The end of 2017 was upon us and I decided to celebrate New Years abroad for the first time. On paper Brussels was a good place to go to. It was easy to get to via the Eurostar, most of the popular places to visit in were in close proximity to one another and it’s the capital city of a country known for beer and chocolate, so what more could you want?

It was my first time taking the Eurostar. I was too tired to appreciate how good it was because I stayed up through the night in freezing cold conditions at St Pancras International before taking the earliest train. It took two hours to get to Brussels from London, I couldn’t drive to Bristol or Manchester in that time.

I arrived at Brussels’s Midi Station in time for breakfast. It took me a long time to navigate my way out. The station is a lot bigger than you think when you first arrive. I had no idea how to get to the metro station or which stopped I needed for the hotel.

After several minutes panicking, I composed myself, checked Google maps and then went to a kiosk to get some help with directions and everything basically worked itself out after I finished getting lost and going on the wrong platform.

Three stops later and bags in the storage room at the hotel, I start off at the Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate. As you can imagine there are many chocolate related exhibits, I’d say the best part was the live chocolate demonstration and watching the making of fudge. For 5 Euros it’s definitely worth a visit and you can use your student card to get a discount on your entry.

It’s a lot smaller than you’d think once you step inside the building. There’s a lot of history that I didn’t know about as far as chocolate is concerned, come to think of it I don’t think I knew anything about the origin of chocolate.

With a few hours to go until I could check into the hotel, I walked about and saw the famous Manneken Pis landmark. If you don’t know what it is, it’s a statue of a naked little boy urinating into a fountain. You’re probably thinking the same thing I did, why would this statue be famous and why have such a statue?

I was told there were two different stories behind the Manneken Pis. The first story involved a fire in Brussels which was put out by a small boy pissing. Quite frankly that story is farfetched. The second story is that the Manneken Pis was a gift from the French as their way of taking the piss (pun intended) out of their neighbours.

Manneken Pis also has a girlfriend named Jeanneke Pis and a dog named Het Zinneke nearby. They’re probably the only family of statues in the world unless anyone can let me know of any others.

I was finally able to check into the Saint Nicolas Hotel and had a nap. At this point I’d been up for 30 hours and was about to drop dead. Initially I tried to find accommodation near Midi station but in hindsight it was ideal that I ended up at the Saint Nicolas, because it was close to everything and several metro stations.

After resting, I walked around before ending up at Delirium spending the evening drinking as much craft beer as I could and mingling with people of many nationalities for roughly 4 hours.

I didn’t realise how famous Delirium was until I’d spoken to one of the staff members at the Saint Nicolas Hotel. If you’re into drinking craft beer, Delirium is a dream place for you with its long list of beers. In January 2004, it was recorded by Guinness Book of Records that they had 2004 different brands. I was told that number is now around 3000 or 4000 so you’re unlikely to be out of options if you fancy some craft beer.

In the strip there’s a Delirium Café, pub, a three floor bar etc. They’ve got everything to cater for everyone’s taste preference.

The next morning, to put it lightly, I was worse for wear. I just about have recollection of how I got back to the hotel (it was only a 2 minute walk). I struggled to get out of bed for a while and even when I showered and went down for breakfast I could barely eat 2 small bites of a chocolate croissant. I’d planned to go to Mini Europe in time for when it opened but those craft beers did a number on me. A few more hours of sleeping and resting and rehydration and I was in a fit enough condition to step outside.

I arrived at Mini Europe around midday. For those of you who don’t know, Mini Europe is a miniature park next to the famous Atomium landmark. It’s full of mini reproductions of landmarks around Europe such as Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, although I didn’t notice the Coliseum.

You’ll probably spend around an hour, maybe an hour and a half following a footpath (which has an arrow to guide you around the path on a specific route) as you pass each mini landmark. It’s worth going to, it caters for everyone, from a family day out to the solo traveller.

After finishing at Mini Europe, it was off down the road to the Atomium landmark. Atomium is 102m high and has 9 steel spheres which are all connected. It was built in the late 1950s initially for the Brussels World Fair, now the majority of the spheres is home to a museum.

The top sphere is split over 2 floors, the top floor has a restaurant and the second floor is for people to walk around a platform which has a panoramic view of the Brussels skyline.

It was busy when I got there. The queue went far back into the car park. I thought about going to Atomium first but I had to pick but my combi-ticket from Mini Europe so it made sense to go there first. I ordered the tickets online so all I had to do was pick them up. I found out it wasn’t any cheaper or more expensive, so if you’re planning to see both places just buy your tickets when you get there.

There’s also a water park in the area as well which I was surprised to see open and see people going there! Respect to anyone going to the water park during the Chrismas season, I sure as hell wouldn’t contemplate doing that!

I queued for just over an hour. What many people didn’t realise is that if you needed to have a ticket before joining the queue. There were many people in couples and groups who had to get out of the queue to buy a ticket and went to the back again. The smart ones were the couples which had 1 person stay in the queue while the other bought the tickets. I couldn’t understand why everyone didn’t adopt this approach.

