Brussels - Day 2

Our second day was the day we were really able to explore Brussels, so settle back for a long post! We didn't wake until 11am though. And after we were up and dressed, we went to find a place to eat.
We settled on Peck 47 close to the Grand Place. It had great reviews and was highly recommended on a blog post I had pinned about places not to miss in Brussels.

It was a cute little cafe, and we were able to sit outside on the patio.

I loved the chalk sign out front, but honestly we weren't super impressed with the actual restaurant. It was an unusual menu for us and Mike was a little surprised when his orange juice came out as you can see on his Snapchat photo.

It looked more like the beaten egg yolks than juice, and didn't quite taste like what he expected. He had also planned on having a waffle, but the choices were a little different to say the least.

I had a Cuban sandwich that had too much mustard and not enough pork, but it was actually pretty good otherwise. Not our favorite restaurant on the trip at all, but it was ok.

After breakfast, we headed off on a little walking tour with some help from this Blog Post. 

Using Google maps, we were able to figure out which stop was closest to our hotel. So we headed left and found ourselves at St. Michael and St. Gudala Cathedral. Our walk to the Cathedral was all uphill. Brussels is definitely hillier than Amsterdam and London, which was actually a nice change because it gave us some incredible views at times.

Like this one that I posted on Instagram which I will talk more about in my next post.

But from the Cathedral steps we were able to see the top of City Hall over at the Grand Place.
It had started to rain by the time we arrived at the Cathedral and thankfully we had brought a little umbrella with us.

You can read more about the cathedral Here. 

The Cathedral has been around since about 1000 AD and is really beautiful inside. One of the things I love about Europe is how so many buildings have been around for so long. There is so much history over there that it just can't compare here in the United States.

So many gorgeous windows inside.

I love that it was originally devoted to St. Michael the Archangel who is my husband's patron saint.

There is a pretty cool statue in his honor inside.

And an amazing pulpit.

Our next stop was the Royal Palace (Palais Royal de Bruxelles). We actually did walk through Brussels Park (Parc de Bruxelles) first.

And it was still raining just a little bit. Just a light rain, but it was kind of nice sharing an umbrella. :)

The Royal Palace is still the official palace for the King and Queen of Belgium, but they do not actually live there. We happened to be there at the right time, because it appears it is only open to the public for about six weeks out of the year - July 21st until beginning of September. So we decided to go inside for the tour which was free. Online a blogger had mentioned it takes about thirty minutes, but I'm not sure if it was even that long.

Here are a few photos from the inside. Lots of chandeliers!

But I think this one was the best!

The chandelier and the artwork on the ceiling are actually made from the wings of Thai jewel beetles! Very unique and unusual to say the least.

Of course after the Palace, we had to stop at Manneken Pis. 

Yes, it is a statue of a little boy going pee. And it is a very famous and well loved landmark in Brussels that was designed in 1338. So it's definitely a must see if you are ever in Brussels.

I actually had to a photo of those windows above the statue, because I loved them so much. They were so pretty in person!

Next up finally, we got waffles from Maison Dandoy! The Manneken Pis is a short walk to the Grand Place and the Maison Dandoy tearoom is located on the way right around the corner from the there. Maison Dandoy has more than one location though. One is just a shop and the other is a shop with tearoom where you can eat in or get your waffles to go! We actually ate in the tearoom this time around.
Not the prettiest shot of our waffles, but we didn't think to take a photo until after we had started putting everything on top. lol
And I will say the waffles are every bit as good as the internet says they are! So yummy and highly recommended.

After filling up on waffles, I stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe which is also right next to the Grand Place to pick up a souvenir for my dad. He collects pins from the different Hard Rock Cafes and I thought it would be fun to get him one from Brussels.

Up until this point we had been checking out a variety of chocolate shops to find something for the kids. There are so many to choose from! But we finally settled on Le Comptoir De Mathilde. We stocked up on a few things and headed back to the hotel for a nap and some time to relax.

Since we were seven days into our trip, Mike had found a laundromat not far from our hotel where we could wash a load of our clothes. We walked over to the laundromat and put our clothes in a washing machine.

Then we had fries and a few drinks at a little restaurant down the street with terrible service but a fun atmosphere. Once our clothes were done, we walked around for a bit trying to find a place to actually eat dinner. One thing I will say, stay clear of Rue de Boucher. It's a tourist trap pure and simple. It is a few streets full of restaurants with very aggressive "sales pitches" about why you should come try their restaurant. And honestly none of them even looked appealing. I've heard there are a few good ones in there, but really seemed to be too much of a hassle to find them.

Ironically, we ended up at a little place called Ricotta and Parmesan located right around the corner from our hotel. And we loved it! Great service for a change and really a perfect little date night type place. I would totally give it 5 stars! Our waiter was originally from Palermo, but had lived in Philly as he called it in the States for a while. And now he is living in Brussels. It was the best service we had the entire trip and he gave us free limoncello shots on top of it!

