Next time we'll bring a compass

Small anecdote before I continue sharing the tales of our recent travels. I am officially a bike-queen. Today I rode my bike in the rain. With an umbrella. How's that for talent?? Clearly I was determined not to show up to my 'ladies lunch' soaking wet.

Anyways, back to the tales of our recent trip to mainland. We continued the journey and headed to Brussels. It was a pleasant journey, and we knew we had to change trains at one point. Since the train was delayed we rushed out of one and into another. Minutes into the journey we realized we were on the wrong train and heading to Antwerp. oh on. Luckily it was not an express train and we were able to get off in the middle of no-where to wait for the next train back. The station had a name, but it's a station that has barely been touched since 1935:

Hours later we finally made it to our hotel. Except it was not so much a hotel and more of a hostel. A crappy one for that matter. Our room faced some pipes that smelled like sewage. There seemed to be this same smell through out the city but we didn't let it stop us from enjoying some of the glorious food Belgium's got to offer.

Fresh mint tea and a belgian waffle:

Moules frites!

I had read on a blog written by locals that Brussels is an ugly city. I didn't quite recall from the last time I was there. But they were right. There is so much beauty in terms of architecture but there is so much dirt, pollution and garbage. It's certainly a city that's rough around the edges. It's evident someone is ignoring the basic needs of this city and it's people.