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Published: August 17th 2008
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Stephen and I
In Brussels... As they say here in Brussels, Bonjour!
Yes, apparently they speak French (and Flemish) here in Belgium...I did not know that until we got here! This is the first city I've every been in where French is one of the main languages spoken, and I've learned more French in the last two days than I ever managed to learn German. And by that, I mean I can now say 2 things: merci, and au revoir. Hey, thats more German than I ever really managed to pick up!
We are now in Brussels (and by 'we' I mean Bethany, Stephen and myself) which is an interesting city. Its seems more like a city people actually live and work in than any other of the major European cities I've been to. Not that Berlin didn't seem normal and full of people, Brussels just reminds me more of everyday life, and real people. We've been here for 2 full days now, and we have had lots of yummy food (think Belgium waffles, Belgium chocolate and other such wonderful things). I am currently city in a hotel room that I have all to myself (I know, I'm feeling very spoiled!) because Jan miscalculated
Tourist Sign
These nifty signs point in the direction of cool tourist attractions. They really help us stupid American college students navigate foreign cities! how long she would take to get here from wherever she is in Germany at the moment, so I have the room to myself tonight. Which means I took shameless advantage of the fact that no one was waiting to shower after me, and I am now listening to Rhianna...I forgot how nice it was to have your own room!
Okay, enough babbling. I've spent the last two days randomly wandering. Brussels isn't that big, so we've mainly been taking it easy and relaxing. The first day we just explored a bit after finally finding our hotel. We went to the "Grand Place" which is really just a large plaza in the center of town. Its pretty cool because we managed to randomly be in Brussels on the one weekend of the year that they make this huge carpet-type thing out of flowers in the grand place, and its pretty awesome. We had a yummy dessert of Belgium waffles, and then ended up calling it a night, because we all needed some time to recover after the last week of non-stop days.
The architecture here is amazing (as it is in all of Europe) with old buildings and
glorious churches. Yesterday I went to Saturday night service in French. Its fortunate that Catholic services are so ritualized, otherwise I would have been completely lost the whole time! As it was, I didn't understand a word of the homily, but it was in the national cathedral, which is huge and Gothic and wonderful. We went and saw what was at one point in time the largest building in Europe, which was pretty cool. Stephen and Bethany came back to the hotel to chill, while I continued to wander. I found a pretty cool flea market (don't worry, I somehow managed to refrain from buying everything in sight!) and got myself some coffee and a croissant. I've come to the conclusion that it is a very, very good thing that the words 'coffee' and 'beer' sound almost the same in most common European languages, because it is frankly impossible to order water and know what you're going to end up with!
Last night we went to a restaurant called "Le Cirio" which has apparently been around since 1886. It was a cool looking restaurant and I had something entitled "Waterloo" which was a scrumptious chicken and potato stew (apparently
Stephen and Bethany
On a Brussels street corner. a traditional Belgium food). Whether or not it was an authentic Belgium dish, it was delicious! The resident cat came and said hello to us while we were eating. Every place we've been to seems to have at least one cat in it (here and in the rest of Europe) which our tour guide in Amsterdam said was due to the fact that it was more hygienic to have a cat than not (think rodents). Since I love cats, I'm totally okay with them being everywhere we go...especially if it means no rats! On the way back to our hotel, I decided to buy lotion (one of the many things I forgot to pack!). As soon as I spoke English in the random convenience store we went into, the man asked where I was from. I responded with "California" and after a few more, shall we say pleasantries, he ended up giving me 50 cents off the lotion for a "beautiful girl from California." I must say, as annoying as interactions as that get, I am not going to scoff at any sort of discount...come on, at this point, I'm
really poor!
Today we had to move hotels (one
Stephen and Bethany
This time, they're actually posing! of the perils of budget travel) so again we just took it easy. We spent the day mainly on the internet (free, reliable Wi-Fi is not nearly as common as you'd think!) though I did write some more postcards. The hotel we are in now is very close to a nice shopping district, which is very tempting, to say the least. The big park in Brussels is also nearby, which is pretty awesome.
Hopefully Jan will make it sometime tomorrow, and we're going to search for other big landmarks. The EU parliament is here in Brussels, and there is supposed to be a really cool music museum, so hopefully we'll find both of those. Other than that, I hope all is well wherever you are reading this from. I can't believe I have less than a week before I'm in Egypt! Stay in touch...things that seem boring to you are very, very welcome when you happen to be living half way around the world in a country whose language you don't speak!
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Madeline(MOM)
non-member comment
Sounds like your having a great time!! Which I could do that -but OH!!! I am working so I can pay for it. Love mom:)