Brussels
Friday was a holiday in France, so it seemed high time to explore Europe a bit. Augusto's wife Jacqueline decided that they were going to got see Brussels, Cologne, and Amsterdam, and they invited me to come along. We planned to get going at 7:30 but didn't make it out until more like 8. We took a train from Paris on the roughly hour-long trip to Belgium. However, since this whole expedition has been fairly last-minute, by the time we got our tickets all that was left of the train was first class (aw shucks... have to go first class). The first class status ended up amounting to free wifi, some complimentary food/drink, and possibly roomier seats (I didn't catch a glimpse of where the peasants sit), but it was a comfortable trip.
Once in Brussels, we started making our way towards the touristy stuff (mostly towards Grand Place). On the way over we stopped by to grab some Belgian beer at a corner market, and were pleased to find out that we could legally imbibe on the streets in Brussels. Great city.
After stopping for lunch at a french fry place, we arrived at Grand Place, which was indeed pretty grand. The plaza itself is quite impressive: a large open area surrounded by intricate buildings trimmed with copious amounts of gold.
After admiring the buildings for a while and stopping by some of the shops in the area, we decided to drop our stuff at our respective hotels. We planned to meet back up a couple hours later, so I took the time to wander around a bit and happened to stumble across St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral. It was quite large and impressive, very reminscent of Notre Dame.
I met up with Augusto again to find that he and his wife had already settled down in one of the many bars in the area. We stayed there for a few drinks, and the beer was good. However, the most interesting thing about the place was the glassware: various beers had their own special glasses. I had one that was roughly beaker-shaped and required a special holder just to keep it upright because the bottom was spherical. Augusto had a drink that came in a cornucopia-shaped container. It certainly made things interesting.
After the drinks we went off in search of some of the mussels that Brussels is apparently famous for. We wandered down some of the sides street to find an area that I think is nicer than what I've seen of Paris so far. Small little streets packed full of restaurants and people, it just seemed very nice, the kind of stuff you imagine when you think "European".
I hit the sack shortly after dinner, but our train out didn't leave until around noon the next day so I had some time the following morning to explore. To start the morning off right I grabbed a cream-filled croissant from one of the shops in the area.
I also scouted out this nice little garden leading up to some sort of governmental building. There are a couple of statues in the distance, but unfortunately the morning sun washed the shot out a bit.
Last, but certainly not least, I made sure to stop by the chocolate shops to grab some Belgian chocolate for the folks back home :)
Next up: Cologne
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