Brussels Day 3! Drunk on chocolate

We woke up nice and early today to catch a train to Ghent! Ghent is about half an hour away by train and it is where the Ghent Altarpiece, Mystic Lamb, is housed. There is also lots of chocolate, a couple castles, and adorable streets. We got off the train and then the directors set us loose for a couple hours before we went to see the altarpiece. It was a 40 min walk to the altarpiece so we started heading that direction in search of some hot chocolate. I, the fearless leader, found a place called Koffeine right next to the chapel. The walk was actually quite nice, Ghent is a super cute little town and there was a very pretty canal there. There's also trees there that look like ginger root to me! Super cool. We made it to the coffee shop and ordered lots of hot chocolates (I didn’t end up getting one haha), and then this nice old couple told us that we found the best coffee in town. (which was kind of funny because there was no coffee to be found in our group)

We had about 25 minutes left after the hot chocolate and a few of us wanted to see the castle, but it was about 10 minutes there and then 10 minutes back… so we ran haha. It was actually really fun and we saw some super lovely views on the way. The castle was so cool! It is insane how old buildings like that are still standing.

After that we ran back to the chapel and even made it a few minutes early (because everyone around here (as in everyone in our group) always runs late). We headed inside the chapel and got to see the altarpiece and some other beautiful works of art. It was incredible. I love art!

When in Belgium, chocolate every day is a must, so of course the group made a stop on the way at this gorgeous chocolate shop and we all got assorted chocolates. I got a creme brulee cup, macadamia nut chocolate, chocolate cherry, coconut, and then a dark chocolate covered marzipan. I ate a couple then and then a few later when we were in Bruges. The macadamia one was definitely my favorite. It was like macadamia nut butter enrobed in chocolate and it was SO good. I can’t believe I’m never going to taste it again I should have got 100. Rob tasted one chocolate and immediately exclaimed “oh wow, slap your mama!” It was so funny we were all dying. I did have a lovely experience with the chocolate covered cherry… that was also filled with rum. I bit into it and all of the sudden there was liquid EVERYWHERE and a not so pleasant taste in my mouth haha. The second bite was better because I knew what to expect but then my hand was sooo sticky. Luckily Annie had some hand sanitizer for me and Elease poured water on my hands. Girl power! 

After chocolate we headed to Bruges! Also a super cute town, the streets were even cuter than Ghent! We headed in search of lunch because we were starving and ended up at a pasta bar. I got penne with pesto sauce and cheese and it was actually delicious. We were eating and then they told us that they had a social media person there and asked if they could film us hahah. So they filmed us eating and then they also asked if we would do a video where we just described Bocca (name of the place) in one word. Soo basically we are going to famous in Belgium so keep an eye out! The place also had a super cute bathroom with pink tiling!

After lunch we did some shopping before we had to go meet up with the rest of the group to see Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child. We went into some cute boutiques and just browsed. I found some funny Washington representation. We also found this store called American Today which was totally like a PacSun type deal. They also had an H&M Marie and I went into.

Then we were able to go see the Madonna and Child! It was so beautiful and peaceful. I also saw this really wonderful display of Christ carrying the cross.

We were set loose to spend time in Bruges or go back to Brussels and find our own way back when we wanted. Rob challenged us to find the cutest house and said that whoever found the cutest one (according to his judgement) would get chocolate, so Mimi and I were on a mission. Here’s our contender:

(and a cute pic of us searching)

And, dun dun duh dun, we won! Yay free chocolate.

We made it to the train station and ran into a few other people from our group so we had a part on the way back to Brussels. When we made it back to the hostel I did some blogging and then Marie and I went out to find a lunch to pack for tomorrow to eat on the train to Amsterdam. We found some interesting chip flavors and then some absolutely gorgeous strawberries. When we headed back to the hostel we were able to catch the end of karaoke and Sammy sang her heart out for us haha. So fun! Yay brussels! I’m going to miss it.