In all honesty I’d say Atomium wasn’t worth it for the time we queued. The top sphere is nice but the rest of the museum wasn’t really anything memorable. There’s no doubting how good the view of the Brussels skyline is and if anything that would be the only reason to go.

I probably wouldn’t be saying this if I didn’t have to queue for long. Let’s take into account that I queued in the cold for ages, still hungover, tired and hungry (having not eaten since nibbling on a croissant for breakfast). And then when we got inside there was a further queue going around in a circle for the lift. So what I said about Atomium might not be an accurate reflection of the whole experience.

I went back to central Brussels to look around at the Christmas markets. Having not eaten practically all day, food was a priority. In the time I spent in Brussels, I lived off food from the markets. I don’t know about you but I always feel there’s something special, something authentic about food from street markets abroad which makes them taste that much better.

It was around 6:30-7 in the evening and I found myself at Grand Place. It’s by far the most popular tourist spot in Brussels at this time and it’s not hard to see why. For several hours all there is around the square is music which would fit in well with Disney films. While the music plays, the buildings and Christmas tree changes colour. No words can describe how beautiful it is. There’s something magical about the whole square itself, it’s like a different world all together. I wish there was something like this back home.

After a while I walked around to see if I could find anymore hidden gems in Brussels, I chilled at places like the Mont des Arts just to savour the moment and reflect on how lucky I was. I made my way back to Grand Place because I wanted some photos of it under the lights and I thought it would be empty….I was wrong! At that point it was raining so I thought I’d wait for it to die down so my phone wouldn’t get too wet taking photos.

A couple of guys, Ben and Badr kindly let me seek shelter under the roof opposite Grand Place while we wait for the rain to die down. We did the usual small talk and probably spent around 30 minutes chatting, and before we know it I’m at the Delirium bar drinking with them. I didn’t plan to do anything let alone go out to drink, but I find sometimes the best days or nights are the ones where you do something off the cuff.

They introduced me to some Belgian beers I hadn’t tried yet and of course when it comes at the recommendation from local people who know their stuff you can’t go wrong, especially when it comes to things like food and alcohol. I doubt I’d have had a better night walking around Brussels trying to decide what to do. One thing I love about travelling solo is the people you meet along the way, it adds to the experience.

After parting ways with Ben and Badr, I went back to Grand Place and lucky for me the area was empty and spent some time getting some shots of the place.

I’m one of those that’ll take as many photos as it takes until I get what I feel is “the perfect one”. I don’t know why, I couldn’t even tell you how I decide what the “perfect” photo is. All I can say is when I look at a photo, it’s more of a feeling I get looking at it, it might look the same as several others but there might be something like a gut instinct that says one particular photo is better than the others.

I almost had my first unfortunate experience of being pick pocketed. Three guys came up to me and asked for directions. I couldn’t understand them as they spoke French really quick. Once I told them I spoke English, they asked for directions to Delirium and of course I was more than happy to help.

Two of the guys went on and the other one who seemed quick drunk was dancing around, he was trying to get me to dance. At that point I thought to myself that I could either tell him to get lost and more than likely he’d end up continuing to be an inconvenience or I could humour him and he’d leave.

I chose to humour him and felt his hand go into my coat pocket though I didn’t really notice what was going on at the time. As soon as he left, I went to get my phone to check the time and maybe take more photos and straight away realised he stole it. I jogged up to him, put my hand out and told him to give me my phone back which he did without any resistance, I was surprised.

For a moment I thought he did it as a joke because he walked away at a really slow pace, as if he expected me to catch up. What made me realise he meant to steal my phone was the fact he acted drunk when we first crossed paths, whereas he was sober all of the sudden when I caught up to him.

I always imagined that if I was thinking like someone who picks pockets, I’d have been gone in a flash as soon as I took something. Instead this guy walks away so slowly that I could’ve caught up with him walking. Looking back I’d say he was embarrassed he got caught out. I was surprised he willingly gave me my phone back but I’m not complaining!

What helped me was that I didn’t drink too much so I had my wits about me. I’m sure you’d agree that had it been the night before I would’ve had no chance of getting my phone back.

I spent the day time of New Years Eve going around, taking in the atmosphere. I didn’t have anything in particular planned for the celebrations, it was something I was likely to decide nearer the time between Atomium or Grand Place.

I was watching the football when a group of foreign exchange students (representing Denmark, USA, Ecuador, India and Latvia) who were studying in Belgium sat at the table next to me. I don’t how we got talking but one thing lead to another and the next thing I know I’m on a bar crawl with them.

I end up seeing out 2017 at Atomium with the group. Again nothing planned and it was pretty good. Atomium was lit up and there was the standard fireworks display with some live music after the countdown to welcome us into 2018.

Brussels is an underrated place. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it would be good otherwise I wouldn’t have gone there. I mean who books to go somewhere expecting to have a shit time? Brussels exceeded my expectations, and whether you go with a partner or a group of friends, Brussels is easy to get to, the public transport is very good (take note TFL their underground metro was free to use on New Years Eve, and New Years Day) and there’s something for everyone.