7. The reality of things.

Anne Frank's hiding place,

Van Gogh,
Belgian chocolate,
Belgian waffles,
Belgian beer.

All things we've grown up across the pond learning about and hearing about. Some have become such buzz words, it almost loses it's meaning (i.e. no "Belgian chocolates" in the US actually taste like Belgian chocolates). But this past weekend, I got to experience the reality of all these things.

BY FAR, my favorite visit to any sort of exhibit or museum was the Anne Frank House. It was the most surreal experience. A really well put-together and well preserved historical artifact.. I definitely teared up many times [would've cried if so many people weren't watching]. You literally get to walk through the room Anne and her family hid in, with the walls she decorated herself preserved for all to walk right by and see. It's truly incredible the impact she had on the world. You hear so much about the Nazis vs. Jews coming from one girl, but this quote said it all for me: "We've focused so much on the story of one girl, but to me, if we tried to understand everyone's pain we would not survive it."

The Van Gogh museum was also slightly surreal although the only 2 paintings me and Sarah knew of him are apparently in Paris.. good thing we're going. Anyways, regardless you really learn a lot about a really misunderstood man who went through a lot of the same things we still go through today. He too struggled with conforming to the styles of other artists.. he struggled with great loneliness.. with selling his work.. etc etc. Reading his letters and seeing pre-sketches of things such as starry night was really cool. Being in that museum made me feel like I could paint.

Heineken brewery was fun. Me and Sarah were tricked into eating whole bits of hops. So gross. At least now I completely 100% know what people are talking about when they say "hops." Brewing beers looks fun.

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Brussels was really all food. Sarah got sick the first night we were there, and then it rained most of the next day. But it all turned out to be a really great Belgium experience nonetheless. We met up a couple of Sarah's friends from Texas and bought over 100 Euros worth of chocolate the first night hahaha. I only contributed 12 Euros of that, thank God. Indescribable how good it is once it is in your mouth.

Belgium beer is EVERYTHING you would expect it to be: delicious, plentiful, & strong....perfect. Seriously, the range of alcohol % in their beers goes from about 8-12. It's wine without the pretentious attitude. This one was my favorite (12%):

And finally, Belgium WAFFLES. This photo is extremely self-explanatory:

And here are just some more photos of what autumn should look like... apprécier!

CURRENTLY I am considering forfeiting 2 plane tickets and buying 2 new ones to go back to Milan with Sven inbetween our Rome and Paris trip... can someone please tell me what a badass I am so I can feel better about forfeiting 100 pounds worth of flight and purchasing 44 more? Cheers!

Til next time,

-Grace xx