Day 4: Brussels

  This morning, our tour group headed to Brussels.  It's a 30 minute train ride, and we had our own cabin reserved.  These were hanging on all of the windows:

  Brussels is the capital of Belgium, and the headquarters of the European Union.

  We went to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, where a museum guide was waiting for us.  She led us on a 90 minute tour of some of the highlights.

  She did a great job of explaining the hidden symbolism in some of the paintings.  In this next one, the markings on the bench, the flowers, the candles, and the broom hanging on the wall all have symbolic meanings:

  Back out on the streets of Brussels we stopped to see its most famous resident:

  This is "Mannekin Pis", translated as "Little Man Pee" in Dutch.  He's been there since 1619.  He is occasionally dressed up in special outfits, to honor different groups/sports teams/charities.  His likeness is everywere in the souvenier shops.  You can even buy chocolates of him:

      Brussels' "Grand Place" is it's town square.  Imagine all four sides looking like this:

  And the streets around it are loaded with food and chocolate shops:

      Brussels is famous for french fries, which actually originated here.  (The "french" part refers to how they're cut.)  There are french fry stands EVERYWHERE... a few on every block.  We went to one that our guide recommended, and this was our lunch:

    BEST FRIES EVER!  Crispy on the outside and hot and soft inside.  They have a very specific way of cooking them, in ox fat.  They do not eat them with ketchup -  they dip them in mayo instead.  We got a variety of sauces - mayo, roquefort cheese, garlic and pepper, and something called "samurai", which was very spicy.

  Our dinner was not any more nutritious.  We had one of the other things Belgium is known for - waffles!  They go crazy with the waffles here.  You can get them loaded up wih anything you want.

  Nat got chocolate and ice cream on hers.

  

  I got chocolate, strawberries, and #163 on the menu - "flambee."  When the waiter brought it to the table, he poured Grand Marnier on it and SET IT ON FIRE.  You can see a little of the flames here:

    We'll never be able to eat Eggos again.

  Then we headed back to Ghent and walked along the river.  We stopped in one of the more famous bars in town, "Het Waterhuis Ann De Bierkant."  In Belgian bars, there's a specific glass for each beer.  Each one is designed to bring out the best aspects of the beer... the aroma, where it hits your tongue, etc.  We blindly picked two different ones.  Mine, Gulden Draak, or "Golden Dragon", turned out to be 10.5% alcohol.

  ...and that's the last thing I remember.