Moules frites

A full day of Brussels! After arriving around 8 a.m., we landed at our hotel in a quaint little Belgian neighborhood. Michael, Ryan, and I headed across the street to a small local pub for some cafe (espresso in these parts!). The cafe "Les mascottes" (the pets) was a very local neighborhood bar. At 10 a.m. there were all men in there smoking, drinking cafe or a draft belgian beer reading the newspapers and a few even had their dogs. As new patrons entered, they would greet the other guests. Cigarette smoke filled the small establishment (bummer that Belgium hasn't passed the smoking ban). Michael (aka MRod) and I decided to hit the streets and explore more of Brussels. We wanted to head toward City Centre, but after stopping at a place that sold rotisserie chicken (which we bought for about $6.00), we sat at a nearby park bench and ate our picnic lunch (picture to come). After that, we somehow got very turned around in what must have been the turkish section of brussels, and without a map and very little french or dutch spoken between us we ended up heading much farther north than we had anticipated. After visiting the beautiful cathedral notre dame, we decided to venture underground to the metro and then to a bus to get back to our hotel in time for our 4 p.m. meeting. We just made it! But what a 4 hour adventure. After our 2 hour meeting (and more cafe), we went to a nearby restaurant, where Theo our host (the local Belgian) educated us about moules (mussels) and beer! I had a Chimay Bleue and others tasted Westmalle, Duval, Orval and blanche. YUM!!! Nothing better that Moule frites and biere! So now this jet-lagged girl must call it a night! More demain (tomorrow!).





More photos at www.picasaweb.google.com/ehasselberg1/brussels#