Belgium
Celebrity post by Jesse:
We started our Belgium trip in Antwerp and worked our way through Gent, Bruges and ended the trip in Brussels. We spent the first week in Antwerp, staying at another Airbnb apartment. During our week we took quick day trips via the train to other Belgian towns of Ghent and Bruges. They are both small charming cities very well preserved from Medieval times.
The heart of Ghent is almost unchanged from the 1500's. It is nicknamed Venice of the north because of the canals and architecture built directly on the water. By coincidence there was a fantastic folk music festival that took over most of the town and was a ton of fun. Stages were set up all over the city with music playing from 12-12 every day as well as vendors and about 20,000 people. It was a nice surprise and made our visit very memorable.
We visited Bruges a few days later and it had the same feel as Ghent but no festivities. We spent the day seeing a few of the major attractions and a famous brewery called De Halve Maan.
The days we spent in Antwerp were low key and pretty relaxed compared to other places we visited. We spent time at the park running and training for our big fifty mile hike in the French Alps only a few weeks away. The big happening in Antwerp while we were there was the setup and start of Tomorrowland Music Festival. The festival is held in the small town of Boom Belgium, about twenty miles south of Antwerp and north of Brussels. Since Antwerp is the nearest city, many thousands of attendees stay there. We were going to attend the festival ourselves along with some friends from home, but not till the following week. The festival is so large that it is separated into two weekends. On each weekend the festival has 400,000 people, with Sunday being the largest at 160,000.
Brussels / Tomorrowland
We arrived to Brussels on a Tuesday and had an Airbnb in the heart of the city. We spent the few days before our friends arrived doing some sightseeing and visiting a brewery called Delirium, which I had wanted to try out. It holds the world record for most beers available to purchase at 3000 different choices! I will say we tried a few, but not enough to even make a dent. It was a very unique place and a good experience just to go. As for the rest of Brussels there really isn't too much to say. The city isn't particularly pretty, not the best architecture or museums or any stand out features. In fact it is dirty, with a lot of trash and bums drinking on the street. There is a very nice central square which is easily the highlight of the city. We took a walking tour of the old town and even our guide expressed the same sentiments, but she said she still loved living in the city. If you do visit then eat waffles and chocolate and drink the beer as those are the best parts of Brussels. We can promise that Brussels will not be a place that we will move to, but in the end none of that mattered because we were there for the sole purpose of going to Tomorrowland.
On Thursday our friends Chris and Natalie arrived to meet us. They both flew from Colorado, but each had a few days visiting Paris and Amsterdam before they arrived to Brussels. It was so wonderful to see them as they are some of our best friends. We had also planned for this weekend seven months prior when we had to purchase festival tickets. The tickets are very difficult to get as four million people are trying to buy tickets when they are released and only 400,000 are able to get them. I had actually tried to buy them multiple times in past years but was never able to. All four of us made the commitment many months ago that we would get tickets even if we had to spend extra and meet up in Brussels.
Once they arrived we moved Airbnbs and went to a larger one that all of us could share. Our first night was spent out on the town getting dinner and drinks in the city. The next day, Friday, we went to the festival for day one. We had shuttle passes which took us to and from the festival grounds each day. Upon arrival we were completely blown away by everything. We had all watched videos from years past but they still don't prepare you for the size and scale once you are there. It is truly a wonderland and much more grand than any other festival any of us had ever been too. We took lots of photos and video, danced for about twelve straight hours, saw a dozen or so performers out of the hundred or so that played on day one, and by 1:30 am it was time to go home and get some rest!
The next two days were pretty much the same routine but on an even larger and grander scale. Each day the performances were more exciting, the firework shows were larger, and we had more fun. It really was a legendary party. On Sunday morning Libby was feeling totally out of gas and a bit sick so she sold her ticket to another friend who was in town and really wanted to go. All in all, the weekend was a high point in the trip and one we will never forget. I would happily regale anyone with tales if you want to hear more about it. After the festival was over we spent one last day in Brussels mostly to just relax and rest before leaving the following day and flying to Geneva on our way to Chamonix in the French Alps.
If you want to see the Tomorrowland Video from this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dVFy4d61gU
We started our Belgium trip in Antwerp and worked our way through Gent, Bruges and ended the trip in Brussels. We spent the first week in Antwerp, staying at another Airbnb apartment. During our week we took quick day trips via the train to other Belgian towns of Ghent and Bruges. They are both small charming cities very well preserved from Medieval times.
The heart of Ghent is almost unchanged from the 1500's. It is nicknamed Venice of the north because of the canals and architecture built directly on the water. By coincidence there was a fantastic folk music festival that took over most of the town and was a ton of fun. Stages were set up all over the city with music playing from 12-12 every day as well as vendors and about 20,000 people. It was a nice surprise and made our visit very memorable.
We visited Bruges a few days later and it had the same feel as Ghent but no festivities. We spent the day seeing a few of the major attractions and a famous brewery called De Halve Maan.
The days we spent in Antwerp were low key and pretty relaxed compared to other places we visited. We spent time at the park running and training for our big fifty mile hike in the French Alps only a few weeks away. The big happening in Antwerp while we were there was the setup and start of Tomorrowland Music Festival. The festival is held in the small town of Boom Belgium, about twenty miles south of Antwerp and north of Brussels. Since Antwerp is the nearest city, many thousands of attendees stay there. We were going to attend the festival ourselves along with some friends from home, but not till the following week. The festival is so large that it is separated into two weekends. On each weekend the festival has 400,000 people, with Sunday being the largest at 160,000.
Brussels / Tomorrowland
We arrived to Brussels on a Tuesday and had an Airbnb in the heart of the city. We spent the few days before our friends arrived doing some sightseeing and visiting a brewery called Delirium, which I had wanted to try out. It holds the world record for most beers available to purchase at 3000 different choices! I will say we tried a few, but not enough to even make a dent. It was a very unique place and a good experience just to go. As for the rest of Brussels there really isn't too much to say. The city isn't particularly pretty, not the best architecture or museums or any stand out features. In fact it is dirty, with a lot of trash and bums drinking on the street. There is a very nice central square which is easily the highlight of the city. We took a walking tour of the old town and even our guide expressed the same sentiments, but she said she still loved living in the city. If you do visit then eat waffles and chocolate and drink the beer as those are the best parts of Brussels. We can promise that Brussels will not be a place that we will move to, but in the end none of that mattered because we were there for the sole purpose of going to Tomorrowland.
On Thursday our friends Chris and Natalie arrived to meet us. They both flew from Colorado, but each had a few days visiting Paris and Amsterdam before they arrived to Brussels. It was so wonderful to see them as they are some of our best friends. We had also planned for this weekend seven months prior when we had to purchase festival tickets. The tickets are very difficult to get as four million people are trying to buy tickets when they are released and only 400,000 are able to get them. I had actually tried to buy them multiple times in past years but was never able to. All four of us made the commitment many months ago that we would get tickets even if we had to spend extra and meet up in Brussels.
If you want to see the Tomorrowland Video from this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dVFy4d61gU
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