Belgium Roadtrip Summer 2013: PART 4

Lots of tea drinking was required for this post!

Besides my tea, I also LOVE a good sandwich. Random fact: 9 out of 10 times when I'm going out for lunch, I order a tuna salad sandwich. I guess I feel like it's my purpose in the world to try every single tuna salad sandwich out there.

ANYWAY, Belgium/Brussels definitely has some of the greatest sandwiches ever. They take their lunch serious. No matter where I got my lunch, the bread and whatever was on it was always super duper fresh. 

A little tea break after our visit to the Museum of the Far East!

Whenever I'm abroad I usually refuse to have tea at the nearest Starbucks or whatever (unless I really really need tea and there's nothing else). It's so much more fun to explore all the cute little (specialized) cafes in such a big city. This was one of them. It was a little tea shop with a big assortment of tea! (unfortunately I don't remember the name anymore T.T)

They also had a cute little area upstairs where you could sip your tea in a comfy chair and read a book!

My mom felt right at home

'Paint me like one of your models'

We had what I think was called 'Blue Buddha' tea. It was a very flowery and soft green tea that smelled and tasted abslutely delicious!

After tea, we decided to head into town and just browse around some shops, maybe do some shopping. But really, one of the most exciting parts about that was coming across this Barbie candy cake in a shop display.

We also came across Waterstones (an english bookstore) and I'll never pass up browsing around a bookstore for a little bit c:

I need to frame this shopping bag.

In the end, I got two new books by John Green I still really wanted to read. I'm reading 'An abundance of Katherines' right now and love it s far! It also makes for a nice break of 1Q84.

And that was for our last day in Brussels! We barely made it back to the hostel after a lot of walking... The next day we set off the Ghent...!

more tea!

But I'll blog about that next time :)

Belgium Roadtrip Summer 2013: PART 3

Traditional Japanese style + rococo = pure perfection in my book, and I found this pure perfection in Brussels at the Museum of the Far East. This museum consists of three buildings: the Japanese Tower, the Chinese pavillion and the museum of Japanese art. These buildings were build in the 20th century for King Leopold II, designed by Alexandre Marcel. He was a French architect who hired French and Belgian craftsmen for the execution of the buildings, but also got decorative elements from China and Japan. This resulted in a wonderful mix of both French and Far East architectural wonderfulness!

The gardens were simply wonderful. I could only dream of having a garden like this someday.. It felt like I was right in Japan.

This building was so impressive (all of them were though!). It must've taken ages to add all that detail! Maybe it's a little over the top for some, but I think it's SO much over the top that it works! Go big or go home.

 The first building we entered was the Japanese Tower. Both my mom and I were speachless when we entered. It was so beautiful. You could only go up to the second level of the tower, because if you went any higher people would be able to look into the king's garden, since he lives right next door. Such a shame.

Gorgeous traditional Japanese stained glass everywhere...

How awesome is this ceiling?

 Next, we went to the Chinese pavillion. This is where you could really see the Japanese x rococo style!

Inside you could mainly look at the various Chinese porselain collections, which were very beautiful. I felt like a princess just walking through these rooms...

Upstairs was even prettier! I went from feeling like a princess to feeling like Marie Antoinette!

There were lots of pretty teapots and tea sets up for display!

I have no idea who this lady is, but she sure fits right in with the interior!

I had always wanted to walk down a staircase like this. It was like the scene from Beauty and the Beast
(minus the beast, ballgown and singing teapot, unfortunately)

The last building, the Japanese art museum wasn't very interesting. The only thing I liked there were some pretty kimonos. But yeah, I didn't take any pictures there. If you're ever in Brussels, I highly recommend visiting this museum!

Belgium Roadtrip Summer 2013: PART 2

- WARNING: you'll gain at least 5 pounds just from looking at the pictures in this post -

The most impressive part for me (and lots of other tourists) was 'Grote Markt' (Grand Place). There were lots of gorgeous buildings adorned with gold and there were also a lot of amazing, delicious shop windows. It was like... Willy Wonka street.

