Hi everyone. I had a rather busy week last week and unfortunately I was unable to find the time to write a blog post last week before I went away on Thursday which I'm sorry about. However, I thought I'd share with you some pictures from my city break in Brussels, Belgium from Thursday to Sunday.
 We got the Eurostar from London to Brussels early Thursday morning which meant that we were able to have most of the day to explore and get our bearings. We stayed at the Leopold Hotel which was located just down the road from the European Parliament and about a 20 minute walk away from the city centre. Once we arrived we wandered down to The Grand Place. Unfortunately we missed the Flower Carpet by just a few days, however it was still just as lovely to see. My family and I make it our mission every holiday to go to a new Hard Rock Cafe, and conveniently the Hard Rock Cafe in Brussels was just on the edge of The Grand Place. It's actually one of my top favourites I've been to and I had the honey mustard grilled chicken sandwich which was delicious. After lunch we explored some more, had a nap back at the hotel, and then had dinner.
 For our first full day, we got a City Sightseeing bus ticket which we could use for 24 hours to hop on and off at stops all across the city. We stopped off at the Atomium (a museum and exhibition) where we walked around the 5 spheres open to the public. What's great about this tourist attraction is how each sphere is connected by staircases and lifts with little windows to look out. We then wandered over to Mini Europe located across the road which basically hosts minature tourist attractions in places across Europe from the Houses of Parliament to the Berlin Wall. Perhaps this would be best to do on a day that isn't so overwhelmingly hot and it is better suited for the young ones, however it was still really fun to see!
 The next day we toured the Royal Palace of Brussels which is free to enter. Before visiting Brussels, I didn't even realise that Belgium had a royal family but exploring the beautiful and stunning palace which serves as the place where the King carries out his duties (the family live in a separate palace closer to the Atomium) was really interesting. Some of the rooms actually had museums and exhibitions of paintings and bugs (??) where strangely enough, a whole chandelier was made out of 1.4 million beatle wings which I find quite strange to be honest. There was also a little room where a short film was being played about the royal family which was touching to watch since they seem so lovely and grounded.
We then wandered back down to the city centre where we tried some waffles in The Waffle Factory which were absolutely delicious!
It's worth mentioning that whilst we were there that Brussels Summer Festival was on which was pretty cool. One stage was located right next door to the Royal Place (pictured above) and another one closer to the city centre which was fun since we were able to walk past both each day. On our first day we heard The Ting Tings doing their sound rehearsal.
We travelled back to London on the Eurostar on Sunday morning. I really enjoyed my time in Brussels and would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys city breaks as much as I do. It actually reminds me of Rome in some ways with all the side streets and cobbles on the roads. Although we were there for a couple of days, I actually think you could visit all the main tourist attractions in just one day, especially if you went by the Eurostar since the journey only takes a couple of hours.