Helloooo, world! I write to you from the Charleroi Airport in Southern Belgium, and I have just completed a very relaxing, very unexpected, very off-the-cuff weekend with The Significant Other.

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Friday after class, Jackson and I met up with Brian from UW and NTNU to explore some last-minute Copenhagen sites before the three of us caught our various flights. We met at good old Amalienborg, and I FINALLY got to go inside the Marble Church. It’s beautiful from the front, and I’ve taken about a million different pictures, all more or less exactly the same as the one my mom gave me the day before I left for Denmark that was taken a little over twenty-one years ago. So neat. Every time I have tried to go inside, though, time has been non-permitting or the church has been closed for some reason or another. But not today! Or Friday. It is possibly closed today. I would not know, as I am in Belgium.

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Then we ran over to Nyhavn and had some espresso/ ice cream before grabbing some bagel dinner at Bagel Me, and off we went! Brian to Trondheim to take a final (good luck, Brian!) and Jackson and I to Charleroi.

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This trip was all Jackson’s idea, spurred by a tiny hipster concert happening somewhere in Northern France (spoiler: we didn’t actually get to the concert), so I duly left all arrangements to him. He booked the flights and the housing and he was in charge of all planning. I was interested to see how it would go.

This is how it started.

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I was not surprised to learn that his idea of “planning” was really to “not plan.” Ha. We landed at 10:25pm and ran to catch a bus that left at 11, but we had to go on a mad goose chase for bus tickets that ended up costing about $25 more than if I had purchased them online ahead of time like I wanted to. *sigh. We didn’t get to Lille, France until around one, and it took us about half an hour to figure out how to get into our airbnb apartment, which ended up being a kind of shabby college dorm with a no oven, a tiny shower, a tiny TV, and a great view. Plus, it was right next to the train station, so that made walking in the cold and rain less horrible. Sleep ensued.

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Here’s some art in front of the train station

And our view of the park below

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Oh, I almost forgot. Check out this amazing airport faucet. As per the instructions, I placed my hands under the center to wash, and then spread my hands to the wings to dry, upon which all of the bubbles and remaining water in the sink sprayed up in a magnificent fountain to cover me, the mirror, and the lady to my right. ‘Twas embarrassing.

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We didn’t wake up until around eleven, which seems to be my natural wake-up hour after a late night of travel. It took a while to gather our energies, shower, and get our bearings, so we didn’t actually leave the building until one. Then off to explore Lille! (Or what little of Lille there was, in our minds. We were expecting something along the lines of a small village inhabited with nothing but cafes and huts.)

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We were pleasantly surprised to find the city absolutely bustling with people, history, food, markets, lights, architecture, and non-smallness. Lille is not little. Do not be fooled.

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We had also landed in the middle of a weeks-long arts festival, so the streets were adorned with gigantic statues and advertisements for various concerts, performances, and museums were plastered to every surface. We found a screaming student deal– five euros for a sandwich, a Coke, and a… UGH! It was this delicious, flaky pastry that was long and rectangular, filled with chocolate chips and possibly marzipan, and it started with a “b,” and I can’t remember what it is called. But it was delicious. Of that, I have no doubt. Here’s a picture:

We brought our lunch on a little tour of Lille, starting with the magnificent Paroisse Saint Maurice chathedral about a block away.

The selection at Paul’s, including “Petit Pauls” up on the top, complete with chocolate shoes and hats. (:

The cathedral from the back

From the inside

From the front! My phone was too small to capture it in its entirety

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Then off the the Porte de Paris, a large arch-like structure in the middle of a traffic circle, similar to the Arc de Triumph set-up in Paris (or so I’ve heard, seeing as I missed that little sight while I was there).

And the gardens surrounding the structure

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Right next to this was City Hall and the Hotel de Ville Belfry, which people are normally allowed to climb to gain a view of the city from above. But alas, it was closed! Hmph. We made our way to one of the most subtly quirky parks I’ve ever seen, fenced in on all sides by red, with built-in bubble benches facing both in and out:

Jackson tried his hand at steering a London double-decker:

And we ate our lunch on the train:

Crap. I didn’t get a good picture of the whole play structure, but one part consisted of several train cars, including the front, a dining car, and a caboose. We ate in the dining car, of course, and it had a perfect little table in the middle of the two benches.

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There were also motorcycles. This place was hip.

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Afterwards, we stumbled into Palais des Beaux-Arts, a beautiful museum that supplied admission, coat check, and iPhones with audio guides for a mere four euros.

My favorite piece was this wall of Laughing Cow Cheese labels, which was titled On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. Yes, that is the entire title of Charles Darwin’s most famous essay. So strange. So strange. The wall held frame after frame of labels from every country, in every language over several decades and was supposed to reflect the strength of consumerism and capitalism. Sheesh.

Here are the cows.

