Steps: 36,027. London —> Brussels —> Bruges. Weather: Approaching perfect- Really sunny and warm! Somehow it was 70 degrees and I was still wearing pants and a jacket though :).

  • 4:45 Wake up. It’s only easy to wake up before your alarm when your alarm is set for 5AM it seems.
  • 5:00 Get up, get ready
  • 5:17 Ready to go! Faith walks me down to the lobby and we say goodbye :(
  • 5:30 Walk to Blackfriars station.
  • 5:49 Thameslink Luton train to St. Pancras
  • 6:00 At St. Pancras! As per Faith’s instructions, I walked straight forward and the Eurostar was literally right there. Going through security and passport control honestly felt like the airport but even more intense.
  • 6:20 Cleared security and in the waiting area. I was pretty sure I didn’t need to get here as early as they said I did but they seemed pretty insistent…
  • 6:38 Board train! Car 5, seat 25 (Time change. +1 hour)
  • 9:25 First stop in Lille, France.
  • 10:15 Arrive in Brussels. I may have accidentally fallen asleep listening to the Noah Kahan album and had no idea everyone was getting off the train until suddenly I was awake and the guy next to me was just gone. Thank goodness for whatever voice in the back of my head nudged me awake at that moment!
  • 10:20 Cut my fingernails in the train station cuz it was bugging me.
  • 10:30 I ended up walking like a half hour out of my way to three different luggage storage places that Google Maps was lying to me about. I was so confident every time until they all ended up being abandoned buildings or sketchy looking grocery stores.
  • 11:15 Found a (really nice and actually perfect) hotel with luggage lockers that worked out beautifully. It was really close to the train station and I managed to shove both my suitcase and backpack into the same locker, barely!
  • 11:30 Finally able to walk into central Brussels (approx 30 mins). The transition to the tourist area was VERY clear- one block there was no one and the next was packed with people. Very interesting.
  • 12:00 Liege waffle from Obe. Plain- just powdered sugar on there, as it was meant to be. It was delicious.
  • 12:20 Discover Grand Place, the central most square in Brussels which is just absolutely dazzling.
  • 12:45 Belgian waffle (they called it a Brussels waffle) from Maison Dandoy. Powdered sugar. I think I preferred the Liege style, but I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would.
  • 1:00 Walk around, stumble upon St. Michael & St. Gudula’s Cathedral which was breathtaking.
  • 2:00 Explore the Royal Quarter and the Royal Park. Buy bus tickets for later today cuz not having them was stressing me out.
  • 2:30 Back to the Grand Place square for a free walking tour! I am really glad I did this- our tour guide was great, I learned a ton about Brussels and chocolate, saw some niche spots I wouldn’t have known to go to, got recommendations that I actually used, and made some new friends (kinda… never mind the fact I didn’t talk to anyone).
  • 4:45 Walk to MOK STUDIO- The coffee shop and “sound experience” Daddy was so captivated with. I took a selfie with the sign but due to construction directly outside and not wanting coffee and perceived awkwardness I didn’t actually go in.
  • 5:15 Wolf Food Sharing Hall for an early dinner. I got hummus and pita from a Greek place and it was very good. The ambience was perfect- cool and classy but totally fine to be there alone
  • 6:00 Chocolate Time!
    • Stop 1, La Belgique Gourmande: Incredibly disappointing. I paid $7.50 for FOUR TINY CHOCOLATES, two of which were actually fruit jellies that the tour guide recommended but I thought they were horrible so I didn’t even eat them. Rookies mistake- the store looked on the cheaper side… NEVER ASSUME!!
    • Stop 2, Leonidas: Another recommendation from my tour guide and complete redemption from Stop 1. This time I paid $1.75 for two really delicious hazelnut bonbons. The one I tried first was so unique- pillowy, fluffy hazelnut. I’ve never had anything like it and I think I will be getting it again!
