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Bonjour!!!
It's been a few days since I've posted. Brace yourselves... lots of pictures.
On Thursday, we took the train to Kaiserslautern, an area that reminded me of Carytown/downtown Richmond -- boutiques, cafes, busy sidewalks, etc.
I swear I'm a 5 year old trapped in a 20 year old's body.
Then, Belgium happened. I don't think I've ever done and seen so much in one weekend. We stayed in Brussels, the capital of both Belgium and the EU. Brussels is historically dutch-speaking, but the city has seen a major shift to French (hence the French greeting at the beginning of the post!) ever since the country's independence. You'll see a lot of road signs and street names written in both languages.
We passed 10 Aston Martins on the way to Brussels. Such sexy cars.
Delirium Villa/Village is a popular alley of bars in Brussels. We went to Delirium Cafe, a bar known for its long beer list, standing at 2,004 different brands as recorded in the The Guinness Book of Records.
Kriek lambic, a Belgian beer made by fermenting lambic with sour Morello cherries. Best beer I've ever had.
We walked over to the Grand Place, or Grote Markt, the central square of Brussels. It is one of the city's most famous landmarks and is a UNESCO World Heritage site (second one we've seen in the past 3 days, that we know of anyway).
Now, Brussel's most famous landmark of all... Manneken Pis, a 2-foot-tall bronze statue of a boy taking a piss. The legends behind it are as silly as the statue itself. However, the Belgians take this thing very seriously. There's even a non-profit called The Friends of Manneken-Pis that reviews hundreds of costume designs submitted each year and choose only a small number to be worn by the boy statue.
Finally we got to enjoy Brussels bustling nightlife.
Coolin' it like locals.
On our second day in Belgium, we tried some Belgian chocolate and then we trained over to Ghent. It just so happened that it was the first day of Gentse Feesten, the biggest festival in all of Europe. This year was the festival's 170th anniversary. I could tell just by the atmosphere that these people have so much love for their city and for each other.
Sunrise from our hotel window.
Cranberry pistachio dark chocolate.
The first thing we did is bought greasy food from one of the trucks at the festival. Belgian fries topped with chili and a Bicky Burger.
Some pictures from the festival's parade...
Also in the city of Ghent is Gravensteen, a castle from the Middle Ages (built in 1180 by count Philip of Alsace). This castle was different from the last one we saw in that the castle housed many of the original torture devices used during the Middle Ages. As screwed up as it sounds, I really dig seeing that kind of stuff.
View of the fest from the top of the tower.
Newlyweds taking their wedding pictures in the castle. :)
A legit castle dungeon.........
After the castle tour, we got to experience more of the fest!
Guys have it so easy.
Jupiler: the Bud Light of Belgian beers.
Graffiti Street.
We got to listen to some amazing live music. Notice how the kids aren't holding iPads or cellphones... Ahhhh the simplicity (or maybe just normalcy) of the European lifestyle.
The Belgian Trifecta: waffle, fries, and beer.
Some interesting things I've learned/seen today...
1. We were present for an epic part of Belgian history today. Crown Prince Philippe was sworn in as the new King of Belgium. Long live the King (I don't know if people actually say that)!!!
Stay tuned for my next post..... I think it'll be good.
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