Waffles and Mussels and Beers, oh my!

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We awoke in the morning to sunny skies that would remain for the majority of the day. Our current hostal is a lot like a dorm for really cool people. Breakfast this morning included a decent choice of food, lunch trays, and a line for entry into a cafeteria. It was a good meal, and I was certain that it would be a start to another great day of exploring and I was right.

One great thing about being over here is that every single day, if not every single hour, brings completely new experiences that are totally unexpected. I've used the term "welcomed surprise" a number of times on this blog for good reason. Every day is full of new firsts - first time in a catacomb, first time speaking politics with foreigners, first time eating mussels (more on that below) - they all have different stories, and while rethinking them through this journal, I can't help but feel that my perspective of the world is expanding, which is both extremely rewarding and incredibly exciting.

Nick and I decided to start our first day in Brussels with a trip through the Musee D'art et D'Histoire (history and art), located just east of city center, and home to a collection of artifacts and excavations throughout civilization. It ended up being pretty boring, so we cut our trip short and headed toward the Grand Place, which is the main plaza in Brussels, and which also serves as the cultural and symbolic center of the city. The plaza itself is gorgeous. In fact, Victor Hugo (Hunchback) called it the most beautiful square in the world. I haven't seen enough of them to echo his assertion, but it defnitely ranks high on my list.

By this point, it was about time for lunch. We had read that the Belgians opt to eat their waffles during lunch instead of breakfast, so we figured when in Rome... They were very involved, very cheap, and really...really good. Nick ordered the chocolate covered waffle with ice cream. I decided I'd get mine with half strawberry jam, half chocolate syrup. Now I've never had an orgasm from food, but if I was ever close, it was the ten minutes it took to eat that thing. Soooooooo good.

From there (and after changing pants), we headed south to get a look at Brussels' world famous statue of a boy peeing called (and I'm not kidding here) Mannekin Pis. No big deal - but again, full of Asian tourists taking 30 pictures. After an unsuccessful attempt to get a picture of me catching the stream in my mouth, we decided to go to the fine arts museum, which was really great. Aside from having works by Dali, Picasso, Van Goh and Breugel, it had a really great modern art wing. Unfortunately at this point Nick and I are pretty art-ed out, so our tour through was pretty fast.

Then it was time for dinner. Brussels has a great walkway called Rue de Bouchers off the Grand Place that has somewhere in the vicinity of 40 restaurants, many of them with the same menu. Our travel book recommended Chez Leon and moules frites (mussels with fries), so we obliged. Like I said before, I'd never tried them, so it was a new experience for me. Honestly, I was pretty apprehensive about giving them a shot. They weren't too bad. I'd hoped they would have a little more flavor, but I was pleased overall, and I understand why it's such popular dish.

In the evening, we decided to hang out on the Rue de Gery, which is essentially the bar district here. The bars seemed pretty cool, but the area was dead. It seemed slow even for a thursday night at 12:30, and we were a bit tired, so we called it a night. I will say this though. Belgium has an entire menu of beers I've never tasted before, and they are all delicious - thick, blonde, brown, with great after tastes. I'm beginning to like this beer more than my Irish faves (Guinness, Smithwick's).

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