Brussels: The capital of Belgium. The land of beer, waffles and chocolate. Brussels is a fun, affordable day trip from London when you are looking for an easy get away. Two hours on the train through France takes you straight from the heart of London to the chocolately heart of Brussels.

Traveling through Brussels, I immediately noticed the blend of languages and cultures. This city is well known for being a center for international politics, with the European Union calling Brussels its home. And Brussels doesn’t have one official language, it has three! Dutch, German and French. Every street sign or train station has four translations. The streets are quaint, cobblestone-covered and offer beautiful sights while you cross bridges on the way to the city center.

Grand Place is the main square in Brussels. A must-see for all who make it to Brussels, it is absolutely stunning. The architecture is beautiful and truly, well, grand!

Every corner bodes a chocolate shop, of course home of Godiva. And cute bars line the streets as well. Belgium has something like 8 out of the 10 best beers in the world, so you know they are good. And they do not kid around about their waffles. The whole square smells of chocolate and waffles, they even have them in their vending machines!

Another unique to Brussels tidbit is the statue they seem to love, Manneken Pis. Yes, that is a boy peeing. He is everywhere. There are several legends for explaining who this boy is, but just something to expect to see all over if you visit Brussels.

I highly recommend making a day trip to Brussels if you get the opportunity. It is a charming city with nice people, sweet treats and a lot of history. It is also very safe to visit and has a lot of fun places to see. Here is a page with ten more fun facts about Brussels.

On an exciting side note: I have two trips booked officially! One in March to visit Ireland with my mom where we will see Dublin, and travel around to places like: Galway, Cork and the Cliffs of Moher. The other trip is coming up in September as a reunion with my London mates. We will be staying in London, most likely visiting Prague, and I booked a stopover in Iceland. Looks like 2015 is going to be the year of travel! I look forward to sharing more travel tips and stories here as I gain more experience. Happy Saturday!