My Trip to Belgium – Part Three

Day 5
This day was by far the one that I was looking forward to the most. We were going on a day trip to Paris! My uncle lives there, so we decided to go meet him. This was my second time visiting Paris, which was so exciting because I have never visited a foreign country/city more than once. Since I speak French fluently now, I was really, really excited.

As we all know, the cities in the European Union are extremely well-connected by rail. So, from the Bruxelles-Midi station, we boarded the Thalys and were off to Paris, the city of love. I am in awe of the trains in Europe, and people’s discipline as well. The trains are clean, well-equipped in case of emergencies, full air-conditioned with automatic doors, have free Wi-Fi and instructions in French, English, Dutch and German. People wait their turn, don’t rush, and don’t litter. Even checking tickets is so convenient. You just have to show the authorities an email with a barcode, which is scanned, and confirms your ticket and your place on the train. Since we were travelling as a family, they scanned only my mother’s ticket and all three of ours were confirmed. The ticket checker was also extremely polite.

We took about 1 and a half hour to reach Paris-Nord station, which I had already visited before. But this time, there was military patrolling the station, something which started after 2015. It was really sad and scary for me. We met my uncle there and took the bus to go to his flat, which was in the 14th arrondissement (quarter/locality), while the station is in the 18th. In Paris, every arrondissement has its own mayor office (mairie) to make handling local affairs easier. We walked a little from the bus stop, and then went to his cute little flat, where my aunt was waiting for us. It was so nice to see them after almost two years! I had a lovely glass of rose, with Doritos and tomatoes (weird combination, I know), we chilled for some time before going to this Italian restaurant across the street. It was a quaint little place, and the food was good.

After lunch, my aunt left for work while the rest of us headed to the best, most touristy place – the Eiffel Tower. It is my favourite monument, so I had to go back and click some photos. I couldn’t stop staring at that beauty. I don’t think I can ever get over the beauty of the Eiffel Tower. We were sitting in the Parc du Champs de Mars for some time, before we headed to a Pierre Herme patisserie. Pierre Herme is one of the most famous pastry chefs of France, and is known for macarons. So we bought some macarons and tarts, and headed to Jardin de Luxembourg, where we had a little picnic. It is so nice to sit amongst nature and just relax. We simply don’t have enough gardens in Mumbai. After eating our little nibbles, we walked around the garden and went and sat by the fountain, where children were sailing wooden boats.

 

From there, we walked up to the Pantheon, the place where a lot of famous French personalities, specifically politicians, are buried. We didn’t have time to go inside, so we just took some pictures outside it and went for dinner.

Dinner was at Sarvanna Bhavan, a typical South Indian joint. To be honest, when I entered the place, I felt like I had been transported from Paris to Matunga (a locality in Mumbai with a lot of South Indian restaurants). We had medu vada, idlis and dosas, and without us realising, it was time to leave. It was really nice spending time with my uncle, and not doing touristy things for once. We crossed the street to go to Gare du Nord, and boarded the delayed train to Brussels. Somehow, I knew for a fact that I will return to Paris. It felt like home.

Day 6
We had another long day ahead of us, as we were going on a day trip to Amsterdam. I wore an orange t-shirt, an ode to the Netherlands’ orange. The Dutch wear orange on special occasions because orange is the colour of the Dutch Royal Family, which hails from the House of Orange-Nassau. Suffice it to say that to this day members of the House of Orange are extremely popular in the Netherlands. The colour orange has come to symbolize the country, and to signify national pride.

We took about 5 hours to reach the Netherlands, but before entering Amsterdam city, we stopped at a cheese factory called Rembrandt Hoeve. There, we were greeted by the most dynamic guide and owner, Roux, who explained to us the cheese making process. It is a bit time consuming, but a very fascinating process.

After seeing the process, we ate some cheese, which was literally the best artisanal cheese that I’ve ever had. It was so creamy and delicious, just melted in the mouth! They had a variety of flavours – garlic, chilli, pepper and smoked cheese. We followed Roux into the shop, and bought some cheese and little souvenirs. This cheese tastes really good with a warm, toasted slice of sourdough bread. This place also makes traditional Dutch wooden shoes. After shopping, we headed into Amsterdam city. On our way, we saw a lot of windmills, and pretty houses, which are actually below the water level of the canals.

 

Amsterdam is a huge city, we barely saw any of it since we went there only for a day trip. One day is definitely not enough to take in the beautiful sites of Amsterdam. It is a very environment-friendly city, where majority of the people ride bicycles (which have designated lanes) or take the tram. There are very few cars there, most of whom are seen in the suburbs and outskirts. We walked along as our guide explained the architecture and history of where we were. We were explained a map and we tried to go visit a flower market, but it was too far and we didn’t manage to find it, unfortunately. So, we just walked along the streets, taking in the view and taking lots of pictures. It was boiling hot, and we were sweating a lot, but it was so much fun.

We were told to meet the guide in front of a particular church, from where we were supposed to go on a canal cruise. Before that though, I had this bowl full of yummy, fresh berries, which was a great alternative to dessert.

The canal cruise was about an hour long, and it was quite fascinating. There were so many places in Amsterdam that we hadn’t seen. However, I have to admit that at some point, it got a little boring. Maybe it was because we were very tired, or because it was just too slow. When we reached the starting point again, we bought little wooden tulips, which were very pretty and sit proudly in a vase in my living room.

 

After a long, tiring day, we headed back to Brussels, which was a very long journey. I left Amsterdam with hopes to visit again.

Day 7
This was the last day of our trip, and designated shopping day. So, after a late start, we first headed to a lane from across the street. This lane actually led to Grand-Place, and we were there in 20 minutes, for the third time. I have to say, I didn’t mind at all. We finally went to the Godiva shop (from Day 1) and bought several boxes of pure, Belgian chocolate for ourselves, as well as friends and family. We also had the most luscious, juicy chocolate-covered strawberries. It was heavenly.

After our chocolate buying session, we went back to the hotel for lunch. We ordered room service, which we had never done on any other holiday before, and dined in the comfort of our room. However, we didn’t get much time to rest, and had to head out soon since all shops shut at around 6 pm in Brussels.

So, we went to City 2 Shopping Centre, which was right across the street from our hotel. I walked into a stationery store, and bought the cutest little things like diaries and postcards. I also got a scratch out map, where you can scratch out the countries you have visited and a new colour will be revealed every time you do it. It was something I’d been wanting for a very long time, and I was so glad I found it.

From there, we walked into a lane and kept browsing through shops like Mango and Lush (Lush smells like heaven, FYI. I wish we had it in India) and bought little random things along the way. We walked for a while and, for the second time that day and fourth time in total, reached Grand-Place. We went to yet another chocolate shop to buy some more chocolate, because we totally needed more, right? Along with chocolate, we also bought Speculoos biscuit spread and Speculoos biscuits, which I totally love. It is a spiced cookie, usually made for or just before St. Nicholas Day in Belgium (6th December) and the Netherlands (5th December).

We went back to the hotel to keep all the shopping bags away, and headed out for dinner, to L’Everest, for our last meal in beautiful Belgium. We returned early and finished our packing, since we had an early flight.

The next morning, we headed to the airport with sadness in our hearts, beautiful memories, and a hope to return one day. Oh, and lots and lots of chocolate.