Outside the Delirium Cafe.
Cafes at night.
Mort Subite - the famous meeting spot.
The Belgian Beer Festival starts! Extremely well attended by people from all over the world.
The Grand Place in Brussels on my first day.
The Beer Festival at Dusk.
-------------------------------------------
Made it to Brussels. No problems whatsoever. All of my flights were on time, even early, which was a first. The flight from New York to Brussels had a 100 knot tail wind so the pilot said we were traveling at the top speed for the aircraft and would arrive about 1/2 hr early - they seemed to want to take advantage of it. Arrived at the hostel around 9:00 am and was able to check in early, and then slept until about 2:00, which was nice because I could not sleep on the flight. Got up and left the hostel around 3:00 and got my cell phone hooked up (thanks for loaning me the phone Olga and Vladimir). My number is 0489-524-707 if anyone needs to call I will have it with me. I think you need to dial 011 first to get international access. And then from there I'm not exactly sure. Deniz called me successfully so you can call her first at 400-4857 to find out what she did.
Walked around for a while to get my bearings and had a delicious gueuze at La Mort Subite - a bar that is about 100 years old and was full of character and Friday happy hour drinkers. Great old architectural atmosphere with large windows, but was full of nasty smoke and I started to get a headache. Wandered for a while longer and eventually found a cafe called the Delirium Cafe which is a very famous Brussels beer spot. There are a few levels to it and the basement bar supposedly carries over 2000 beers - reputed to be a world record.
Walked down to the Grand Place which is the old center square of Brussels. Brussels reminds me of a European version of Istanbul. Kind of worn around the edges with winding streets and a mix of old, even ancient, architecture, and modern stores and pedestrian bustle. The center is very nice and retains a sense of the old city charm. There are unique and wonderful pubs and restaurants about every 100 feet and the streets are narrow and constructed from cobblestone. I had a pizza on the main square in one of the many brasseries and then briefly attended the Belgian Beer Weekend festival taking place in the Grand Place. It was packed to the gills with about 60 Belgian brewers represented. All beer was served in proper glassware with the name of each particular beer on each glass. It was kind of funny because it was so packed you could hardly walk, but everyone was holding their fancy glasses and trying not to spill the beer. In Iowa I'm sure everything would have been served in plastic cups. Will try that again tomorrow. A wonderful evening as dusk approached. A little rain to cool things off. Brussels is everything I had hoped it would be. Tomorrow more exploration.
