Belgium was the second country I visited outside the Philippines. When I started work at my second company, I was told that I needed to fly to Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Talk about a pleasant surprise! A few weeks later and I was in Europe for the first time in my life.
The Museum of the City of Brussels at the Grand Place
I had always wanted to visit Europe and walking through the cobblestone streets while braving the winter cold (it was mid-March so spring hadn't arrived yet) was a truly amazing experience.
At the Grand Place
This trip could very well have started out as a major embarrassment for me. I remember looking at my itinerary and thinking my flight was at 10:40pm. I arrived at the airport at around 8:20pm and there was no line at the check-in counter. Strange! I tell the person at the counter that I am checking into the 10:40pm flight and I was told there was no such flight. There was, however, an 8:40pm flight. I panic a bit and look at my ticket. Damn! It said 2040H, meaning 8:40pm! How on earth could I have read that incorrectly as 10:40pm? Given the situation, I was checked in very quickly and someone from the airline helped me through immigration and customs (I was prioritized). Thankfully, our flight was also delayed so I made it. Major embarrassment averted!
The best place to visit in Brussels, in my opinion, is Grote Markt, or the Grand Place. It is a large square in the center of the city that is surrounded by magnificent European architecture. It's actually a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Horse-drawn carriage passing through the Grand Place
Fortunately for me, my hotel was only a short walking distance from the Grand Place so I visited this square almost every night as well as on the Saturday before I left (there are a lot of chocolate stores, souvenir shops, and restaurants around this area). I have gotten to see quite a few European city squares over the years and I do think the Grand Place is definitely one of the best city squares I've seen.
The Brussels Town Hall. I took this photo a few years later, during my
3-month assignment in Belgium, using my first digital camera.
Just a few blocks away from the Grand Place is another famous tourist spot in the city: the Manneken Pis. This landmark is a two-foot-tall bronze statue of a little boy pissing water into the fountain below. There are several legends about this statue but the one I am most familiar with is that the Manneken Pis was built after a young boy who saved the city by peeing onto the burning fuse of explosives, thus preventing Brussels from being blown up.
The Manneken Pis dressed in costume
The Manneken Pis is often dressed in costume, as it was the first time I saw it. But as I had the opportunity to visit Brussels a few more times and even live there for a few months, I also saw the statue in its original bare state too.
Manneken Pis, unadorned
In my first trip to Brussels, my flight back to Manila was on Saturday evening so I decided to take a train ride from Brussels to Antwerp. I didn't really get to see much of the city that is known as the diamond capital of the world. I only got to see Antwerp's Grote Markt or Market Square, where I had my photo taken with a couple of the amazing buildings there, including the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal, or Cathedral of our Lady,
The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal, or Cathedral of our Lady, at the Antwerp Grote Markt
and the Antwerp City Hall.
Antwerp City Hall
In November of that same year, I had my second business trip to Belgium. Interestingly enough, it was scheduled in winter once again, and this time I saw snow for the first time. The purpose of this trip was to attend the first (and as it turned out, only) meeting of all employees working in that same global team I was. People from many different countries were there, including the US, Venezuela, Thailand, and even other parts of Europe.
My colleagues from Belgium, US, Thailand, and Venezuela
While having dinner with my global teammates one night, I had a realization as everyone was laughing at a joke that someone cracked: as different as we all were culturally, we were all also still the same. Everyone was interested in listening to each other's stories and experiences, we all enjoyed the same food, and we got excited about the same things (my Venezuelan counterpart was just as excited about his first snow experience as I was). It was also over this particular dinner that I discovered that I have a taste for green olives as I actually consumed a bowlful of them all by myself.
Other food-and-drink experiences: I discovered Leonidas chocolates. When they were eventually released in the Philippines, they naturally cost a lot more here (about 3-4 times more). I was always the most popular guy whenever I returned from Brussels with boxes of these Belgian chocolates for my friends and colleagues to enjoy. :) I also got to try many different beers such as Leffe and Chimay. I was told by my colleague that different beers have different glasses because apparently, the shape of the beer glass directly impacts the taste and aroma of the beer that is poured into it. I also learned that French fries may have actually originated from Belgium. I also got to try Moules et frites, or mussels and fries, the national dish of Belgium.
I did mention that I had an opportunity to live in Belgium for three months so I will write about that next.
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