I like girls that like big head ... on their beer!

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A memorial to the two World Wars. Reminds me of a monument in Portugal, in the Belem district.

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A sleek and modern bridge leading to an elevator that takes you down to the Marolles neigbourhood.

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I think a lot of drunk and wild Chinese girls named Mary like to hang out here ...

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What the hell is "Max your Chihuahua" supposed to mean? But after seeing this poster, for some reason I had a craving for Taco Bell. Yo quiero Taco Bell!

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La Tour D'Angle - what's left of a 13th century wall.

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As part of the ultimate pilgrimage, I sampled all 4 chocolate shops on Le Grand Place in an unscientific experiment to determine which shop has the best chocolate. Neuhaus - the first pit stop on the Amazing Chocolate Race.

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The first piece (on the left), an almond/hazelnut dark chocolate mix, is dubbed "Satan" by its creator (no joke!). Very crunchy and too sweet, though the bitterness of the dark chocolate offset this somewhat. The almond and hazelnut flavours cancelled each other out. Verdict - unfortunately, Satan is good, but not Devilishly Delicious. On the right is milk chocolate coffee ganache - very rich, but again too sweet. Verdict - I'll stick to Spanish café con leche if I need a coffee pick-me-up.

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Galler - the second stop on the chocolate pilgrimage.

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Galler also serves ice cream! It wasn't very good, though.

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On the left is the "Cortez". White chocolate with a black caramel filling. Very sweet, and the flavours seemed to clash. Verdict - while I believe that blacks and whites should live together in perfect racial harmony, this is one instance where black and white should remain segregated! "Mangue" - a lot less sweet than the Neuhaus contenders. Very creamy and delicious, with a nice dark chocolate bite. However, it loses some points because it didn't really taste all that much like mango. Verdict - I don't want to be bitten by anything, unless it's the "Mangue" or a Spanish hottie!

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Godiva - the third and most famous stop on the "Tour de Chocolat".

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A dark chocolate-covered strawberry. A very good strawberry with very good dark chocolate. Verdict - aside from being served atop a fluffy Belgain waffle w/ chocolate sauce and Chantilly, this is the ONLY way to eat them. Or perhaps hand fed to you by a Spanish hottie (at least I THINK that would be good - still working on sampling that one ...) "Truffe Exotique" - covered in toasted coconut. Boo-yah! We have a winner! Rich! Good! I didn't really want the big famous chain to be the winner, but the results don't lie. Verdict - with such a sexy-sounding name, how could it NOT be the best?

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And what about Leonidas? Sadly, the journey ends here. I ended up buying a 500 g box of it so that skews the results slightly, but I would have to say that on average, Leonidas isn't quite on par with the other chains. Their chocolates are machine-made - locals love it because they say it's 10% less in quality but 50% the price of the others. Just like my engineering skills - except it's 50% the quality for 10% less! Even though the quality of Leonidas isn't quite as good, it won't stop me from devouring the entire box in short order! So in summary: Another night in Brussels: 25 Euros Belgian chocolates from these 4 Temples of Tastiness: 15 Euros (including the big box!) Coming oh-so-close to Nirvana through over-ingestion of chocolate: PRICELESS!!! At the end of this ethereal experience, I saw the light and felt warm and tingly all over ... I almost didn't come back! It must've been a sugar-induced coma. But I didn't sacrifice life and limb for myself - I did it as an experiment that will benefit all of mankind! It's nice to not have to travel on an unemployed man's budget - such a luxury wasn't possible last summer.

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Generic pedestrian shopping street near the hostel. Too bad it was Sunday and everything was closed because these areas are usually very lively. A street just like ones I've walked along in Budapest, Lisbon, Porto ... but still, it's always fun.

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Here's a store selling L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics, of Scientology fame.

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Here's where they brainwash you into buying into their ideology. Where's TomKat??? Shouldn't they be there recruiting new members???

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Mannekin Pis, the most famous little boy from Brussels! Doesn't he have a fitting name? I thought this photo was very artistic - the way the low lighting caused my camera's shutter speed to slow down gave an ethereal feel to the way his pee slowly squirted into the fountain. If I was a truly artistic man, I would've dumped some lemonade crystals into the fountain. Then we'd REALLY have a show!

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Mannekin Pis (I still chuckle when I see the name) - not only does he like to piss, but he also likes to screw!

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They're very liberal here in Belgium. I think this figurine is of Cookie Monster and Elmo gettin' it on!

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My bed in the hostel. I was very disappointed with it - given all that I had heard about Brussels, I expected the mattress to be a giant waffle, and the pillow to be a giant chocolate truffle. But no matter, as I took things into my own hands and stripped naked, lay in bed, and covered myself with chocolate sauce, and strategically-placed strawberries and whipped cream. I asked Marta and Barbara if they wanted to join me, but they only turned away and vomited. This can only mean one of two things - they either don't like chocolate or are lactose intolerant. Think that's sad? Well take a closer look at the plastic bag on the bed - yup, it's from the chocolatier, Leonidas. Yup, I slept with chocolates when I was in Belgium. I have a problem and need help.

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Douglas, touching a statue. Locals touch it for good luck.