Belgium - Day 2

We were only out till about midnight on day 1, which was a plenty long day, and it did lead to a slightly later start for day 2.  I did sneak in a quick but good workout, which was better than expected due the most complete hotel gym I've ever encountered.  A pleasant surprise for sure.

First up was finding breakfast, which was easiest back towards the city center, so that is where we headed.  As you can see from the picture below, we got very lucky with the weather, it was nice and sunny, about 45 degrees.  The building below we saw a lot of, as we walked past it every time we went to or returned from the center of town.  We eventually settled on an admittedly touristy looking spot (they were kind of hard to avoid where we were) for waffles.  Adam tried a ginger tea that turned out to be pretty good.  Both of us ordered Liege waffles, which were chewier and breadier than the Brussels style, and very good as well.  Their pricing on eggs and bacon was a bit off though, a huge plate of bacon was 2.50 Euro, which was the same price as one egg!

Next up we'd decided to take the Metro (which was running again) north to the Atomium, which had been built for the World Fair in 1958.  As we approached it, we both thought it was smaller than anticipated, but it did look more appropriate as we got closer and closer.  The exhibits were only mildly interesting, some things about the Worlds Fair, and about space and the universe, but the views were better.  It was a bit hazy, so you couldn't see as far as they advertised.  It could've been much worse though had it been cloudy or rainy of course.  There's plenty of other pictures of the views in the album linked at the end of this post.  We did figure out that we took the long way around the Metro, as the map didn't seem to show a connection at one place.

The Metro took us back into town to the Cantillon Brewery, a traditional lambic, family run brewery, and I think the only brewing operation still truly in Brussels.  The tour consisted of a short information session with basic information, then they handed you a guide book and let you walk around the completely operating brewery.  Being towards the end of the work day, they were crushing grain for the next morning's boil.  The grain room was so dusty that pictures came out cloudy because the flash was picking up all the particles in the air!  You definitely come away from this tour with a much greater appreciation for what they do and the reputation that they have built on their beer.  Oh, and the smell was intoxicating in a good way.  We tried their base lambic, their oude gueze (a blend of 3 different years of lambic), their kriek and their rose gambrinus (lambic aged with cherries and raspberries respectively).

Walked back towards the center again to stop at a couple of the big beer stores, where I picked up some bottles to bring back.  Adam finally found the beer stein he was looking for too, and I also picked up some chocolates.  The walk wound up taking us by the Mannekin Pis, which no matter what you think, is smaller than you expected!  Oh, and another waffle from a street front store window as well :)  After the walking around looking for our various purchases, we were both a little hungry and thirsty.  Luckily, right by the little statue is a well known bar that we stopped in for drinks and a small bite.  We split a large plate of Belgian cheeses, paired of course with some great Belgian beer.  The bar's atmosphere was great, very old school feel that was definitely helped by the music selection.  Just a very cool ambience to it for sure.  By this time the camera's charge had run out, so no pictures, sorry...

We continued walking back to the hotel to check emails, drop off purchases, charge the camera some, and a little rest from all the walking.  Then more walking back to the center for dinner and a night of beer.  So around the center, there are a few rows of restaurants (by rows I really mean streets) and the people stand outside and try to convince you why you should come eat at theirs.  Touristy obviously, but convenient and the food can't be terrible right?  Well we wound up convinced by one of the places, and ordered a mixed seafood grill and a bucket of mussels again.  It wasn't as good as the night before, but still tasty, and plenty, plenty of food to soak up the beer we knew was coming.  

We then wound up going through a good number of beers at Delirium again, basically closing it down sometime around 3:45 before walking back home.  Good times, good conversation, and even met another pilot who works for Express Jet like Will does.  The picture below I just thought was really neat.  I forget exactly what church it was, and don't feel like looking it up right now.  Let me know if you're really curious for some reason.  If you go to Brussels, it's pretty impossible to miss though.

One final picture on the way to the train station

So it was a rushed but packed few days.  The late night at Delirium meant we did nothing on Thursday morning, but that was ok.  I guess I never mentioned we had some delegation from Sierra Leone staying at our hotel, which pulled up with a police escort as we were getting back one time.  The next time I'd really like to rent a car so that we can explore some of the country side and see some of the smaller towns, though I could spend plenty more time in Brussels too!!

PS - Nicole - Adam's French was spot-on all trip long, just thought you might want to know ;)

02-11 Belgium