Brussels: Andrew Bird, Food, Old Scottish Men, and Not Making the Most of Anything

Brussels: capital of Belgium, headquarters of European Union institutions, and home to buildings ranging from Gothic palaces to modern skyscrapers. A busy city packed with people who have places to go, people to see.

Too bad my trip wasn't as impressive as that all sounded.

FRIDAY:
Took an ICE across the countryside on the two hour trip and was struck by how eerily similar the train was to the Monorail at Disney World. I was sitting right behind the driver's compartment and could see miles of track stretching ahead of the train. All in all it's the best train I've ever been on in Europe. Ever. Hell, the bathroom looked clean enough to sleep in compared to some of the trains I've been on. Take the Italian trains, for example. I still have nightmares of a trip Stephanie and I took to Nice one weekend.

Upon arriving in Brussels at 6pm I proceed to walk around a half mile radius of the train station because the directions I had were vague as hell. Luckily a hobo, sensing my distress, helped me out. I say "hobo" because this man looked like a Vietnam POW just released from years of captivity, save for the pair of nice-looking headphones covering his ears (which were plugged into nothing, mind you). Then a couple of police officers helped me out because Hobo wasn't up to par with the job. I finally found the hostel and prayed that Erin and Mark wouldn't be too upset for showing up an hour late.

Well surprises of surprises when I find out I'm the first to arrive. I'm slightly worried at this news since Erin's flight was to get in at 10am in Brussels. No Erin, no Mark. Just me in a lobby of the hostel that already looks and smells better than the place I'm living at in Germany. Check my email, watch two seconds of American television, and see the two have arrived. I won't even go into the details of Erin's trip through Satan's asshole-- all you need to know is that it was bad and it was long and dammit if we all weren't starving by then.

Ate a meager kebob and had a fantastic time at the Andrew Bird concert. I love that man more than I should but listen to "The Naming of Things" off his debut album and you'll never listen to the violin the same way again. Had the opportunity to say hello to him after the concert and let it pass me by, but I have no regrets. The concert was truely great though it couldn't beat the 40 Watt.

10:30pm and back to the hostel. I almost buy a bottle of 32 euro champagne but pick up some Belgium beer instead. We make friends with the other people in our room and have long discussions about movies and music. The highlight though were the five of us nearly ripping this poor boy apart because he said that you played Beer Pong with a paddle. The sad part was that he was from Georgia. The shame of it.

SATURDAY:
Woke up way too early and spent most of this time contemplating life. Said goodbye to one of the roomies who left at 5:30am. Everyone woke up around 9 and we were out by 10:00. Erin and I walked with Mark to the station were he left to go to Amsterdam. Erin bought a ticket for a trip back to Verona and I bumped up my time. We had all day ahead of us and were now scheduled to leave Sunday, 7am.

Let me break down the day:

10:45. Leave the station after eating breakfast, saying by to Mark, and purchasing tickets. Walk back to hostel to check email, pick up map, etc.

11:30. See the famous "peeing boy" fountain. Eat a Belgium waffle topped with bananas, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. Nearly die of happiness. Take pictures of city hall and look inside chocolate shops.

11:40. Spilt a Brie and tomoato sandwich with Erin near City Hall after finishing the waffle, deciding that we need water and something else to cut through the sweetness we just inhaled. We both realize how exhausted we are and wonder what the hell is wrong with us.

12:00. Walk through a shopping gallery and Erin. Erin buys a bag, I buy yet another book (The Last King of Scotland). We are trying to stay warm but the weather has been shit all morning. We go off in search of a place to get a cup of tea and just to sit down and relax.

1:20. We pass by Chez Leon, a Rick Steve's recommended restaurant. We see the words "French Onion Soup" and, ignoring that we've already eaten way too much. We then proceed to eat a three course meal: soup, meat and potatoes, and dessert. It was amazing and I can personally say I almost threw up just thinking about how much we've eaten already.

3:00. Leave Chez Leon. Food adjusts and we are thankful we had so much time for some of our meal to digest. We are still extremely tired and agree to go back to the hostel to shower and take a nap.

3:40. We see H+M. Purchases are made.

4:10. We see Zara.

4:30. We see Mexx and Erin buys another bag.

5:00. We walk by the movie theater and decide that The Number 23 would be perfect and we buy our tickets. Upon reaching the hostel we relax for a while, but no naps. Erin realizes that we were given tickets to 300 instead due some botchy English exchange that occured at the theater earlier. We vow to see The Number 23 no matter what.

During this time we also meet our new roommates, two girls studying in London. Very nice and they reminded me a lot of Erin and myself. There is another bed made and I made the mistake of saying another girl was probably staying in the room. So of course a 60 year old Scottish man shows up, a bit embarassed to be in a room full of girls young enough to be his daughter. The awkwardness of the situation could have been cut with a knife.

7:00. Head to the theater and exchange our tickets.

7:45. Buy the worst tasting bags of M&Ms, watch the movie. On this note I will recommend everyone to see The Number 23. Fantastic film and I was really impressed with Jim Carrey. Erin said it reminded her a lot of Momento and I agreed.

9:30. Eat Pizza

10:30. Back to hostel. Old Scottish man isn't there and the girls are. We pack up and prepare for tomorrow. We have to get up at 5:30, made worse by the time change. Finally get to bed sometime after 11pm.

So in short the highlights of the trip: Andrew Bird, hanging out with people that spoke English as their native language, shopping, food, and a movie. Not a typical trip one would usually have in Brussels, but in the end I had a lot of fun. I don't think I've ever laughed so much during a three course meal.

The train ride back was just as nice as the one there. Erin is still in transit and should be arriving in Verona in about 4 hours. As soon as I got back I passed out until noon and have been in a cafe ever since. Tomorrow is the start of my last real "teaching" week at the school and I'm doing it all solo. My CT is actually heading to UGA for a conference while I'm here taking over her classes. All I have to do is make it to Friday and then it's Spring Break. Hello Paris, hello Italy, hello unspecified place at the end of week two. Then home three days after school starts up again.