Hygge Nook's little break in Brussels

Last Saturday was a bit of an adventure for me as I was invited by We Are Social to try out the Eurostar on a day trip to Brussels with a group of bloggers.The idea is a little break makes a big difference, so, yes, you can leave England, flit across France, have a fun day out in Brussels and get back home the very same day. Oh, and bizarrely, it takes less time for me to get from London to Brussels than it does for me to visit my family 'up north'.

Let's get to the day itself, shall we?

We started off at the ungodly hour of 6am at Kings Cross St Pancras where we boarded the Eurostar and settled in to our seats for a scrummy two course breakfast and a great deal of coffee. Before we knew it, two hours had zipped by and we were alighting in Brussels ready to jump on the metro over to our first appointment, Planete Chocolat.

'I know,' a clever person said one day, 'I bet whatever is inside this pod can be mixed with sugar and milk and taste fantastic.' 'There's no way that you can turn that pod into pizza,' said the friend. 'Duh,' said the clever person, 'it will be chocolate, of course'. And, lo, the clever person was right.

The talk was fascinating but seeing where chocolate actually came from was quite an eye opener and the long process from tree to my mouth will make me appreciate chocolate for at least several seconds longer than normal. The best bit, of course, was the tasting. Yummy.

Lunch was a giggly affair at the Belga Queen with salmon followed by a truly scrumptious dessert of ice cream, ginger cookie and raspberry puree. The decor was quite fabulous:

Yes, I took pictures of my lunch and someone else's dessert.

 

...and then a browse around central Brussels...

A huge Christmas tree and stunning architecture at Le Grand Place.

 

...before finding the Christmas markets, the main object of our trip, with stalls filled with food and drink, Christmas decorations, jewellery and other gifts.

Here we also saw:

 

... the most amazing steampunk caraousel with pegasus and chariot, rockets, amphibious creatures, a boat moving on waves, flying fish, aeroplanes, a dinosaur. I've never seen anything like it!

A pink church, mais bien sur! 

And it was back on the Eurostar for 6pm ready for dinner (well, I was too full for the whole meal of gouda salad, tortellini and an orange and chocolate fondant) and wine. Knowing that we could pack all of that in to one day is fantastic and not too tiring (though my pair little feet paid for it the next day).

Indeed, I'm already planning a little break to Paris next year. I wonder what I could get up to in one day there?

Do check out my fellow international jetsetters blogs too:
Domestic Sluttery ~ Patchwork Harmony ~ Pippa James Interiors ~ Chocablog ~ Raspberry ~ Tea for Joy ~ What Katie Does ~ Chocolate Creative ~ The Women's Room ~ Cherry Blog

Comments

[Dom]

I still think that steampunk caraousel was the best thing in the whole of Brussels. We need one in London... but bigger!

[Camilla @ Hygge Nook]

Wasn't it just amazing? If it was adult sized, I would have hopped on it and stayed on till I had ridden all the weird and wonderful creations. Fingers crossed one makes it to London!

[Monkey]

How much does it cost?

[Camilla @ Hygge Nook]

Hi Monkey, if you click the eurostar link in the first paragraph, it'll take you to their site where you can find out fares based on times/ dates/ class of travel.