Christmas in Brussels

Brussels is a city that really had to grow on me. With Antwerp no more than a single bus ride away, I too often left Brussels aside. It was that city we always would always visit on school field trips, but apart our one hour of free play inside the natural history museum we never got to do much exploring. It’s only since the start of this school year that Brussels has become a favorite one-day getaway location for us. Only 40 minutes from Antwerp, my boyfriend and I get to enjoy a city walk past new sights – with the Royal Palace, Royal square, Galleries Saint-Hubert, the Grand Market and Warandeberg being a few of my favorite passages. On my last care-free day of December, we decided to take a train ride down to our capital, and enjoy the Christmas Market before the most joyful time of the year was over. The market is after all, crowned the third best of the world.

Before we headed to the Grand Market, I wanted to stop by two new spots I learned about: The Pantone hotel and the Jo Malone shop. I was in Canterbury last August, and fell in love with the Orla Kiely and Pantone houseware collections in Fenwicks. I had only had enough saved to splurge on one item and decided to go with a set of tin cans from Orla Kiely. The Pantone mugs never left my thoughts, and I was very excited to learn about the Pantone hotel in Brussels! So much so, that I was all to pleased to undertake the day trip even with all the rain predicted. I bought three cappuccino mugs and got a discount too because they didn’t have the saucers that normally come with the mugs. With my shopping bag proud in hand we made our way to the Avenue Louise which is where you’ll find Jo Malone. Sadly, the perfume I had wanted was sold out. I just really need to compliment their great service though. I can’t wait to go back soon and check with them again. On to the Christmas Markets then!

Pure. Horror. It was so crowded in the heart of the city that we were barely able to move forward in the mass of people. It took us a while to reach the markets, and then we quickly made a U-turn because the crowds were just unbearable for me. I don’t handle big crowds too well, and we thought that because it was after Christmas and some stalls had actually already packed up there wouldn’t be so many people anymore. Wrong. On the Market were two very strange carousels that I took about 50 photo’s of. They had the craziest animals such as chameleons and scarabs, flying fish, a flying rocket that went through the roof, the titanic, a hot air balloon and so much more fun things for kids to ride on or sit in. They were very bizarre, but the kids seemed to enjoy them too.

I wish I had time to enjoy blogging tonight, but I just realized we’re near 10pm here and I have my first exam tomorrow. I’m still struggling with one chapter, but I cross my fingers for an aha-erlebnis in the morning. I hope you guys have more exciting plans for tomorrow and I wish you all a happy weekend in advance!