I'm going to Europe!!!!

[pinkbow832]

Later- I used to live in Brussels and have traveled around Belgium quite a bit. If you need any ideas for day trips or things to see/do in the city, PM me and let me know what kind of things interest you and I can give you some ideas!

I'll be in London in March also- fingers crossed for good weather!

[Deleted]

Thanks pinkbow, but our hosts live in Brussels and will be playing tour guide for us for the first week.

Why would you leave Brussels at all?

[pinkbow832]

You can go just about anywhere in Belgium in 1-2 hours. They'll most likely recommend a day trip to Bruges- definitely do it! Everyone loves Bruges and it's a very easy trip from Brussels. Ghent, Leuven, and Antwerp are also great day trips- I did Ghent and Leuven in 1 day. If you want to venture farther out, Bastogne is an interesting day trip and there's a great museum about the Battle of the Bulge and the liberation of Bastogne. Luxembourg is exactly 3 hours from Brussels by train if you're feeling adventurous and such a beautiful city, although I'm biased because I used to live there also

Brussels has enough to keep you occupied for maybe a day. There really aren't a lot of tourist sights and some of the more touristy things are really a rip-off (i.e. Atomium, mini-Europe). Going to Grand Place, walking through the Galleries de la Reine (first shopping mall!) and up to the Sablon area gives you a great overview of all the chocolate shops and is about 100x better than any chocolate museum or whatever in Brussels. It's much more of a city for wandering than tourist-ing. Hopefully the sun will come out for you once or twice, because it's a beautiful city when it's sunny!

[pinkbow832]

Oh and since you'll be there in March, you'll be in the best place on earth for Easter candy! All of the chocolate shops get completely decked out with their window displays- it's amazing! I can't wait to go to Europe in March and stock up on my favorite Milka Easter eggs!

[Deleted]

We will really only have 3 days in Brussels. The first day is a right off getting over Jet Lag and actually visitting. The last day will be to get organized with our packing etc. Our host already mentioned Ghent. I haven't heard of Bruges. Another thing to google.

Just how expensive is the chocolate? It seems like a must to bring back as souvenirs. Will it break the bank for say 12 people?

[Deleted]

BTW folks, with all your feedback I did give up on the renting a car idea. I finally figured out how to get the cheap train tickets everyone was talking about.

Now...for myself I would like to come home with a painting from Paris for my living room. One of the local artists obviously. Where will I find that?

[Deleted]

Hey Later,

Got your Thank you note. I forgot I gave that advice and had to come back to this thread! ;D

I second Pink Bow's recommendation for Bruges. Looks like we might be there Easter Weekend.

With respect to your art search; for sure you should check out the Bookinists along the Siene.http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1782914

It's touristy as all hell but a lot of fun. I always wind up buying something there. You'll need to make sure you're not getting a copy but it's a good place to start. Also depending on what days you're going to be in Paris you might check out one of Marche aux Puces. I suggest PMing Debt Haven and seeing what she recommends.

Just don't expect to come back with any bargains. The Euro is still trading at about US1.30 Not sure about the Looney; should be close. Buy what you like and love.

[pinkbow832]

The chocolate won't be a steal, especially if you buy it from any of the chocolate shops. What you can do (which was one of my favorite things), is buy single pieces at various places and have your own "chocolate tasting". If you want to buy some to take home, Neuhaus, Godiva, and Wittamer are all some of the best. My friends tended to buy a lot of Leonidas chocolate to take home to family/friends because it was still packaged very nicely and good chocolate, just not as expensive as some of the higher-end shops. Pierre Marcolini has a shop at Grand Sablon that is some of the most beautiful chocolate I have ever seen- it's great to just window shop!

If you want to buy lots of chocolate to take home as small gifts, you can also find a great selection in just about any grocery store. Cote d'Or is a solid grocery-store choice, and it's usually hard to find in the US. I like Milka's Easter eggs that come with 15 or so different fillings- each bag has a different kind. There's one with pop rocks that's soooooooo good!!!!!!!!!! Another very Belgian thing to try is Speculoos, which is kind of a gingerbread-y cookie. There's a shop just off Grand Place that I think sells some of the most famous Speculoos. But really, if you could only try 1 thing (aside from chocolate, because that's a given..) you would have to try the gaufre de Liege. There are 2 kinds of Belgian waffles: gaufre de Bruxelles, which is kind of like a regular Belgian waffle, and gaufre de Liege, which is made out of a thicker dough with pearl sugar that carmalizes on the outside while it cooks.

And the fries..I forgot about the fries...oh it's such a good thing I don't live in Belgium any more!

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In Brussels: Moules and Frites and/or Steak au poivre. Those are the only reasons to go to Brussels, no? ;D

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You guys are great! Do you know how hard it is to explain to people how I know about this stuff? ;D

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'Cuz you're such an awesome researcher?

We've got your back; we're your Posse!

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

What I did when TD and I left Istanbul was to gather together all of our Turkish liars that were left and killed it all buying chocolate from the duty free store. Probably wasn't the cheapest, but it meant that we didn't have to haul it all over the place.

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Ok, the Bookinists is now on the list lol

Bonnap I'm not really looking for a deal, just something I love as you say. And something that will remind me of my trip to Paris every time I look at it