The calm before the storm

We has a really nice lie in this morning, safe in the knowledge we had all day to explore the markets, get souvenirs and go ice skating. When we did wake up we each had showers (not gonna lie this was much needed after the 14 hours travel and day in Brussels) and got ready. We checked out at 12am and walked into the centre for breakfast/ brunch. We found a small little shop that did waffles and crepes just round the corner from Grand Place. I had strawberries, cream and chocolate sauce on mine and it was amazing. Gemma had a nutella crepe.

After we'd eaten we started exploring the various chocolate shops that Brussels had to offer and brought some treats. One shop we stopped in "L'art du chocolat" was really nice and the woman was really helpful and offered us lots of free samples. We then walked through the markets and I got a bracelet to add to my collection as a momento.

We continued to walk around the markets and I got myself a special hot chocolate which is hot milk and chocolate  on a spoon so you mix your own hot chocolate. It was delicious! We returned to "L'art du chocolat" and finished  off our souvenirs/Christmas shopping. We headed over to the ice rink where our intention was to go ice skating however it had rained a little and the ice rink was practically a swimming pool and we were acutely aware that we were going to be sitting in a coach for 8 hours even if we fall and got soaking wet. So instead we stood watching others skate and fall over into the huge puddle that awaited. We got a burgers from a burger van nearby which were delicious and then headed to Aroma, the place we had breakfast yesterday, for a hot chocolate.

We had a great time pretending to ice skate

We spent the evening laughing at more people falling over ice skating, watching the light shows and I brought myself some chocolates for myself. We got some food at one of the markets for dinner and reflected on our trip. Then we headed to the  bus station for our return journey. This is where it all started to go wrong....