Belgium, chocolate and fries?





famous Manneke Pies statue



Although it was a short stay I tried to discover as much as I could in the lovely country of Belgium.
I felt partly at home since it resembles my mother land Holland.
I arrived in Hasselt and had during an afternoon some time to look a bit around.
Hasselt is a small city known for its good taste in food and clothing.
Of course most of the time, when you say Belgium you think of good fries and chocolate ( really delicious indeed )but that's not all of course.



It also has its own dialect, which reminds me a lot of old dutch language and beholds one of the oldest drugstores in Europe ( As you can see in the picture below ), it has been of course rebuilt to make sure it doesn't fall apart but it's astonishing to see it.

Also Hasselt has a tight bond with a japanese town called Itami ( its sister town). A garden has been instaured not far from my hotel. Unfortunately, i lacked time to see it ( maybe next time ).


Oldest drugstore in europe in Hasselt

Moving on to Brussels, i only spent a few hours there, but enough to know that there's a lot to be discovered. I think it's where most of the youth likes to hang around with all the shopping malls, restaurants and markets. Oh the architecture there! i didn't know where to start looking. It would be a perfect place to film a movie from the victorian era.
At La Grande Place, i could see how it was crowded with people, especially with tourists. There were various performances that evening to entertain us, but I ended up going to the Hard Rock Café.

For those who are unfamiliar with this place, if you enjoy old bands from the 80's such as the beegees, Michael Jackson, Georges Michael, Kiss, etc... I believe you will love stopping there for a drink or dinner.
It is originally a restaurant from London, that due to its popularity has been instated in several big cities including: Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris,...
Most of the decor is all that is related to rock music, including signed items from various artists for donation: Bon Jovi guitar, Sheet of a song from Sid Vicious, Queen,..
In other words, it has become one of my favourite places to hang out. I'm looking forward to see the one in Paris & London.
I noticed in Brussels that basically they spoke two languages: French & Dutch (flemmish to be precise) & also English. So if you're able to handle with one these languages i think you'll be fine there. It was kind of funny to switch languages everytime with a different person.
I'm not a huge chocolate fan ( i do like it ) but it is true that belgian chocolate has a certain particular taste that makes it special, the chocolate stores made it all hard to resist buying a box.

To summarize this short trip, I had a great time there. I'd love to go back again to see more with some friends.