The next morning, after the best breakfast I have had in Europe - a massive buffet - I walked out to the reception desk (we stayed in a hotel, as with 3 of us it actually worked out cheaper than a hostel) to ask the lady the best way to get into the centre.
"You do know it's Belgium's national holiday today, don't you?"
"Ahhhh. No, I wasn't aware"
"Well it is. There will be fireworks and big celebrations tonight"
I knew that national holidays mean one thing is certain - there will be free stuff! I considered what Belgium was known for - Beer and Chocolate. Beer was a long shot but I thought we might be able to score some free Belgian chocolate. After checking out a Lamborghini police car and watching a dog maul a guy with a massive padded suit on we headed on further into the celebrations, grabbing some free yoghurt on the way. We threw darts at the map of a world for bracelets and participated in the activity where-you-swing-a-hammer-down-which-propels-the-thing-up-to-hit-the-bell (no idea what its called). We then found what we were looking for - free chocolate. After watching the guy - with extreme finesse - make the chocolate for about 10 minutes, I devoured it in a few seconds. In my opinion Belgium certainly challenges the Swiss for the best chocolate. We also scored a free strawberry smoothie and had an espresso coffee for 1 euro. It was a good day for the budget.
Belgian Waffles on National Holiday...yum (too bad they were 6 euro)
Beer in Brussels
The "trio" - Dylan, Hendrix and Lennon
The remainder of the day was spent wandering the many streets of the Belgian capital scoring more free stuff, consuming a few beers and a Belgian sausage or two. I also managed to add to my unusual food component of my journey with some Escargot. Our trio quickly decided that we had to go out for Belgiums national holiday. We went to the supermarket, trying to find the most economical way to drink. There was a discount box of spirits - bad choice. We ended up with a strawberry liqueur that was the sweetest alcoholic drink I have ever had. For the rest of the night, decisions on what to do were made by the flip of a coin. In the end, we were up until sunrise. Just as the sun was coming up a group of about 8 Belgian guys approached us. The first word they said was "wallet" and the second word was "phone". I didn't have mine and Loui and Hugo had about 10 euro collectively so we weren't the best catch. Then they tried to tell us they were the police. After some French conversation that I didn't understand between the group of guys and some local girls , we tried to walked (Hugo hobbled) away as one of the guys smashed a bottle and tried to chase after Hugo. Maybe Hugo's walking stick looked intimidating but after some talking we managed to extricate ourselves from the situation unharmed and still with our 10 euros.
Next stop on our Belgian itinerary was Bruges. I was adamant that I was going there after seeing the movie "In Bruges." The boys didn't seem as keen but in the end it was decided we would spend one night there on the way to Antwerp for Tomorrowland - the music festival we were going to. In the end, after a day and a half of doing the touristy route in Bruges it was probably lucky that we didn't stay longer. It didn't seem like much happened there. I headed out in the rain, deciding that I may as well put the raincoat I'm carrying everywhere to good use. Luckily for Hugo, I climbed the main tower in Bruges and discovered that it would be almost impossible to do the same. The top of the tower provided a great panoramic view over the whole of the old medieval town. If you are reading this Dave, I'm sorry but panorama function was not used.
Brugge/Bruges
After a brief visit to Bruges, it was on to Antwerpen for Tomorrowland. Upon arriving in Antwerpen, the first thing I noticed was the amount of Amish people. They are everywhere here! Hugo and I crashed early in preparation for two days of non-stop dancing (as much as having a walking stick and a bad knee allows Hugo to dance). At breakfast, I ate as many eggs as I possibly could. After some warm up drinks, we said goodbye to Loui and headed off to the town of Boom - appropriate name for a town that hosts a music festival.
The last two days have been two of the best festival days I have been to. Unfortunately, it was my first festival without the famous "Verbier" purple headband - anyone who has been to a festival with me knows what I mean. After recovering from that fact, Hugo and I marvelled at the amazing set up. The site features DJ sets on a lake, a massive arena type hill for an open air main stage and many weird and wonderful little decorations. I even got to toboggan down an ice hill on a donut! Weird. The main stage is a massive rainbow with a sun whose eyes are constantly panning across the crowd. It gets a little creepy sometimes...
Many of the sets were accompanied by fireworks. John Dahlback's set had about 8 gymnasts dressed as monkeys doing backflips on trampolines and off the stage. For David Guetta there were paragliders with strobe lights and throughout the day helicopters flew over creating what seemed like rain with millions of flower petals. It was a truly great festival and well thought out. We had a great time. Hugo managed to survive the festival unharmed until the last 5 minutes. We managed to get in front of the doors to get onto the bus home.
"How good is this. We got to the front of the queue"
Two seconds later, as I rushed to grab a seat for Huey I turned around to see him sprawled out across the floor of the bus. Some guy behind had pushed him. Unlucky. Turns out he didn't hurt it too bad, but it wasn't the best end to the festival.
Tomorrowland 2010
I'm lying on my bed in our hostel in Antwerp. Loui and I are about to get bikes and explore the town and along the river. Loui is now a tour guide for Antwerp as he has been exploring graffiti forests and figuring out cheap places to eat while Hugo and I were at the festival. Here is a photo of our Belgian friend. I call him Fried Freddie
Honestly, before I left home I didn't expect to go to Belgium at all, except maybe in passing. My Belgium experience has been a thoroughly enjoyable and unexpected one. We head into the Netherlands tomorrow for a few days before crossing Germany to Prague for a few weeks of free accom with all the boys!
Hope you have enjoyed the stories from Belgium.
No comments:
Post a Comment