I walked out of the hostel early on Thursday morning into foggy streets dusted with a light covering of snow and ice. Having promised my sister that I would send her some treats I headed back following the outer canal to the bakery with the gorgeous macarons. Only for it to be closed (just my luck). So I cut across the city to the next best tea rooms just off the main square (and picked up some sweet breakfast while I was there).

Wandering through the streets I reached the opposite end of the old town and continued along the outer canal fringed by a small park to arrive at the train station to catch a train back to Brussels. Since there was still time before catching my bus home I snatched a map from the tourist office and strolled off into the streets. In a few short hours I had already dropped by the Grand Place (a square surrounded by beautiful buildings), Place de lAlbertine, Palais Royal and the park opposite (whee I mingled with what felt like thousands of runners), down to the EU parliament with lots of tasty looking cafes nearby and back around to place poelaertplein for a foggy view over the city.

The are just down the street from there around sablon zabel is obviously the more upmarket area with many fancy restaurants, delicatessens, expensive chocolateries and cafes located in beautiful old houses.

I grabbed some lunch in a small cafe on the end of grandes-carmes (delicious quiche from the pea tea rooms or something like that) before continuing to the opera, the cathedral and back through galeries saint-hubert (where many chocolate shops are located ranging from affordable to almost extortionate) and back to the grand place. The streets there and eberywhere are also filled eith shops selling chocolate, waffles or fries and it gets a little repititive.

This left me with enough time to walk up to the botanical gardens and past to the northern train station to hop onto my bus back to Frankfurt, with a small bag of chocolate and sweet treasures in hand to take home.

The city itself was larger (and dirtier) than expected, but there are some very beautiful parts to it. The centre around the main square is a little overwhelming in the sense that it is completely aimed at tourists, so I really recommend exploring parts of the city away from this area.