Casual travel vlog by Nate and Kara Buchanan documenting their first day in Brussels. They sample a Liege waffle, visit landmarks including Manneken Pis and the Grand Place, browse chocolate shops in the Galeries Royales, try a restaurant called Balls and Glory for meatballs, and announce a revised travel itinerary to visit ten new European countries (China plans canceled). The tone is conversational and observational.
Chapters
This morning, we did not wake up to butterflies and birds chirping and the sun rising over the mountains with vineyards. Instead, there's a construction project happening right outside our window.
But today is our first day in Belgium, and Belgium has waffles. And waffles are my favorite food.
So I only know three things for sure about Belgium. Waffles, beer, and chocolate. So tomorrow, we are devoting the entire day to Belgium chocolate. That's gonna be my day. But today is Nate's day, so we're starting with waffles. Also.
I have no idea what all these flags are. They look really co.
Are you excited?
So I'd read that that place had the best artisanal waffles in Belgium. We walked in, and there were no waffles, Just a bunch of cookies. But I have a backup plan. Hopefully you can hear us. It is, like, incredibly breezy.
Feels great, though. Temp is awesome.
Okay. We got used to the. I don't want to say we got used to, but it was 100 degrees in Italy, so this feels fantastic.
We found the tourist smells really good. There are waffle shops on both sides of the road. Kind of fun, but a little crowded.
Wow.
Yes. You say? Is it leash? Leash? Yeah.
It's from the liege cities.
Oh, it's so good.
This is seriously the best waffle I've ever had. It's called a liege waffle, and apparently, the way they make it, the dough is a lot thicker. Thicker, more like dough you'd make from a bread instead of batter for, like, a normal waffle. So it's, like, a lot denser, and they put these huge chunks of sugar in it that crystallize. So when you eat it, it has, like, this crunch to it. So good it doesn't even need toppings.
Might be the best waffle I've ever had. Normally, waffles and pancakes are a vessel for me getting sugary syrup into my mouth, but this is totally different. It was, like, the actual waffle that I was in. Enjoy. Loving Belsam so far. Thank you.
I am one of the few weirdos in the world who do not like waffles or pancakes or donuts or anything sweet.
Any of the incredibly delicious breakfast foods except for chocolate.
So tomorrow, I'm totally making up for skipping waffles. Today I'm gonna eat all the chocolate, and I have no idea what I'm gonna have for lunch, but I'm sure something will look good eventually.
Our plan for the rest of the day is to switch spend time going and seeing, like, the must See things here in Brussels, starting with one of the most famous fountains.
So I have no earthly idea why the little man peeing is such a big deal here. But apparently everybody that comes to Brussels has to get a picture with him. Kara is currently consulting Wikipedia so we can learn a little more.
I just googled peeing boy Brussels. It is called Mannequin piss.
Mannequin piss is a landmark. Sm.
That can't be what it's called.
Yes it is. I just said it in a bottle. You should have warned me. Small bronze sculpture in Brussels depicting a naked little boy.
I'm too immature for this.
Urinating into a fountain's basin. It was designed by Hieronymus Duquesne the Elder and put in Place in 1618.
Oh, it is quite old.
It's been there a while. All right, let's see why?
You'll have to do your own research.
Thank you. So I got a Durham again for lunch today. There's just these places all over the place selling PETA and Durham and I needed something quick. We have stuff to do today.
So our Airbnb host yesterday told us that the royal palace here is only open in late summer, which is when we're here and it's free to get into, but it closes at 4:30, which is 45 minutes from now. So we are heading over there quickly.
Palace, it closes in 15 minutes. I really hope they let us in.
It's not looking good.
Shoot, we missed it.
What time did they close?
3:45 is when they stopped letting people in. It's 4:13.
I guess we can come back tomorrow. But this was like the big thing we were coming to see. We came to the other part of town to go in here.
Oh well.
