We had a slight delay in getting into Belgium.. but we made it.

Our hotel in Antwerp was quite historic. It was all stone with very steep stairwells, and absolutly beautiful, it was also placed in the centre of old town Antwerp, so perfect location for us.

With only two nights here we set off exploring straight away, with no plans other then wandering the streets and endless christmas markets we were more then happy just to look. We did go on a ferris wheel ride and got an amazing view of the city and the xmas market lights. We found Antwerp to be just as beaustiful to look at as Amsterdam. This little city is full of tiny alleyways, and sneaky little pubs which made it easy to walk, stop, drink, walk, stop, drink. Needless to say, we love Antwerp.

So off to Brussels we go, and what a change it is there. Its a slightly more modern city, not as nice as Antwerp, but we were happy exploring a new place yet again.

We enjoyed these christmas markets, probably the largest lot we have seen so far, and very very busy. We stumbled upon a Canadian stand selliing all sorts of Candian goodies, but my favorite maple taffy.. pure boiled down maple syrup poured strait onto snow so it hardens slightly, add a stick and you have this gooey maple magic. The French/Candian girl making this was my new best friend.

Grand place is the name of the city square here in Brussels, and it's a beautiful spot to people watch, and gaze at the amazing architecture. During the nights there is a light display every hour or so, where they light the xmas tree and the surrounding buildings in coloured light and music. It was a magical sight to watch, and quite hard to take photos of.

One of my personal favorite things that we visited was the auto museum, specifically the Aston Martin collection on display, never have i seen that many generations of the Aston in person.. About time i dragged Tom around a museum.

Tom went out on his own while i was having a nanna nap, and found a nice little pub he set himself up in. He somehow comunticated (kind of) with the French speaking bartender, and after a few (maybe a few too many) he stumbles home with a gift in hand. The lovely bartender sent Tom home with a gift pack of Belgium beer, Tom was over the moon, friends for life ha ha.

We have been learning quite a bit of other languages while here to get us by, (yes most speak English, but we like to try). I feel like we have been doing well, but i must say coming to Belgium has thrown us off a little, as half the town speaks French while the other Dutch. Its a matter of waiting for the staff to say hi before we know what language they speak. I love that Europeans are multilingual, something I will always be jealous of.

While Brussels wasn't our favourite place, we feel like we saw enough and won't be rushing back anytime soon.

Thanks for your hospitality Belgium.

Add on...

Its funny how busy we get, and how many thing we see in so many places, so im not surprised that we missed a major part of our trip in Antwerp. If you went through the photos I posted you would see some bluey/purple disney characters, well this would be an ice sculpture exhibit we went and saw. It was quite hard to photograph ice, and these images dont do this display justice. The exhibit was stunning, magical even. A not so nice -6 degree shed was filled with characters from an array of disney films. This was one of the best things we have seen on our trip so far.