French Open Trip 2018 Day 10: A Grand Finale
It's always sad when it comes time to write the final post of a trip. Although this is only the first of two big trips this year, the idea of flying home tomorrow seems far too soon. But enough of that we had one final day here in Brussels and we were going to enjoy it. Our enjoyment began after waking up a little after 10 AM and lazily getting out of bed.
We did finally make our way out at a little after eleven with two more places we wanted to visit on our last day. Our first stop was a mile walk to Grand Place the main square of Brussels. This square is stunning. Sort of a combination of Prague and Vienna rolled into one. A beautiful square that was bustling with people, shops, and incredible architecture. Every corner of the square had something beautiful to behold which meant Jenn was snapping photos every chance she got.
In the Grand Place was a Starbucks where Jenn and I picked up our Brussels mug. It's always exciting to pick these up and add them to our collection. While we were inside I also grabbed a cappuccino.
The other item we wanted to accomplish today was getting Jenn a waffle. After doing a lot of research we discovered that one of the best places to get one was at Dandoy and luckily it was only a couple of blocks from the Grand Place. There we got a window seat where we both ordered waffles. Jenn had a waffle with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. I had my waffle with caramel, hazelnut, and vanilla ice cream. I don't really like waffles and I devoured this. These were far and away the best waffles either of us has ever had.
After our late breakfast, we walked down the street to the Manneken Pis. What is that? Well, it's a fountain where a toddler is urinating. Yup, that's right. And it was one of the things that Jenn thought we needed to see. We snapped a photo and moved on with our day.
Our final stops for the day involved shopping. First was to a beautiful glass enclosed mall called Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert. This is one of those malls with all of the high-end shopping areas in them and so we enjoyed walking up and down the mall. From there we were off to the main shopping area of Brussels. We did some light shopping, went and checked out the Apple store and enjoyed what turned out to be a beautiful overcast day.
From there we made the almost two-mile walk back to our hotel to print our boarding passes and start packing our suitcases. We spent a couple of hours organizing, looking through photos before going back out for dinner. When we did leave for dinner we were met by at least 50 people behind barricades singing and clapping and waiting for someone to come out of our hotel. We later learned that the Portugal soccer (football) club was in our hotel who has a friendly match against Belgium tonight here in Brussels.
After we made our way through the crowd we stopped at a burger restaurant called Ellis. There we split fries and onion rings and both had bacon cheeseburgers. Jenn got a glass of Syrah and I had a Stella. It was the perfect, easy, no fuss meal we needed for our last night. After our delightful dinner, we made our way back to the hotel just after the football team had left and made our way back to our room to finish packing, enjoy our few remaining macaroons and soak up every last second of vacation before it was all gone.
As sad as I am to close out this amazing trip I feel so lucky to have been able to cross off another bucket list item. Not only that but we got to experience to the pure beauty of Geneva, walk the streets of Paris with my siblings, and enjoy delicious waffles in Brussels. We've been so lucky to travel so much in our lives and this trip will always hold a special place in both of our hearts. And as we say goodbye to our time here in Europe we can go home and start a new countdown for our next adventure at the end of August.