But we did run into a very nice girl named Iris who recognized us from YouTube. So I'm still in a good mood. How crazy is it that we ran in to people who know us from YouTube in two different cities? Woo. The Wednesday.
All right, let's go.
Sign is all in Dutch or German or French. I don't know what they speak here.
We spent majority of the afternoon walking around and just soaking in Brussels and how pretty it is. Then we had to run back to our apartment because it's getting kind of chilly. Believe it or not, the wind and the sun going down. It's made a little cold, but it feels nice.
So we have a few more stops and then we're getting meatballs for dinner.
So we accidentally stumbled upon this huge square last night with all of these gigantic castle y looking palace Buildings. They're huge and magnificent. So we had to come back today.
So it turns out that huge square is called the Grand Place. Perfect sense, because all the buildings are super grand. According to Wikipedia, the square is the most important tourist destination and most memorable landmark in Brussels. And it's a UNESCO World Heritage site. I'm still a little confused about what the buildings are. I think one's a museum and one's a city hall.
I never thought, like, gold trim would do it for me, but I have to say, I think that's probably the most beautiful square that I've seen in Europe. Yeah. Would you agree? Yeah. It's, like, really impressive. Okay. We have one more place that we wanted to check off our list today. If I could pronounce it, I would tell you where we were going.
It's called Les Galeries Royals. Saint Hubert.
We're here. This is the Galeries.
Something something. It's basically a big indoor mall, but the ceiling is glass.
It's the bean boy made out of chocol.
Kara.
You had free sample?
I did, and I got a book. Okay. How crazy is this? This place used to be a pharmacy, and they would wrap the medicine in chocolate so people would eat it because medicine tasted so bad. And, like, now it's a chocolate factory. She was so nice. They have all these different kinds of chocolates.
I cannot wa. Wait for tomorrow.
Yes, you read that correctly. For dinner, we are going to a place called Balls and Glory.
Balls and Glory.
But they're supposed to have the best meatballs in Brussels, according to my Internet research.
Are meatballs Belgian?
I think so. I was on a blog about, like, things to eat in Belgium.
Okay. We found it.
Final thoughts on the meatball. It was a bold dish. There was a lot going on, a lot of flavors. Let's say it was, like, average food.
Yeah.
Kind of expensive. I mean, like, it was unique and kind of good. But unless you have a lot of time, it's Belgium and you're, like, looking for new things to try. I think there's a lot of good French fries, a lot of good gyros, a lot of good waffles, and a lot of good chocolates to eat before you go to that place. Agreed. Sorry if the vlog was a little random today. It just, like, felt we were just, like, running around seeing all these things, eating some things here and there. I kind of felt like one of the old videos where we just kind of, like, wandered around and then like.
Yeah, whatever happened, happened.
It was fun and so super glad we decided to Come to Brussels. We never really announced this on the vlog, but in various other places like emails and Instagram, we've talked about it. This was not the original plan. We were planning on leaving Italy, flying to Portugal, getting on a train, and training all the way across Europe to China, which is why we were trying to get our Chinese visas in Rome.
It was going to be epic.
That didn't work out. We were super excited about it, but first our Chinese visas fell through. Then a lot of other things just kind of built up, and we just decided we were forcing it for no reason. So Nate changed everything. And while we were on the farm with Bob and Gina, we have a completely new itinerary now. So starting with Brussels, we are going to 10 new countries in August. It's gonna be super fast and super awesome, but we're not going to China anymore.
So that's what I've spent the last week of my life doing, is booking all of this. We're booked out way further than we normally are, which is like three weeks or something. And after we get done with Europe, which should be like, early September, we're definitely going to Russia because we've already gotten our Russian visas, and it would be a waste not to. Hopefully, we're going to be riding the Trans Siberian railroad. That's not booked yet. That's the only reason I say hopefully, because that is the plan. But I'm just not making any promises because it's not booked.
Just keeping you updated, that's all. The end.
I really like this really skinny castle y park and then all the little mini castle on the top. How pretty is the street?
Right into that car.
