French Open Trip 2018 Day 9: A Slow Start
After a beautiful first day in Brussels yesterday we woke up today to rain, and a lot of it. That was OK because we didn't even start getting out of bed until 11 AM. The very busy four days in Paris caught up to us, so it was nice to lay in bed and relax. Jenn slept in a lot later than I did, so I played some Mario Kart and caught up on the news waiting for her to wake up. Once Jenn was up and straightening her hair I walked across the street to a small coffee shop called OR Espresso Bar which had one of the best (and smallest) cappuccino's I've ever had,
When we did finally get ready it was a little after noon and we walked over to the nearby string of eateries. There are at least two dozen places to eat mere steps from our hotel and so the options were endless. We landed on one of the highest rated restaurants in the area on TripAdvisor a small Vietnamese restaurant called Le Bol de Riz. I'm not sure why we both wanted Vietnamese food in Brussels but it sounded good. Jenn had the Peking duck noodles and I had the chicken curry. Both dishes were really, really good. The chicken curry was slightly on the spicy side so I had to down water but otherwise, it was a great light lunch.
The weather was still bad after lunch so we went back to our hotel room after a short walk and relaxed waiting for the weather to subside. That happened a little after 3 PM when we went for a walk to see some of the big sights of Brussels. Our first stop was the Royal Palace of Belgium that houses the royal family. Because of all the rain, the entire area was deserted so we were able to walk all around the grounds of the palace to take photos and enjoy the beautiful premises and the nearby parks.
After a beautiful stroll around the Palace, we made the mile walk from there to the Parc du Cinquantenaire. The Parc is beautiful and houses one of the most picturesque spots in Brussels and a magnificent archway. If you've seen pictures of Brussels you've probably seen pictures of this area. We once again lucked out because the area was relatively quiet and we were able to walk around without having anyone in our pictures.
After another lovely stroll through the Parc we made our way back towards our hotel as the rain started to just sprinkle again. We walked through some of the most picturesque homes that we were all three or four stories high and beautiful. When we arrived back we decided to try another eatery, this time it was Sushi. Yes, I know another odd choice, but yet another great choice. We basically split everything so in total we had a starter of cold noodles which were incredible. Then we split a bowl of miso soup. Jenn got a glass of white wine and I had a Belgian beer. For sushi, we got a variety platter which came with shrimp, salmon, tuna and albacore rolls along with an order of tuna rolls and a side of Japanese meatballs. The entire meal was delicious. We weren't overly hungry so this light meal hit the spot.
After dinner, we walked around our small area and came back and ate some macaroons from Angelina's we bought yesterday in Paris. We closed out the night watching Netflix and looking forward to our final day in Brussels tomorrow before heading home.
