I decided for some stupid reason that I can squeeze another cheeky trip in just before Christmas so I booked a 3 day trip to Belgium just before Christmas Eve. It turned out to be a bad idea because it rained heavily the entire time.
Lunch on the first day was at a tourist trap... sigh. Frites because Belgium is famous for it... just tasted like normal fries if you ask me.
Damon's mussels.
I went for salmon with lobster sauce... those little pathetic prawns you see floating in the sauce? Lobster to belgians apparently.
We spent the first day just meandering around city centre and went back to the hotel at 5 pm because it was dark and miserable! It was still dark and miserable the next day so we had to think of indoor pursuits in order to avoid the rain.
First stop - the Frites Museum!
Various farming equipment used for growing potatoes....
A cool art installation using different kinds of potatoes... ok not very cool and I was scrapping the barrel a bit by then.
The last paragraph amused me....
I liked this print....
This was hilarious because the boy was wearing the type of pants that I was trying hard to photograph while I was in China. It's rude but practical. Boys being toilet trained just had to squat to pee.....
Different types of equipment used for potato-peeling.
Comics that have even the most remote connection to potatoes were displayed here.
Obligatory tourist shot:
After that, we walked around the city centre a bit and checked out some art installation in the rain. This was Damon's attempt at taking a photo of me... note the excess waste of space in the foreground and background.
It was pelting down so we went to the next museum - Chocolates Museum. I kid you not.
The museum basically went through the history of chocolates from when it was discovered by the Mayans.....
... when it was used as currency....
Piggy bank for storing coffee beans....
... when sugar was added to chocolate to make it more palatable....
... how coffee is grown in South America.. this room kinda mimicked the forest with the floor resembling forest beds and the walls trees.
Even the rubbish bins were shaped like coffee pods... haha.
This device slices up the beans so that the quality of the beans can be ascertained.
Again, there was a replica chocolate shop at the top floor of the museum. Damon was pretending to buy chocolates....
Halfway through the tour, I realised there were all these quirky Lego scenes for children to look at so I went back and took photos of them.
The Aztecs were ferocious warriors. There were 2 clans: the jaguar warriors and the eagle warriors.
Aztecs hard at work making chocolate....
Coffee plantation...
Harvest time...
Daniel Peter, a Swiss, invented milk chocolate.
The result of too much chocolates...
Again, we had to do it....
There were some chocolate art in the basement as well as a chocolate making demonstration so we went and had a look.....
This was meant to be the chocolate eating family and since they were made of chocolates, they ate themselves.... dude was meant to be chewing on his own hand....
Lunch was at a restaurant near our hotel.... we went in wanting to only get a waffle but it said on the menu that waffles were only available between 3 and 6 pm so we decided to get lunch instead. We then saw waffles being served to other diners after we ordered. Doh!
Mulled wine.....
I got a local specialty... Flemish beef stew. When I first saw the size of this serving, I nearly went.... errr 2 pieces of beef for EUR15!!!!!!!!!!
Luckily the waiter put down the rest of it straightaway..... Disaster averted!
Walking along a typical Bruge street....
Bruge is a city with canals running through it....
Took a break and I decided that waffles were too cliched so I went with crepes... big mistake. Sauce was gluggy.
The Belfort was built in the 13th century and holds the city's medieval charter of rights. There was a christmas market happening right in front of it.
