Another country checked off of the list! Years ago, maybe when I was in college? Or first married to Elliott, I'm not sure, but I was addicted to HGTV. The first time I had really seen anything about Belgium was on House Hunters International. From then on it was a place I knew I wanted to see in person! I can't believe it actually happened! This was the 7th country I've visited since we've moved to Italy (so just over a year).
This was another trip we decided to take without the kids (and we're pretty sure this trip is where Baby #3 was conceived hahaha) and it was amazing to just have alone time exploring the a few Belgian cities! We left on a Friday and landed in Brussels! We took the train to the center of the city and walked to our hotel, checked in, and then got bundled up to go see the main square at night. It was absolutely gorgeous with all of the buildings and lights. We got some dinner and then headed back to the hotel. On Saturday morning we did a Chocolate tour! There was a little museum (Choco- Story ) that did a demonstration of how they make chocolate, and then they gave each of us tickets to try chocolates at 6 different chocolate shops! This was great because we were able to try things before we decided what to buy. We ended up buying A LOT of chocolate. But no regrets lol I actually wish we would have bought more!
(Me and my bag filled with Belgian Chocolate! We couldn't help ourselves hahaha)
After the Chocolate tour, we got on a train and went to Ghent where we were going to be spending the night! We had heard Ghent was even more beautiful then Brussels and we were really excited. Once we checked into our hotel, we explored! It was quite a bit chillier there because we were closer to the water. We ate a traditional Belgian dinner and then enjoyed some Belgian Waffles (they really are amazing, we had one every day we were there!) This was Elliott's favorite city during our trip.
Sunday morning we ate breakfast at an amazing place my friend recommended! It was an old post office turned into a bakery/cafe! If you head to Ghent, it's called Le Pain Quotidien. It was a beautiful and very quiet morning. At 10, we went to the train station once again and headed to Bruges! We put our bags in a locker at the train station and off we went! This was by far my favorite part of the trip. It was such a quaint little town and absolutely beautiful. Everywhere you looked there was a unique building, a beautiful alleyway, it took my breath away! If we ever go back, we will definitely spend the night in Bruges!
We went in the Church of Our Lady which has the Madonna and Child sculpture by Michelangelo. Unfortunately we weren't able to see it due to renovations, but the church was beautiful. We explored the city, got some Belgian fries (also delicious) and that evening we made our way all the way back to Brussels where we spent the night again. Monday morning we flew home, which is always exciting because we got to hug and kiss our girls! Again, we are so incredibly thankful for the opportunities we've had so far living in Europe. It still doesn't feel real to me. We're also thankful we've got the best people in the world to watch our girls so we can spend some quality time together and enjoy some trips just the two of us.
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