day trip to brussels

on our third day in paris, we decided to have a day trip at brussels. we then boarded thalys train and left paris nord at around nine in the morning and arrived at brussels midi station an hour and a half later.

brussels is  the capital and largest city in belgium. it is also the capital of the 27 nation european union. french is the most widely spoken language alongside with dutch and german. the place is divided into two areas;  the newer upper town and the lower town which is known to be the historic medieval core of the city


great view of the upper and lower town of  the city of brussels, belgium


we met up with our private tour guide, michael eyns at the station. i saw his profile at tripadvisor. medyo pricey yung rate but again, we have a toddler with us and yun yung major consideration ko. comfort and safety and out of all the private tour guides that i found in google for this trip, i decided to get michael  given all the good reviews and medyo magaan yung loob ko talaga. later on, my gut feel proved me right because his wife happened to be a kababayan. that i didnt know ha, that day na lang, when he asked us if from where kami, he blurted na lang that he is married to a filipina. awww. small, small world.



belgium royal palace



the city hall



some historic old own building near the city hall



across the town hall


busy area leading to various restos


the thing that i noticed, andaming structures na at first akala mo church. even their city hall you would think na church sya the first time. michael mentioned that compared before, less and less people are attending the mass na. in fact, the whole of belgium, most of the churches, closed na. some even used it for business, like, they converted it into a hotel. some talagang, tourist attraction na lang. ang sad no? i mean, nasasayangan ako kasi ang gaganda nung church eh.




saint michel and gudula cathedral  


beautiful ceiling detail inside


nice no?


we toured around the whole city for four hours and it was nice naman. na wish ko tuloy na sana in our country, kasi diba, manila yung first stop talaga so sana aside from intramuros, we were able to restore pa sana some old structures from before. kasi sila, even those super old buildings na, the officials  had an agreement with tenants and owners to keep the facades of the buildings.  kahit super modern inside.


of course, belgium is known for super strong beers so michael took the husband to this place. at first i thought it was a secret place cos we had to pass by a really small eskinita. but apparently, the place itself, popular pala sya not just with tourists but with the locals. the place had this creepy feel at first kasi madilim with all the hanging stuff, pero it wasn't that bad naman. 




hubby tasting kwak beer



with michael eyns, our private tour guide


inside the pub



this is what am talkin about... few minutes later, is jampacked! teehee.



while waiting for daddy to finish his kwaaak



side kwento. the stroller that we used that day was actually provided by michael. i  asked him the night before if he could arrange for us to rent one kasi nga we left the stroller in stockholm. since we still had one more day left in  paris, i asked him if he could sell it to me na lang. he called his wife and her wife just gave it to us. yay! 

anyways, here are some more of the photos we had during the trip.




cheeeeese



the flag is up which means the king is not around



tposing with he city mayor statue with his dog



at the galleria



lovely flowers at the town hall area



while looking for a place to eat


the linos at brussels, beliguim, october 2012

laters! xx

6 comments :

M said...

sieggy! love your photos! did michael took all those! galing :D

the linos said...

Thank yewwww, Marrrrs! :) yung tatlo kami, Michael yun. The rest, si hubby na hehe :)

Bhey said...

ang pretty ni Sophie sis :)

the linos said...

Thanks, sis Bhey! :)

Anonymous said...

I love Sophie's jacket! Fashown na fashown! And super adorable!

I like the lovely photos!

Unknown said...

Yay! Ive been reading a lot of European travels post lately.Lalo tuloy ako na inspire to save for a EU trip.but the question is,would we bring our daughter.

i like Sophie's jacket

devmommy.com :)

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