Brussels, Belgium

10 August 2009- Ah, Brussels for the waffles, beers and chocolates. I mean no wonder the Belgians are a happy people. Here was Chad's waffle. Mine was a bit un-adventurous with just strawberries and real whipped cream. I mean if we are going to die, might as well die with real whipped cream in me than the fake stuff.
Poor Chad after this weekend in Brussels left for the airport this morning. He is off to Krakow, Poland again. I hope he gets a good meal at the resto we found, that will guarantee him a good night's sleep.
Here is the booty we "imported" via the train. Thanks again for the beer carrier, Herr L. It came in handy in storing our goods in the Cave.

The ones in the bags are in 750 mL bottles with corks and cages just like champagne. Chad's favorite is the Duvel. We also stocked up on the Westmalle. With its 9% alcohol, it is definitely a shared experience otherwise you will be sloppy. We bought a bottle of Deus, a barley beer also in a champagne type bottle. Full report on how these taste much later. I am sure my liver needs some time off!

Stat from the Museum of chocolate. So moving to Switzerland! They eat twice as much I do in France. But the Belgians are third on this list. Must be all the waffles and beer as other distractions from how tasty the chocolate is.

The beautiful square in Brussels. Named most beautiful square in all of Europe by Victor Hugo. Must agree, quite stunning, especially with the flowers.

The light up street of pita shops and bars with the spire of Townhall in the background.

Delirium, home to 2004 beers in the basement. The insignia of Delirium is the pink elephant, classic! My favorite part of beer in Belgium has to be you get your beer in its own glass. No non-descript pint glass served beers. A beautiful chalice, flute or otherwise the perfect glass for that beer. With over 2000 beers, they have a large chiller and even larger glass storage. We tried less than 10 over the whole weekend. I will say the best glass was from Beer Mania (of course we visited Beer Mania). Their brew, the Mea Culpa, was in a chalice glass with an elegant handle of crystal counterbalancing it in air. Chad wanted to buy one but I know how tasty that would be for our hard French porcelain sink. I would cry when it ever broke.

The skyline of Brussels. We didn't make it to the Basilica or Atomium. Next trip. You can make them out in the skyline.

We walked around most of Sunday exploring outside the tourist zone. I mean the throng of people at the Manneken Pis (the little boy peeing) was insane at times. We found a nice park, the European Union headquarters (above) and a lovely street full of antique shops and old churches.

Belgium is just lovely and at 1 hour 20 minutes from Paris, very lovely. We each had a steak (yum real red meat), chocolates galore, waffles, beers and some tasty snacks along the way. I think it gets over looked but that is okay. Save Belgium for me.