Worshipping in the Church of Chocolate

za

---

Galeries Royales St. Hubert - a covered pedestrian arcade. Similar to others I've seen in Milan, Paris, and Naples. Notice how it veers off to the right at the end of the corridor - designers intended that to subconsciously draw people into the rest of the gallery.

zb

---

An old friend - the Rick Steves guidebooks are the best, in my opinion. Unfortunately they aren't the best for backpackers because they lack in hostel recommendations and don't cover many off-the-beaten-path destinations. Other than that, the recommendations are top-notch and they give you a really good idea of what there is to see/do, and how much time you need to spend in a place.

zc

---

A Pfizer symposium was taking place - perhaps they were discussing their new product intended solely for the Belgian market, chocolate-covered Viagra.

ze

---

Looks like a combination of Pinocchio, Michael Jackson, and Pee Wee Herman. Scary.

zf

---

This must be the Brussels equivalent of Jessica Rabbit (from "Who Shot Roger Rabbit?").

zg

---

250 different Belgian beers can be purchased at this store. Sounds like a lot? Not really, when you consider there are several thousand types of beer brewed in Belgium.

zh

---

Streets in this area were named after the types of goods you could buy here when it used to be a big market. I guess you used to be able to buy butter here. I looked and I looked, but couldn't find "Rue au Spanish Hotties". It was the lowpoint of the trip :(

zi

---

Le Grand Place, packed with people. A very typical European square with a great atmosphere.

zj

---

These were fake versions, but showed all the different types of waffles you could get.

zk

---

Heinrich - the most popular guy in the room. That tends to happen when you carry 2 bottles of wine in your suitcase!

zl

---

Starting from the girl on top, going clockwise: Barbara then Marta, two Polish girls studying/living in Ireland and working in pubs. Barbara is studying Psychology and Marta is studying Journalism. Barbara had a really cute Irish/Polish accent, and was especially cute when she was embarrassed from us making fun of her for picking up an Irish accent. Marta also had a cute accent, and was just plain ... well, cute. Funny that they both had cute accents ... Magda, the Polish stunner working at a hostel in Krakow had a brutal accent when she spoke English. Finally, some travel agent from Budapest whose name I've forgotten. Hmmm ... think it's true what they say about guys having selective memories? But I do remember this - at the moment of the picture, he was the luckiest guy in the room!

zm

---

Iker and Barbara. Iker's from the Basque region in Spain. His name doesn't sound Spanish, does it? It's cause it's a traditional Basque name. I embarrassed myself when I asked him about ETA, the terrorist organization struggling for independence from Spain. I spelled it out E-T-A, forgetting that it's actually pronounced as a word (ett-ah). Almost as embarrassing as someone mispronouncing Tibet as Tie-bay - in front of a Tibetan man, no less! Maybe you all should ask John about that.