Donde estamos? Oh wait they dont speak that language! 'Gord de Nord?'
Spain has a ton of holidays and since I had eleven days off from work, it prompted my first trip outside of Spain. While searching for cheap flights, flying into Brussels and then taking a train to Amsterdam seemed to be our fate. Dustin, Sarah and I set out Thursday afternoon for Madrid. I brought a small amount of clothes for 5 days, a book, my ipod, and whatever other necessities I may need, that fit into my backpack. I had to carry my backpack just about everywhere and therefore it was a requirement for it to not be heavy. Upon arriving in Madrid, we met up with a friend of mine from Sonoma and he graciously gave up his bed for the night to us. One thing you will always find in Spain are people who are graciously, open-armed! We slept for 3 hours that night and woke up at 5:30am and made our way to the Madrid airport for our 7am flight to Brussels.
Once we finally arrived in Brussels we had 6 hours to walk from one side of the city to the other. We had enough time to sight-see, get lost, eat a Belgian waffle, drink Belgian beer, and get to another bus station by 5:30pm. Brussels is a city with antique-looking buildings that carry a lot of character. We walked into a flee-market as well as public bathrooms you have to pay to use?! I had never run across a bathroom I had to pay 50 centimos for! In Belgium, French is the language of choice and therefore neither of our Spanish nor English was of much help. Having never studied French, except my one line, my mom taught me for my 2nd grade presentation on Canada, I somehow became the chosen one to stop and ask for directions. ‘Gord de Nord?’ That’s all I given to work with verbally, but my hand motions came in great use. Just please point me in the right direction and we will get there. We stumbled across Grand Plaza and then a Belgian waffle stand! Uh, yes please!! A true, Belgian waffle, topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce…delish! We arrived at the the Gord de Nord bus station for our ride to Amsterdam with an hour to spare. We sat in the bus station and sipped on some Belgian biers! My taste buds are still thanking me for that experience. Of course we made friends with the Cuban-born, Belgian bartender, who yes spoke Spanish! My conversation with him earned us a round on the house. Gracias Humberto and the amazing beirs your country produces!
At 5:30pm we boarded our 4 hour bus ride to Amsterdam. Needless to say after walking through the whole city of Brussels for 5 hours and sippin on biers, we all had a nice buzz flowin’. That only allowed for a much needed nap. The bus was quite empty and so I was able to sprawl out along the last row of seats, for a good 3 hour siesta! I had to be ready for what Amsterdam was about to offer! Planes, buses, or trains, I tried to catch some z’s wherever I could. We were to return to Brussels, Monday night before catching another early flight Tuesday morning back to Madrid. Stay tuned for the 'culture shocking' Amsterdam experience…
Mmmmm Bier
A true Belgian waffle
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