After dinner, we walked back to our hotel to drop off our laundry and get our nice camera before heading to see the Grand Place at night.

It was so beautiful!

 Once again, photos cannot do this place justice!

There were still so many people around that late at night just sitting and talking. It was so cool!

All these photos take you in a complete walk around the entire square.
I think the Grand Market will always be one of my favorite places in the world!

We decided to join the crowd and just lay down and hang out for a bit looking up at the top of the City Hall.

It was our last night in Brussels after all. :)

Steps - 18,714
Miles - 8.02

Brussels and U2 - Day 1

Can I just say that out of all the cities we were planning on visiting for this trip, Brussels was the one I was least looking forward to.
In the beginning, I just thought of it as a place to see U2 on the last stop of the tour in Europe. But by the time we left, I realized it was going to be one of those places that I look back and consider a happy place.
I ended up loving it!

Honestly, I didn't know much about Brussels or Belgium prior to our trip besides that it is known for  chocolate and waffles.
But as I think I said way back in one of my earlier trip posts, Mike took care of the actual concert, travel and hotel plans while I looked into all of the restaurants and places we wanted to visit in each city. And the more I learned about Brussels, the more I realized there might be more to this city than I first thought.

I don't think I have shared this yet, but here is my Pinterest board I used for this particular trip - Seeing Europe with You.
This pin A Self-Guided Walking Tour of Brussels, was a huge help finding potential sites to see! As well as 7 Things to Add to Your Brussels Bucket List.
We did not go to the Delirium Beer Bar, the Atomium, or Mussels, but we did make it to Maison Dandoy, The Grand Place, Peck 47 and Comptoir de Mathilde from the list.

Anyway, on August 1st, 2017, we woke early at 7:30am and headed to the train station. We discovered Uber was going to take too long that morning, so we ended up just walking the 20 minutes it took to get to the station from our hotel. After a little confusion about where to go, we found our platform. We then had enough time to take turns grabbing a quick breakfast from a little shop nearby in the station.

Our train ride took about an hour, and we thankfully were able to get an Uber to our hotel The Dominican..

I loved our hotel in Brussels, and I would definitely stay there again! I think it was my favorite out of all the places we stayed on the trip. The lobby was beautiful and the room was very spacious. I think it was the nicest hotel and ironically the cheapest.
At this point, we were so tired from staying up too late our last night in Amsterdam and getting up so early, that we crashed and took a nap. When we woke up, we got ready and headed out to look eat and look around a little bit before the concert that night.

We grabbed a late lunch at a little cafe across from our hotel that I have forgotten the name of and didn't think to write it in my journal.

This was a street we walked several times over our two days there as it led us from our hotel to the place we had wanted to visit the most in Brussels.

The Grand Place  - This is the town square of Brussels with quite a history and photos just cannot do it justice!

Just the two of us (looking and feeling a little jet lagged) - The Grand Place, Brussels, Belgium - August 1, 2017
This beautiful town square is lined with more modern shops today, most of them chocolate! There was Neuhaus, Leonides, Godiva, Elisabeth, and Le Comptoir de Mathilde just to name a few. 

This was our favorite shop where we bought most of our chocolate.

Here are a few more photos of the Grand Place - The City Hall

The darker building on the left is the City Museum. We didn't actually go inside any of the buildings, but spent most of our time taking photos and people watching!

From the other side of the square.

We found the hotel where U2 was staying right by the Grand Place, but of course we had missed them!
So we found our train station and made it to King Boudain Stadium for the show. 

From the stadium, we could see the Atomium which is a pretty big tourist attraction there. It looks pretty cool, but we didn't make it back out that way to actually go inside.
The set up inside the stadium was different than at previous shows we had been to. The stage ran along the side of the stadium instead of at the end. And as the crowd filled up, we were pretty glad we had seats that night. We weren't up to standing for so long as we had in Amsterdam.

Our seats were in a top section but still pretty good. Second row and a great view of everything going on down there. Here is the opening act Noel Gallagher playing again.

 So many people!

U2 out on the small tree stage opening with Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day, Bad, and Pride.

And the intro to the Joshua Tree album - Where the Streets Have No Name

Love that big screen!

And loved the lighting during Beautiful Day!

It was a great night! Although getting to the train platform after the show was insane. It was crazy crowded and all of these people were trying to get through one little entrance. But thankfully everyone was in pretty good spirits after the show. At one point someone started mooing like we were cattle and we all had a good laugh at that. Eventually we made it back to our hotel and to bed.

Kind of bummed because for some reason I did not write down my steps or miles walked this day. But nothing to do about it now! 

Day 2 in Brussels coming up soon!

Happy Twenty Year Wedding Anniversary to Us!

Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who really, really liked each other a lot as you can see in this picture. I think it was taken in 1994, and it has always been one of my favorite photos of us.

