A day in Brussels

 Two  Saturday's ago we hopped in the car early in the morning and drove south to Belgium. It was such a nice day, the air was crisp, the skies had that autumnal blue, and the sun dared come out for us. We explored the city the way we always do, that is, we let the city show itself to us. Our first task was to find a parking spot next to some kind of public transportation. And from there, we let the metro take us around.

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 Our first stop was at "Park" because the name sounded inviting, of course. We love parks.

 From there we walked to the center. We accidentally found a "Le Pain Quotidiein". I say accidentally because we know it is a belgian franchise, but we did not really research the locations. It was fun to have the place just in front of our eyes as we were walking, actually just as soon as we parked the car and started our exploration.

 We love breakfast, but alas, since it was already after 12:00 we had to settle for lunch. Oh well. Their vegetarian quiches are delicious and that did not stop us from having an eclaire and cake later. That place deserves a post on its own. I first got to know it when they opened a shop in Geneva 7 years ago or something and it became popular among the students. They make their own delicious bread, all kinds of cakes, and nutritious, organic lunch.

 Their coffee and hot chocolate is delicious and I really enjoy all the little bowls you get to use. Oh and there is this whole concept of  "communal table" which means they have this huge tables and you sit wit other people (though they do have some separate people as well). The crowd there is very mixed, which is also interesting. Of course there are lots of mummies with their friends and toddlers, but you can see businessmen on their lunchbreak, couples, young groups, students...

 We spent the day walking around in random, without any plan. We were shortly on the Market Square, and as a good tourist I had to buy myself a beer. No, but really. I normally don't even drink, but this one tastes between a mix of a Rosé and Champaign. It's called Pêcheresse, and as the name suggests, it is peach flavored.

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 It really was a nice day, a bit of walking, a bit of shopping (I had to convince the boy, and I was only allowed to go into shops that we don't have in Holland). We also made a mandatory stop in the supermarket, where, like you know, I found raspberries for EUR 0.69 and strawberries for EUR 0.99. I also found spanish cookies, and my favorite shampoo, that for some reason it is not sold in Holland.  At some point we found a street that looked like it would end in the sea.

We had been in Brussels once before, very shortly, and now we like it even more. It is a very green and friendly city, with a young and fun vibe.