonna and the Child sculpture by Michelangelo. If anyone has recently watched the movie Monuments Men, this is the sculpture that one of the characters was obsessed with.
Here is some more scenery around Bruges. This picture shows some of the canal work around the city.
Ellis gourmet burgers! In the same town as Neuhaus chocolates. Brooke and I knew instantly this town was made for us :) We had a chicken sandwich that was so delicious, and Brooke declared "This is the best chicken sandwich I have ever had!" I would say I have to agree.
In the picture below there was an Ellis Gazette that talked about the restaurant and its history. Brooke just looked so cute reading her family paper I had to snap a picture.
We had one more chocolate stop we had to make at Dumon Chocolates. This was the most personal shop a small family one that loved what they do, and we love what they do as well. For over all taste I would har to say I liked Dumon the best. I even mentioned that my name was Newhouse so I had to try the Neuhaus chocolates, and that was a no-no. They all just started grumbling about Neuhaus. If you go to Bruges try all the chocolate you can just make sure one of your stops is Dumon.
As we were gettin ready to leave we could not help but to get one more serving of fries with that special sauce. They were so good, and most likely the best fries we have ever had, we just made sure to pass on the bitterballen this time.
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