Art at its best

We visited the Grand Place, Mannekin Pis (which is the famous statue/fountain of the boy peeing), the Royal Museum of Art, Bruges, the Royal Place, a couple cathedrals, and a ton of gardens.

While walking home from the train station, we stumbled upon the red light district, where the mostly naked girls sit in the neon windows. Dave and I found it quite fascinating. However, the girls with us kept moving along briskly and scolded us when we turned our heads to stare.

Without question, the highlight of Belgium was the food. I had a grand total of three waffles with chocolate sauce. Additionally, we tried a chocolate-coated waffle from the vending machine to see how good it was. It did not compare to the hot waffles with chocolate sauce. In all honesty, I have never eaten anything more sensuous in my entire life. All I wanted to do was lay down and rest afterwards. It knocked the wind right out of me. There are several moments throughout a person’s when if they were to pass into the “great beyond” they would die completely happy and content. This was one of those times.

The biggest surprise was the mussels. The student travel agent said people usually go to Brussels to sit around eating mussels and drinking beer. Well, you know how the saying goes, “When it Rome…” Dave and I decided to be adventurous, cautiously adventurous. The girls however backed out when it came time to order. However, after the steaming pot arrived at the table and Dave and I bravely dove in, the girls followed suit. We had mussels twice more. Why not? You’re only in Brussels for the first time once.

Of course, I had chocolate. It was wonderful, but is that really much of a surprise? I brought a couple kilograms (metric system ridiculousness) home. Luckily, I can justify eating it all since I do so much damn walking here in Europe.