We met for the first time in 1991 under the Stan Musial statue at the Old Busch Stadium downtown  before a Cardinals game.

We were good friends for a long time before we actually began dating. In fact, that day we met I was actually in a relationship with someone else.

In fact, I made a scrapbook layout a few years ago to share that story.

Thankfully, I realized what I knew in my heart all along. That you were the one for me. You proposed to me as we were sitting on the back trunk of your car looking up at the stars. It really was perfect. The first time we had ever kissed was when we were doing the exact same thing. Sitting on the back of your car, just talking and looking up at the stars. On the night you proposed, you gave me the ring in one of those gumball containers because you had been buying me toy rings out of the gumball machines as a joke for a while. When I opened the container I actually asked you if it was real, and you responded by getting down on one knee and asking me the question I had been hoping to hear.

And on October 18, 1997, we stood up in front of all our family and friends and became husband and wife.

It was a beautiful day and one of the happiest of my life.

I know there have been times that weren't perfect and in fact there was that one year that was downright awful for both of us. The lost year as we like to call it. But life isn't always going to be perfect. I doubt there is a couple out there that can say married life after 20+ years has been all rainbows and butterflies. But that is what real love is about. Loving and supporting each other through the hard times as well as the good. Choosing to love each other even when times get tough. And I am so grateful that in the past twenty years we have had many, many more good times than not so good.

So today in honor of our 20th anniversary, I want to share twenty of my favorite memories from our marriage so far.

1. Obviously our wedding day is top of the list. I felt like I was the luckiest girl in the world on that day.

2. We have so many special memories involving both of the places we have called home. As much as I loved our apartment in Clayton where we originally lived after we were married, there was something so exciting about buying our first home together. We knew that apartment wouldn't be big enough for our growing family since I was pregnant with our first baby at the time we began house hunting.

3. Our first real vacation as a married couple - Cancun, Mexico. Here we are at Chichen Itza, where I hear they no longer let tourists climb to the top of the Kukulkan Pyramid. We were lucky that we got the chance when we did. We returned to Mexico when Evan was one for a family vacation, but I will always remember our time there just the two of us.

4. Watching favorite tv shows together like Friends, Survivor, and Trading Spaces have been replaced by newer ones such as Stranger Things, Big Bang Theory, and House Hunters.

5. The birth of our son was such an important day for us. What I will never forget is the moment you told me I was your hero right before Evan was born. So much changed that day for us as a couple, but being parents together has been an amazing journey so far. Not without it's challenges of course, but ultimately makes me realize how lucky we are to have each other.

6. The time you surprised me with a weekend getaway to New York City to celebrate our 6th anniversary. Hard to believe that was fourteen years ago! The photo of the two of us is special to me because it was taken in Central Park at a spot I remembered visiting with my friend Linda on a high school trip fourteen years before that.

7. Our last vacation as a family of three when I was pregnant with Erin. We went to Orlando, Florida and stayed at the Portofino hotel. We spent most of our time at either Universal Studios or Islands of Adventure with a one day trip to Disney world. It was one of my favorite vacations ever despite the fact that there weren't many rides I could go on.

I love this photo Evan took of us in Tomorrowland at Disney World!

8. The birth of our sweet daughter made our family complete.

A scrapbook layout from Erin's baby book.

9. Our annual mother and father's day brunch tradition with our parents always gives us a good time to get a family photo.

10. Going all the way to Dublin Ireland to see U2 at Croake Park stadium two nights in a row! We have seen them so many times in concert, but seeing them in Ireland was something we had always wanted to do. Definitely one of our best trips ever.

11. And then later that fall, we took Evan to his first U2 concert!

12. I absolutely loved our anniversary trip to a resort in Canada when you were working up there. It was so beautiful there and very relaxing. 

The view was pretty incredible.

 13. Our selfie photos we take at the pumpkin patch every year.

14. And every year we have the most fun celebrating Halloween. Somehow you and Evan always come up with fantastic themes that make it extra special and a little creepy sometimes.

15. And then there was the year you kissed me under the mistletoe at the Botanical Gardens - Garden Glow.

16. All the many concerts we have gone to through the years - these photos are U2, Alabama Shakes, Elle King and Awolnation.

17. Speaking of music, I love how you always share songs, bands and your favorite music with me. I've learned about a lot of great bands I would have missed out on if it wasn't for you. Like The National!

18. Getting to live down in Miami for two months in the summer of 2016 while you were working there was one of the best summers ever! I think the kids would say the same thing.

 19. We have learned the importance of making time for each other and date nights.

20. And I think I will end this for now with our trip to Europe this past summer. Four countries and two U2 concerts in eleven days will be hard to beat, but I know we can do it.

I saw this quote on Pinterest one day and it really seems to fit us perfectly. 

 

I am so grateful for the past twenty years and I am looking forward to making many more wonderful memories with you for years to come.

Happy Anniversary, Mike! 

I love you the most!