Let me begin this post first by telling you about our travel experience getting to Belgium.
It was not fun.
Fortunately for us, Jeremy's dad works for American Airlines, which makes traveling a lot easier on the budget. Unfortunately, our seats are not guaranteed.
In the past, this hasn't been a problem. Last year, I flew to Atlanta three separate times and never once didn't make my first choice flight.
The night before heading to Belgium, we checked the flights from DFW to Chicago to Brussels... there was no way we were getting to Chicago. Every single flight was overbooked. So, we rerouted to go to St. Louis, then Chicago and, finally, Brussels. These flights were wide open and it shouldn't have been a problem...
Except, somehow, during our flight from DFW to St. Louis, about 30 people boughts seats on the St. Louis to Chicago flight. There was no way we were getting on.
We missed two flights out of St. Louis, which means we also missed the one flight that goes to Brussels each day from Chicago. After about 934 phone calls and even more web checking, we decided we'd take the late flight from Chicago to London Heathrow. Then, we'd jump on a train to Brussels.
So, to London we went. Unfortunately for us, it was Friday afternoon, so the train to Brussels barely had room for us and we had to throw down $400 which we hadn't budgeted (just a reminder: this trip was very last-minute, so the budget was hardly there to begin with). Yuck.
Anyway, we FINALLY make it to Brussels, except - the train dropped us off in the absolute worst part of Brussels there is. There are few times in my life I have been as scared as I was in that train station, and I'm not scared too easily. I told Jeremy I wanted to come back to America immediately. Fortunately, he didn't let me.
Also, we had originally planned on arriving at Brussels airport and travelling to Jeremy's grandfather's place from there. We didn't know how to get there from a random train station, so we were using the pay phones and calling him over and over with no answer.
Finally, we just jumped in a taxi and were on our way.
So, we get there, and we knock on the door... no answer. We wait and wait and wait and knock again... no answer. The man is 90-years-old, we thought, where could he be?
Eventually, we run into a neighbor and they were gracious enough to allow us to use their cell phone to call another relative. Turns out, his grandfather (or Bompa, as he calls him) was in the hospital. (Mind you, we went to visit his sick grandfather from his mom's side, his Opa, yet this one ended up in the hospital while we were there, too.)
Eventually, we get into his grandfather's and get settled in for the night. We lost our first day to travel, but we weren't going to lose anymore, so we got some rest that night and then began exploring...
Day One: Brussels
This is the view from Bompa's apartment.
We started the day by walking down to the square near Bompa's apartment called Place Keym (pronounced plass-came).
Then, we enjoyed a nice lunch at this restaurant.
After lunch, Jeremy's cousin picked us up and took us to see Bompa in the hospital (pictured: Jacob flirting big time with Celine, Jeremy's cousin's girlfriend).
Then, he dropped us off in the main square of Brussels, called Grand Place. We walked around there for a couple of hours and enjoyed the scenery.
Jacob found some random statue just outside of Grand Place which looks just like a cone: right up his alley.
This is the inside of Grand Place. The buildings are faced in gold and very old. It was absolutely beautiful.
This is the statue of the Brussels Hero (in Grand Place), which Jacob and Jeremy are rubbing for good luck.
This is the renowned statue entitled Manneken Pis. Yes, it is a statue of a young boy peeing.
Jeremy told me the story behind it: Apparently, long ago, a small prince ran away from home. The king sent guards searching for him, and when they found him, he was peeing against a wall. As a result, this statue was made. I have no idea how true this is, but it's funny.
Clearly, we succeeded at exhausting Jacob (you'll notice a trend throughout the pictures from this trip that include Jacob sleeping in random places).
That's all for today. Tomorrow, I'll tell you about Knokke, the town where Jeremy's mom's side of the family lives.
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