Giant Merengues.

Macarons in all colors (and flavors) of the rainbow!

I squeeled a little bit when I saw the next store... If this truly was Willy Wonka street, this is where he would live. And I would marry him in a heartbeat.

It also reminded me a bit of Harry Potter's Honeydukes! The walls were filled with all kinds of candy and colors, and there were baskets overflowing with candy and cookies. When we came in, a lady gave us a delicious scrumptious cookie with a soft chocolate filling to try, and I almost died. It was delicious.

Cookies. So many cookies.

It was a little expensive, but we just had to get something. I decided on a toffee with a nougat heart and rose flavored/colored nougat. Once again, they were both delicious.

A picture of the Grand Place

Fancy green tea

Waffles are very famous in Belgium. You haven't visited Belgium if you haven't had a waffle. The traditional onces are just with powdered sugar and eaten with a fork. These are the crazy (expensive) touristy waffles, which we didn't get, but they sure were worth a photograph.

Manneken Pis made out of chocolate. Interesting!

Yummy home made paëlla back at the hostel.

End of part two! Did I make you hungry yet?

Belgium Roadtrip Summer 2013: PART 1

I am home again after meeting a lot of new people, a lot of water, gorgeous places and most of all: FUN. After our week in the Ardennes ended Friday last week, my mom and I weren't feeling like going home yet. A roadtrip was in order! We decided to just drive off and see where we would end up as we drove along (okay, with a little help of a navigation system).

In the end we've been to Brussels, Ghent and a little bit in Antwerp. It was amazing. I always tend to forget how much I love travelling and how good it is for me, despite not being near the comfort of my own home with familair food and daily rituals (and a good shower, omg). In the end all I have to remember is:

'Home is always just a few hours away'

(if not less)

Once you realize that, nothing should stop you from exploring the world! I took a lot of pictures that I want to share so I decided to blog about my/our adventures for the next couple of days!

First stop: a roadside bakery!

If you need your delicious bakeries/patisseries/chocolatiers on every street corner (here!), Belgium is the country to visit. All the breads and pastries are SO fresh, delicious and pretty. I wanted to stop at every single one of them just to drool and take pictures.

Waffles! Eclaires! Nom!

Belgium has both a French and a Dutch/Flemish talking part. Here we were still in the French speaking part, and since both my mom's or my own French isn't terriffic it took us quite some time to order lunch.

Piiieessss. I still regret not getting one of those raspberry tarts.

After lunch, my mom wanted to visit Banneux. This is a 'famous' pelgrimage place, and it is known because of the reported Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Banneux, also known as Our Lady of the Poor to a young girl called Mariette Beco. My mom is catholic, but not very seriously, and I'm not religious at all. Both of us enjoy the imagery though, and the peace and quiet you can find in 'holy places'.

Holy water spring

This place was VERY touristy though. It felt like enterring an amusement park. Giant parking spots, overprized souvenir shops and ugly buildings etc. We walked around for a little bit, but soon enough realized this wasn't the place for us.

So we decided to drive off to Brussels! After about an hour and a half drive we arrived at the Génération Europe Youth Hostel. This hostel was awesome. Nice staff, good beds (and a four bed dorm to ourselves!), good food and just a great overall atmosphere. That evening we also got to talk to some fellow travellers! Jessie and Brad from Canada and Janique (?) who wasn't travelling but just enjoyed chatting to people who are. To be honest, I had almost forgotten about the 'social aspect' from staying at hostels! But especially when you're travelling by yourself and are far away from home, it's nice to have people just like you to talk to and hang out with :)

So colorful!

cute bedding n.n

Soon enough we ventured into Brussels! First we came across the more Asian part of Brussels where we came across some nice little shops and I spotted this pretty little shrine...

And this awesome koi fish bag!!

I'm saving the rest of our Brussels adventure for the next post c: Have a great vacation!