I’m frustrated with Google.
Knowing that I was traveling to a place where English wasn’t the national language I decided to double-check with our search engine overlords as to what language I should practice my basic greetings in. Google told me that “The Kingdom of Belgium has three official languages: Dutch (Flemish), French, and German.” When I searched what language do most people speak in Brussels it just repeated that information.
I thought this would be ok. I’m still a beginner but I know some German and a bit less on the Dutch, but I thought it would be fun to try and practice a bit. I did a few extra Duolingo Dutch lessons to really get my greetings and polite language ready (and how to say that I don’t actually speak the language). Then, I arrived in Brussels.
Well, it turns out that most people in Brussels speak French. You’re welcome for that fact. You may know my French is mostly pronouncing “Je ne parle pas français” well enough that people are confused when it’s true. The people of Brussels were not very amused at this. They were also annoyed that I seemed to not trust their English skills, but I was trying to be a conscientious traveller and not assume everyone would be speaking my native language.
This was taken the next morning but I felt like the post needed a photo near the top to break up this harrowing tale. You’re welcome.
So, here I was, having arrived in Belgium with 2 nights booked in a hotel and no further plans trying to figure out what to do and stressing about how I was going to deal with my personal struggles with the French language.
Luckily, a house sit that I had been rejected from the day before got back in contact because the sitter they had chosen bailed on them and I suddenly had a plan in place for the next 10 days. More on that later.
Now that some of the fear had been taken out of this experience (since I now knew it had an end date) I felt free to give it a go and dive into my now 1 and a half days in Brussels before moving on.
I woke on my first morning in an adorable boutique hotel.
Let’s go back to check in really quickly. I had chosen this hotel because it was affordable and looked cute. In case anyone thinks I’m being paid for any of my travels, I am not and when I say I loved this hotel and tell you the name it’s because I had a lovely experience at Made in Louise. That’s what it’s called. Isn’t that adorable?
Anyway. When I arrived to check in around 7pm, the young woman at the desk was so kind and happy to see me. (Even when I said I didn’t speak French.) I handed her my passport and she exclaimed, “You’re from Louisiana!?” (I didn’t ask but I’m sure this is related to the Louise in the name of the hotel and the nearby major Avenue Louise.) When I explained that I was sort of from there but mostly from North Carolina she got even more excited. Why? Oh, she’s a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks. I haven’t thought about him for years. Probably since I stopped working at bookstores about a decade ago. But she was so happy to hear about my home state and asked questions and declared her love for it and its southern neighbor and it made me happy to make her happy simply by my existing.
Ok so. This hotel is in a pretty un-touristy part of the city but I was sure that I’d wake up in the morning and stumble my way to a café easily.
I was wrong. I’m sorry I assumed that this French-speaking city would also be jammed full of places to get coffee like Paris (I’m also assuming this because I’ve never been to Paris).
This is probably also a good time to share that I get migraines and one of my triggers is not getting enough caffeine. And one of my symptoms is temporary blindness. And in case you didn’t read my previous post, I didn’t have any cellular data in Belgium. This was because of my slightly late arrival the previous night but I wasn’t worried until it was nearing noon and I was getting nauseated because of lack of coffee (which sounds much more dramatic than I’d like but was also unfortunately true) and starting to get anxious about getting a migraine in a country I knew almost nothing about. I should probably also share that another one of my migraine triggers is anxiety. I’m very cool and chill.
I walked to a bagel restaurant that the internet had said was open, had gluten-free food and had coffee. When I arrived after walking for about 40 minutes, it was closed for the month. I pointed myself toward the city centre where I had noticed a Starbucks on the map the day before and began walking again. I never want to be one of those tourists that goes to Starbucks when traveling but it’s also reliable. Fast forward to me not being able to spot any Starbucks. (I later found out the Starbuckses in Brussels are all in train stations and you can’t see them from the streets, which, good on them really.)
I took this photo because I couldn’t believe the person had gotten my name right. This was the day after my coffee saga.
Anyway, I remembered a fruit and nut bar in my bag with some cocoa in it which I ate quickly and it helped hold off my headache and finally around noon I found a café
Blessed coffee.
At the café, I used the wifi to plan a route for some sightseeing. I then saw the sights, ate some frites and did a bit of shopping.
I love fries. These were perfection.
The sights are beautiful in Brussels. Palaces, a cathedral, beautiful cobblestone streets and gardens. If you want to feel like you’re a main character in a movie, I think you can do it in Brussels. But you should also brush up on your French.
2nd morning, shortly before I left, but shortly after getting Starbucks from inside this train station.
I actually did confirm with some lovely people working in a shop that most everyone in the city speaks French instead of Dutch, so I’m not just making this up. Thanks for nothing, Google.
Follow along if you like and remember — Even tiny adventures matter.