Touring Around Belgium

In between our long weekend trips, we've had the opportunity to do some neat things around Belgium.

The first was a day trip to Waterloo. This is where a historic battle was fought back when Napoleon was trying to conquer Europe and expand his empire. He was defeated by the British and the Prussians... a battle that changed European history forever.

It was really interesting to see the famous Lion Mound, the wax museum and watch the videos which explained the strategy behind the battles. I'm not much of a war fanatic, but it was really intriguing.

I even found an adorable mini British soldier who was pretending to "fight the enemy." I know it's stalkerish but I had to take a few pictures of him... it was too cute to pass up. We were lucky that we had really great weather!

Our second day trip was to Breendonk Concentration Camp. I've always been really interested in the Holocaust so it was a special experience for me. It was so eye-opening to see how these people were forced to live, where the prisoners slept, ate and worked. It felt like the whole day was black and white - so I decided all my pictures should be too. The worst part was when we entered the "Torture Chamber" where they brought people to try and get information out of them. Often times, the people didn't know anything and were tortured endlessly anyways. I could hardly stand to stay in the room to finish the audio segment, it felt so evil and sickening. One of the last segments was where the prisoners were hung or tied up and executed. There was a board that showed all the names of people killed there... some barely teenagers. I still can't believe human beings could treat people this way. I understand there are a few psycho serial killers in the world - but normal, everyday men who were proud of the crimes and atrocities they committed? Men who bragged about the innocent people they tortured or murdered? Shocking. Unbelievable. And mostly sad. Right as we were leaving the camp, it started pouring rain. Somehow, it seemed appropriate.


After our tour of the camp, we headed back to Brussels. Our friends Lu and Guney were with us and we decided we needed something to lift our depressed spirits. Some New York style pizza was just the trick. Later, Lu and I found some giant baguettes of bread - so of course, we had to snap a quick picture. There's always interesting things to find while wandering around Grand Place.

Our third day trip was to Oostende, on the Belgium coast. We FINALLY got a beautiful weekend with warm weather so we couldn't pass up the chance to visit the beach. It was super relaxing and we both got some desperately needed sunshine. The North Sea was a little chilly, but once I went past my knees I adjusted pretty quick. We were both very surprised how packed the beach was! There were soo many people for such a small space. But we didn't really mind- it was an optimal situation for our people-watching hobby. It's always fun to analyze people that come to the beach...what they wear (or more often what they don't wear) haha, quite entertaining.

My favorite part of the day (besides my new tan lines) was our delicious seafood dinner. I had been craving seafood for quite awhile and this totally hit the spot. Crab, shrimp, lobster and carrots - I was surprised by the shredded carrots but they actually made a great side dish that complemented the flavors. I was one happy girl :)



We definitely feel like we have been taking advantage of our time here in Belgium. We've actually checked off most of the things we wanted to see including: Antwerp, Brugge, Gent and our three recent day trips. It's been such a fun opportunity exploring this country. I'll have to admit, if we didn't have our internship here, Belgium probably wouldn't have made the "European: Must Travel To" list. But I'm glad we are here because we would have missed out on a lot of fun adventures!