My Trip to Belgium Part One: Day 4, Day 5, & Day 6

Day 4: Having covered nearly three cities in only two days (and having walked for nearly two days straight) we were actually quite tired and all of us had slept in a little later than we had planned. By 9 am, we were piled in Anna’s car and on our way to Southern Belgium, to a small but beautiful town called Dinant, and Dinant was Anna’s personal favorite. Dinant is a small, pretty village on the banks of the Meuse River. To enter the village, you have to pass through a very narrow entrance between rocks. The entire village is encompassed between mountains and the river, which makes some breathtaking views. Dinant is famous for the saxophone, since Dinant is the creator’s birthplace, Adolphe Sax, and the entire village has sculptures and statues of saxophones throughout the village! Despite being Anna’s personal favorite, that wasn’t the real reason we were going there. Anna’s grandparents live in Dinant and Anna wanted to introduce Hailey to them. Anna is kind of in the same boat as Hailey, but Anna doesn’t have it as bad as Hailey has it. Hailey’s family won’t acknowledge her existence, Anna’s family doesn’t support her decision but they will at least talk to her. The only relatives that support both Anna and Hailey’s decision to be together are Anna’s grandparents and the both of them thought it’d be a good idea to meet! The car ride was almost two hours long so we were quite anxious to get out of the car when we arrived in Dinant. Before we visited Anna’s grandparents, we took a tour of the city. Like Brugge, I think the city would be much more beautiful in the spring or summer since the day was a little cold and cloudy, but nonetheless, I loved Dinant, waffle stands on the street, nice little shops, beautiful people, and dazzling buildings and houses. We began our tour by strolling across the Charles-de-Gaulle bridge, which stretches across the Meuse river and offers some of the best views of the village! It also has cute and unique saxophone sculptures that line the sidewalks! Once we were across the bridge, we visited the Collegiale Notre Dame de Dinant, which had been built in the 13th century. The church is pretty unique and really pretty, with a gothic style architecture and beautiful stained-glass windows. Sadly, it was closed when we had been there and we were only able to view the exterior, though Anna said the interior was just as beautiful. After visiting the church, we made our way to Anna’s grandparent's house, which happened to be right near the river and just across from the market. Anna’s grandparents which just as sweet and lovely as Anna was. I enjoyed their company but I had a hard time talking to both of them since they only spoke French and a little Dutch. I’m fairly decent at French but I still have a hard time communicating but I at least gave it a try! Anna’s grandmother had also made mattentaart for us, which is an awesome dessert that combines a sugar donut with cheesecake...it tastes as though you are eating a very fluffy cheesecake and it was really yummy! We stayed with Anna’s grandparents throughout the evening, talking, drinking wine, and eating mattentaart! Anna seemed to be very happy and joyous, as did Hailey. Anna’s emotions changed as soon as we began saying our goodbyes. These were the only relatives of Anna that accepted who she is and supported her decision and she was leaving them behind to move to the United States. It saddened me as well since it could have been the last time Anna was going to see her grandparents and I think that entire feeling overwhelmed her. After we said our goodbyes, we made our last stop of the day at the Citadel de Dinant which sits atop a mountain, right above the Collegiale Notre Dame de Dinant, and overlooks the entire village. It offered some of the best views of Dinant and we had arrived at the perfect time, just as the sun was setting, making the views even more spectacular! Following the tour of the citadel, we walked back to the car and drove the long ride back to Anna’s house.

Day 5: We spent our last day in Belgium’s capital, Brussels. We had departed from Anna’s home rather early so we’d catch the 7:45 am train to Brussels, which lasted about a half hour. We started our tour of Brussels with its most famous attraction, the Grand Palace, which was also in the grote markt of Brussels and quite frankly, it was the only thing that was really worth seeing in Brussels. Despite being there in the early morning, the place was still crowded with tourists but I actually didn’t mind it much. The entire town square was lined with market stands and street vendors but it certainly didn’t take away from the beautiful gothic architecture of the entire square. Following our long walk around the grote markt, we walked to the famous Manneken Pis statue which was rather adorable! We had skipped breakfast and after a few hours of walking, our stomachs had been craving food and what better to get than a Belgian waffle. We had stopped at a local cafe near the Manneken Pis statue that served gourmet Belgian waffles! Sammie got a waffle with strawberries and chocolate and I got a waffle with chocolate, crushed nuts, and bananas which was really yummy! After breakfast, we walked to the Ilot Sacre, or Sacred Little Island. This was where the original city of Brussels was founded and though it is beautiful, I actually didn’t care for it much. The narrow, cobblestone streets of Ilot Sacre are lined with many local restaurants, gift shops, and vendors, and to me, it felt like a tourist trap. Nonetheless, walking down the beautiful cobblestone alleys with the smell of chocolate, mussels, and fries in the air was very cool! After walking the alleys of Ilot Sacre, we walked to the Cathedral of St. Michel which was an incredibly large and stunningly beautiful gothic cathedral! We then spent the rest of the afternoon to evening window shopping at the Galeries Royales St-Hubert, a beautiful row of expensive shops and restaurants, which actually took quite a few euros out of my pocket! Before leaving Brussels, we stopped at one last cafe to eat dinner in which I had Flemish beef stew with a side of fries and potatoes, along with one or two different beers.

Day 6: We spent most of the morning packing our bags and also helping Anna pack some boxes of things to prepare for her move to the United States, and to save time, we’d be taking some of the boxes of Anna’s belongings back home with us. Our plan had departed at roughly 10 am and it was about a two-hour flight to Dublin, where we had yet another two-hour layover in the airport before we left Dublin at about 3 pm. Again, it was about a nine-hour flight back to Chicago, but the return flight had felt much longer than the original flight and it was much more boring but Sammie and I caught some sleep before we landed in Chicago at about 1 am. It wasn’t until about 3 am that we returned back home.