View from the lobby

The square outside the museum

The museum itself

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Then, CHRISTMAS MARKETS:

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So much shopping was had. One thing I am going to really, really miss about Europe is the abundance of pedestrian-only shopping streets in place of gargantuan indoor malls. There’s just something special about hurrying about in your winter coat (or your host sister’s winter coat) before ducking into a store that looks promising, only to pop back out again minutes later to brave the cold and find another target.

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Since the Ferris wheel inside Tivoli was rather small, and the one in the middle of Gammel Torv near the DIS campus was about nine dollars a person, we decided to hop on the giant wheel in the middle of one of the Lille Christmas markets. ZERO REGRETS.

The wheel

Our tokens

An alternative view of both the Wheel and Jackson’s nose

The market from our basket

The streets below

Another Christmas market off in the distance

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It went so high, and because we sat on the same side of the basket, we were tilted over slightly, threatening to spill out into the lights and bustling ants below us. The view from the top was gorgeous, and we could see the whole city.

We kept repeating to ourselves how much better the wheel was than climbing the City Hall tower: cheaper, no actual climbing necessary, and an endless flow of Christmas music wafted its way up to us amidst the happy chatter of market shopping. It was probably the happiest point of my weekend.

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From the top of the tower, we glimpsed the inside of a French bookstore on the fifth floor of a building lining the square, so we made our way over after disembarking. The thing was huge!

Unfortunately, the English section was rather small. I did find one book that peaked my interests, but I’ll save it for when I’m back in the states and all books don’t cost upward of fifteen dollars:

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That night back in our room, we made art, inspired by the French culture around us:

Boom.

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Also, just look at this beautiful fountain outside our stay:

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In the morning, we ran to a cafe for breakfast before packing our bags and catching a train to Brussels:

We ordered a “hot chocolate,” and we were delivered this hot milk with a huge glob of melted chocolate in the bottom that we had to stir in. SO GOOD.

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Then some last-minute sights:

The icon of the arts festival, about twenty feet tall

Some more figures a little way down the street

Towers!

Towers + Christmas = happiness

Those tulip sculptures again, coupled with some strange architecture

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Thirty minutes later: Hello, Brussels. What did we get ourselves into? We stepped out of Brussels-Midi Station into a cacophony of chaos, noise, haggling, wind, and rain. A gargantuan weekend market was taking place, and we dove right in. Food, clothes, comforters, scarves, bags, fresh fruit, fresh meat, fresh herbs, fresh vegetables, hot ethnic food, Belgian waffles, you name it. I settled for a sweater, and we got a waffle from a waffle truck, because those are a thing in Belgium.

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Everything was so fresh and colorful. I felt like I was in an Indian or Indonesian market rather than a market in the middle of a Western, Northern European country. It was so strange. Why don’t we have things like this everywhere? We got stuck in there for nearly an hour just because it was so huge.

This blurry man was trying to sell a pineapple.

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I then bellowed the meaning of life to all those who cared to listen:

Just kidding. It was an act of silent protest.

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Both Lille and Brussels were on high-alert because of the Paris attacks, posting armed soldiers and guards near every main pedestrian street and large shopping stores, malls, and buildings. Our bags were checked every time we entered a building that wasn’t a cafe, and we saw lots of these:

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Check out the recycling in Brussels:

Tehe.

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And a pretty square:

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We eventually found our way to the peeing statue, though by accident:

It’s called Manneken Pis, and much like the Little Mermaid, the most famous icon of Copenhagen, Manneken Pis is underwhelmingly small and rather insignificantly-placed.

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This led us to one of Brussel’s main shopping streets, thank goodness. All was alive with tourist shops, waffle cafes, and chocolate. NO COMPLAINTS, HERE.

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In the town square, or Grote Markt:

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We also ran into the Brussels Climate March, several hundred people banging drums and chanting in French about climate change. Pretty cool stuff, since I probably wouldn’t have made my way into town to see the one I missed in Copenhagen.

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We only had four hours in Brussels, so the last hour was a mad, sweaty dash. We found a very Pantheon-like building which turned out to be the Brussels stock exchange:

And the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula:

And a park:

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And this park was flanked by the Royal Palace:

Gotta get out that Pocket Constitution.

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Some more artsy shots on our way back to Brussels Central Station:

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And in a few hours, we made it home to this:

My host family designed these adorable mice of the four of us at a little market at our town library for my birthday present. THE CUTEST.

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Oh yeah, and I’m twenty-one now. How did that happen? I don’t feel any different, but that sure was an amazing birthday. Three countries in one day? I’ll take it. Thanks, Jackson, for an amazing birthday weekend! And thank you to everybody else who wished me a special day! Your wish was granted. (: I am going to miss French, though. It’s so sing-songy and lovely sounding when the shopkeepers and cashiers say “bonjour,” and “au revoir!” Back to “hej” and “tak,” for me!

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Venlig hilsen/ best regards,

Lizzy-wa