Brussels

We left Antwerp and took a quick train to Brussels. We were looking forward to seeing this historic city and it was quite lovely.

Town Center was magnificent

Photos don't do it justice!

Brussels had a Hard Rock Cafe so we had to stop to get a pin for my mom. We decided to just go ahead and grab a bite to eat there.

Water that should have gold in it because it was over $10!

What's that? Nachos? YES, please.

Only a true Euro eats a burger with a fork
and knife!

The food was actually quite good and we had a nice time chatting with our neighbors about their impressions of "American" food. They were obsessed with the burgers and it tickled us.

Stop it!

Where to next, Rick Steves?!

I loved these window displays!

The peeing statute is quite famous.
We're not sure why.

Jackson doesn't follow instructions.

WAFFLES!

The world's first Godiva store!
*Still overpriced.

Petefish.

Look at the window! I cannot deal!

Oh my goodness do they know their
way around chocolate

Drinking a beer and seeing the sights. Tis the life!

A little more holiday spirit!

We love to watch ice-skating and these folks did not disappoint!

Waiting on the light show...

OH MY GOODNESS.

Their famous festival of lights show went on for about 10 minutes and was simply amazing. While the weather was colder here than likely anywhere we'd been, we still had a really nice day soaking in all of the lights and sights of the city.

A shopping mall

Distinctly NOT  shopping mall

We walked through a mall on the way back to the hotel. Jackson said there was another one closer to the hotel where we could grab dinner. We walked into his "mall" only to realize it was a full hospital! We didn't stay and try their cafeteria! ;)

We opted to retire early that evening as we had tickets to get to London early the next morning. There was some kind of festival going on where young people shot off fireworks all night so while that was mildly disturbing we got used to it. 

The futuristic train station

We figured out how to ride a connecting train from one station to the Eurostar station. That may not seem impressive, but it was. It turns out Brussels being the seat of the European Union doesn't mean that they have signs in English! We had some time to spare so we got breakfast, did some shopping and then boarded our train to cross the "chunnel" to London.

Spending down our Euros on snacks!

Buckled into the EuroStar and ready for the next part of our trip

You often hear bad things about British food, but after being in this part of Europe for a few days we were downright amped to have fish and chips! Let's do this, London!