Brussels

So yes, the plan was to just travel as much as we could before we knew our schedules. During the first couple of weeks there was a lot of emailing, interviewing, and finding out what we might be doing for work. It came slowly, and the stress of not knowing where we could work and what exactly we would be doing motivated us to take short breaks in the form of weekend trips. A quick Google-Flight search showed us round-trip airfare to Brussels for about 40 euros per person. Again, that's round-trip. So that's how we settled on Brussels, and we knew next to nothing about the city..

The first course of action was to peruse wikitravel, which told us some things to see and do. Second course was to ask a friend of mine who lived in Brussels for quite some time, and he gave us a suggestion of a place or two to eat.

Some time around noon on September 14th, we flew over the Alps and discovered that this was going to be a whole year of unbelievable new things.

Our flight landed about 40 minutes south of Brussels at the cheap airport and we took a painfully slow bus into the city. It dropped us off at a point we were unfamiliar with, and we bought a tourist map to show us that we were at the farthest corner of the city to start, so we set off walking. After a solid 30 minutes, we found ourselves in the heart of the city, unsure which turn to take, but following the spires we could see above the streets. Next thing we knew, we were in the Grand Place, aka the town's square. 

Massive Gothic town-hall building on one side, similarly styled smaller buildings around the square - spectacularly adorned with gold-leaf, a stage set up for bands to play for the adoring public, chocolate shops, and more. We could get into this city.

The walk continued, as our hotel was a full 30 minutes on the other side of the city center, but along the way we crossed monuments, gardens, cathedrals, more chocolate shops, ice cream places, waffle-places, more monuments, and beautiful buildings galore.

We stayed at a hotel called the FunKey Hotel, which was wonderful. The rooms were cute, the hotel was adorable, there were games in the lobby, there was a little sitting area with a fountain/mini-courtyard, there was constant food/chocolate/drinks available for free in the kitchen, and the staff was wonderful. How wonderful? The manager suggested a place that we check out for Belgian-style dinner. We asked for directions. He said "No need. I'll drive you there." Sure enough, he drove us to dinner and we had impeccable meals that are a bit hard to explain, but they were wonderful. Mine was about 4 pounds of potatoes, perfectly seasoned, with a strip of quarter-inch-thick bacon and a foot-long sausage. The word in English was "heaven."

Anyway, the next day led us to rent bikes and go ride uphill for 40 minutes to see the Atomium, which was a "look what we can do!" for a world Expo in the 1960s. Returning to the city showed us that bands were still playing in the Grand Place and we bought lots of unhealthy food and wandered around to see every monument we could find. There were royal palaces, statues, and parks galore. There was even a park where we heard clapping, followed the noise, and ended up watching a 30-minute choir performance with a group of about 70 others. For the final song, about 30 of those 70 went up and sung along. Oddly magical.

Regardless of all of that, the city center at night was the finest part. The bands were still there (every time we walked through the square from Saturday afternoon until Sunday night, there was an orchestra performing. Good work, Brussels), the atmosphere was lovely, and everyone was happy. And it looked like this.

The only thing I didn't like about Brussels was its most famous attraction: Manneken-Pis. It's a little tiny statue of a peeing boy. That's it. Massive crowds surround this thing all the time. I do not understand. Skip it.

Otherwise, go to Brussels. It has greenspace, it has a hotel that we really loved (it was super cheap and we ate a lot of food there), it has monuments, great architecture, great food, and even better desserts. It even has places to sit and watch the sunset, which will become a theme, you'll see.