    • Stop 3, Neuhaus: Also great. Faith and I had actually gotten free chocolate from this place in Bath by signing up for their loyalty program and I was able to get more free chocolate by signing up with a different email! Decided to save for later.
    • Stop 4, Japanese ice cream. I had seen people with this ice cream earlier and it was the definition of creamy, dreamy, all of the above… Couldn’t not try it
  • 6:40 Another tour guide recommendation to visit the rooftop of the beer museum. Quick stop but great views.
  • 7:00 Treat Stop 5, Aux Mervellieux de Fred: It was the smell of this one that drew me in. They were baking some sort of sweet bread and something about that smell was magnetic. It was really good- basically a sweet bun with pockets of sugar. But yikes five sweets stops!
  • 7:07 Realize that I need to be on my way back to the train station for my 8:29pm train to Bruges.
  • 7:30 Quick stop at the Palace of Justice. I had seen it on my walk into town but had to make an official stop because it is just so grand and majestic and beautiful! Also great city skyline/sunset views if you climb to the top.
  • 7:35 MAJOR freakout about my train to Bruges. I went to verify my ticket details but the Omio website kept saying it “couldn’t fins any trains” between Brussels and Bruges until tomorrow morning. My first thought was that they canceled my train and didn’t bother to let me know, but I decided to cross my fingers and pray tickets had just sold out and the train would still go on like normal. Nevertheless my journey back to grab my luggage was NOT a peaceful one.
  • 7:52 Arrive at the hotel to pick up my luggage.
  • 7:59 At the train station. My train is listed on the Departures screen- thank goodness!
  • 8:05 Found my gate and suddenly have 25 extra minutes. Whoops!
  • 8:15 Call Ellie
  • 8:29 Board the train. Ellie joins me virtually :)
  • 9:25 Arrive in Bruges. Decide to lug my backpack and suitcase through 33 minutes of windy cobblestone streets because there were so many positive reasons to do so and only one reason, being the cobblestone streets, not to do so. Only one taxi driver leaned out of his cab to ask me if I wanted a ride :). I was a little put off when the first thing I walked through was a small fair that looked like something straight out of literally any small midwest town, complete with carnaval games, cheap prizes, and fried food. Definitely not the vibe I was imagining! But as soon as I got into the city itself I was hit with the quaint fairytale town I was picturing. It was one of those moments where the place actually meets (exceeds?) expectations, and I was literally overflowing with excitement and gratitude to get to spend time here. It is truly one of the most special places I have ever been!
  • 10:10 Arrive at St. Christopher’s Inn: The Bauhaus. Met a lady who was also from Minneapolis!
  • 10:20 Check in. 12 bunk mixed dorm, Room 41, in the building next door. I was glad to not have to stay directly above the bar. I unloaded my backpack onto my bed and shoved my suitcase awkwardly into a corner, then brushed my teeth and got ready for bed. My unwillingness to let any of my things touch anything in the bathroom meant that I had to open and close the door to the room like 5 times…. and I was zipping and unzipping my suitcase like I had a quota I need to meet.. Really sorry everybody else!
  • 11:00 Warm and cozy in my bed. Faith’s dorm was such a wonderful backpackers vibe but it felt great to have a bit more space! However I did accidentally get sidetracked on my phone for an hour.
  • 12:00 Lock in on buying my bus tickets to Paris for Saturday. This would have been done weeks ago (and I would’ve paid a lot less money) if I wasn’t traveling alone because the other person would probably have been more on top of it, but what are you going to do. It was really, really good I did it now though because there were only two seats left on the afternoon bus. I had another massive freak out when the website told me there had been an error and my ticket was available at a new price, but it was only 1 Euro more- phew!
  • 1:00 Lock in on booking a walking tour for tomorrow. There were so many that all looked great! It was surprising how many of the “free” tours included chocolate/waffle tastings.
  • 1:40 Decide it was better to go to sleep than keep pretending to lock in on tasks while I was really just freaking out about everything (the bus and walking tour were the most urgent anyways). Goodnight!