Belgium

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End of France

We went out of France with a bang. The second night we met with some people I studied in Madrid with. We had some warsteiner in a mug marked as 'Formidable' in french, it was basically a full liter of beer after which we went to the champ de elysees (sp?) and went to a club where beers were 15 euros. Needless to say, I only had one, and I only paid for it because I had no idea how much it cost until I received 5 euros back from my 20. Dinner was next to the Eiffel Tower on theon Seine River. Probably the best wine and steak I have had this far on this trip.

The next day we did some siteseeing, things such as the orangerie, the Louve, Napoleon's grave, and last but not least: Jim Morrison's grave. Honestly, the cemetary where he is buried is probably one of the best sites we have seen so far on our trip. That night we met up with our friend from college who is a native parisian. She took us to a local restaurant for some authentic french cuisine, and I must say i'm impressed. However without her, there is no way we could have eaten at that restaurant - no one spoke a word of english. However the waiter was friendly, and we left stuffed.

Belgium

The next morning we were on the 7:28 train to brussels, where we spent the morning seeing the Grand Palace, Maneken Piss (sp?), and a piece of the true cross. That's right, they are everywhere in Europe. I had a belgium waffel with chocolate on top, and I must say it is much better than waffle house or denny's. In the afternoon we headed to Bruges, which thus far has been one of the best places on our trip. Everything is from the 12th-14th century, including 2 churches, and a 90m high tower in the main square. A church contains a vile of christ's blood, which was an interesting thing to see.

In bruges I also had to go see the doctor. Apparently I have some type of throat/sinus infection, and didn't exactly feel great while siteseeing today. The doctor was nice, and the whole thing only cost about $100. Needless to say, after some antibiotics I am feeling quite a bit better. The downfall to this is that my beer sampling was cut short. I had a few yesterday, but today I opted out. Here I am in the beer capital of the world, and I can't even have one! I did have a local brew called bruges (imagine that), and another named Grimbergen. The Grimbergen was probably the tastiest beer I have ever had, so keep that in mind next time you pass Friar Tucks. In the morning we are headed to Amsterdam, and have tickets to the Anne Frank house at 5:00. Hopefully these antibiotics kick in a little more overnight, so I feel up for walking around the town.

On a side note, prior to the doctor, we toured the oldest brewery in Belgium. I was struggling, but wanted to see it. Caitlin tasted the brew and said it was very good, and she has also been a fan of the wit beers. Looks like i'm just going to have to come back to Bruges another day.

I'll try to post more pictures next time, we have been without internet for a couple of days. I have some funny photo's that I can share, such as the fact that whitesnake is sold out in brussels, and some good ones from the cemetary in France. Seven more days until the trip ends, but considering the german's are actually giving me a car for the autobahn, the end of this trip is far from my mind.

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