Beer Tour: Brussels

This is a Chandelier which is in the main Opera theater of Brussels. In this theater there was a play like in the 1600s or something like that where the plot was about a revelotion. In addition to the play, there was already talk about possibly starting a revolution. After this play there was so much energy an enthusiam about the idea of a revolution that they ran out after the play and actually started a revolution. Fun fact but 1600s could be really off.

This is the main building in Grand Place. After the architect made it he went to the top and through himself off commiting sucicide becuase he thought no one would like it. Turns out it was a hit.













The famouns small peeing statue
The famous good luck statue
The Roy L'Espagne is the far right
The buildings on the right are the old guilds of the industries. Currently only one is still usd adn its the brewery guild. It is the most elaborately decorated one.



The night before I went to Brussels I was up really late so I could post the long awaited updates on my blog. I had to get up really early the next morning for my flight. I arrived in Brussels and took a bus to get to the metro which I then took to the Van Gogh Youth Hostel in Chab. Brussels is a large city but is really made up of just different towns/neighborhoods and one also needs papers for each different neighborhood to do small things even like renting a movie. It seems strange but I guess it works. Another strange but intuitive thing in Brussels is that they have what they call Nite Shops. The name pretty much tells it all. Its open only and night and you can get whatever one would want at night aka junk food and booze. Finally, Brussels or Belgium has three National languages Dutch, French, and German. So this can make things very confusing. My Hostel was located near the metro stop Botanique. It is near this park and green house which is right outside the city center (5-10 min walk). I lived near my friend Nicky and my friend MP’s boyfriends place where she was at all the time since she lived an hour outside the city.

That day I put my stuff in the hostel and hit the town. I walked to a place to get free internet so I could make sure everything was going alright via email. I got in touch with my friends and we said to meet in a nearby plaza. Three hours later we met up. During that time I ate a doner, shopped around (found a scarf that looks like the one on the Ewan McGregor cologne bottle), and checked out the local streets getting a mental map of the city. I also coordinated via the free internet place to get more money on my phone via Laura, because turns out no one can add money on their phone if out of the country. After my friends and I met up we walked around and they showed me the sights like the Grand Place (like a huge plaza or square), this random statue that everyone touches its arm for good luck because it fell off and miraculously “grew” back, and I saw the Manneken Pis (the face of Brussels) which is a small boy pissing. At the time we saw him dressed in an orange pimp colored suit. I guess they dress him up from time to time and there is even a museum dedicated to his costumes. On that same corner I had my first Brussels beer (in Belgium) which was great. There Nicky, MP and I caught up and discussed the night’s plan. Our other friend Maureen or “Big Mo” as we call her (no worries it is not mean she is actually really small and skinny) was not there because she tutors a Moroccan family in English and I guess they love her so much that she sometimes stays the night. After the beer I walked Nicky back to her place and she was surprised and embarrassed that I could get around the city better than she could. That night we went to eat some dinner at an Indian Restaurant where Nicky ordered the best dish called something like Chicken Marsala. We ate with Nicky’s boyfriend Dan and his friends who were studying abroad in France. After the great meal we went to the most famous and most touristy bar in town called Delirium Café. This had some 2000 beers on draft and is a world record. I had some beers and one time Nicky and I wanted to get adventurous. So we asked for the huge book with all the names of the beers. We looked at it and were overwhelmed so to help make the decision easier I said I would flip to a random page and pick a beer from that page for her and vice versa. Even that was overwhelming so we changed it from I pick a beer that starts with J for Nicky, and Nicky picks a beer that starts with N for me. We ended up getting bottles that had dust on them they were so old haha. They were also years passed the expiration date. We drank them and they were okay, but it was fun nonetheless. Then the group headed across the street to a 3 in one bar. Each area was different. One was Absinthe, one was beer, and one was hard liquor. We had some Absynth and MP’s boyfriend loved emphasizing words and was acting very American trying to get everyone drunk as can be. I did not get that drunk and took a taxi back with the crowd to the hostel.

The next morning, I woke up to social hour in the morning when I could have been sleeping. We had to be out by 10 am in the hostel for cleaning. I walked all around and went to the activities of European Day. European Day is just a day where the public can enter the EU buildings and there are a bunch of festivities as well such as concerts. In case you did not know Brussels is the Capital of the EU. I went to EU Parliament and Royal Palace by myself. At the EU parliament I sat in on a debate mainly discussing how to deal with China and their position with Tibet’s sovereignty. I wanted to listen to it in Spanish but there was not a translator in the Spanish box. It must have been siesta time haha. I picked up a lot of free stuff that was in English. Not everything was in English which was a shame, especially the things on the environment. I also had a fake picture taken with the President of the EU (the Czech Republican President as well) just for fun. I then went to the building which housed the economic departments of the EU and something else, but I forget. Here I got some info on opinions on different topics and they also had like a culture thing set up to promote tourism and inform people about different areas of the EU. Then I met up with the crowd in some park with a big arch called the Cinquantenaire. We went to the top of the arch. I ate my first waffle. Then we hit up the first ever small business/entrepreneurship tent. This was cool and I got some good material. I would LOVE it if they had this in the States. Then we went to the European Commission. This covered more the rights of EU citizens and such and also the language barriers in the EU. This was specifically cool for MP and Big Mo since they are dual citizens and it all applied to them. It was crowed though and I lost everyone and ended up watching these multi-lingual kids perform. Finally, I saw someone I knew and met Dan’s friends to get some famous fries. Afterwards, I walked home even though my knee started hurting. We all met up that night, got some dinner and beer at a local grocery store, and headed to the park right outside the royal palace for a concert. We hung out and talked a lot. Luckily I was a guy and did not have to pay to pee there. Brussels is big on making you pay for bathrooms. At the end of the concert there were these crazy fireworks accompanied by even crazier music. Afterwards, my friends’ friends took us to their house outside the city center. We played beer pong (first time since back home and I hit my first cup). Hung out and were driven back home (no worries by a sober driver).

The Next morning I woke up to the sun, which was an awesome surprise since it was supposed to rain all day. I checked out and walked to the justice building and then through this cool neighborhood to see some markets. I also tried finding this kilometer long table of food (my friends told me about it). The lady at the front desk of my hostel had no idea what I was talking about and directed me basically to the ghetto where there were some cool markets. I explored more and realized I was off my map so I made sure to get back to a metro and I went back to the city center to meet up with my friends after some delicious chocolate, lunch, and beer. Here I found the kilometer long table. Turns out its just a table where you can bring food to sit and eat at, it was not actually a kilometer long table of food. My friends can be a little dumb even though they are quite smart and basically are all fluent in French. That day, we watched some concert that had these groups perform like 2-4 songs and then get off. We then proceeded to get some beer in the oldest bar in the Grand Place Roy D’Espagne. We met some expat from Nike from Amsterdam. Afterwards we said our goodbyes and I headed back to get the subway and then the train to catch my flight.

Also in Brussels, the people there drive everywhere and have roundabout which the people yield to the people entering the roundabout which complete nullifies the advantage of a roundabout.