Bea's B & B, the breakfast room. One of the oldest parts of the house and unchanged from the original.
Doors leading from the Great Room.
Bea outside the front door just before she took me to the train station. We were in a hurry to catch the 10:30 am to Brussels.
A popular Brussels chocolatier - Neuhaus.
Inside a fancy and very large bookstore near the center.
View into a corner restaurant at night.
A table awaits outside a small restaurant in the Galerie de la Reine - a sort of covered mall that looks about 100 years old with large granite columns.
Another restaurant with what looks like a statue of Medusa.
Another restaurant tuck under a building in the Grand Place.
Street scene at night.
The Grand Place.
Statue on the front of the Hotel de Ville in the Grand Place.
Another view of the Hotel de Ville in the Grand Place.
People waiting in line for ice cream. Just like anywhere in the world.
Another street scene.
A restaurant that is a la carte - the food comes by on a conveyor belt and you just pick off what looks good.----------------------------------------------------
Crap - It's Thursday and I'm back in Iowa and just noticed that I did not fill in this day so here goes......... if it gets weird its just the jet lag kicking in, right now its 4:30 am in Brussels.
Got up early to the best breakfast yet. Bea had prepared all kinds of sliced meats, cheeses, breads, fruit, and cereal. I decided to pig out so I could save on lunch later by skipping it. Bea informed me that there was a 10:30 am train so we decided to try to make it at 10:22 am. We drove quickly to the station and I hopped out and said a quick goodbye. The ticket guy told me to buy a ticket on the train so I ran out with another British guy and hopped on with a minute or two to spare. The train ride was about 1.5 hrs long. My room at the hotel was not ready so I put my bag in the store room and headed to the Internet cafe to download photos. After that I headed off to look for beer and chocolates. I had intended all along to ship back a case or more of beer but the guy at Beer Mania (bottle shop) basically talked me out of it. He said shipping to the US was a bad deal at 200 Euros (about $300) to ship 30 - 33cl bottles. Ouch - $10 per bottle just to get them back home. I decided to downsize and just get a few to pack in the suitcase.
I walked back to the hotel and checked in. I had the best room at the hotel yet. A single with universal design standards - meaning it was equipped for handicapped access with a very large bathroom and bed area. Very comfortable.
Decided to go back to the first place that I had dinner again - Pao Leon in the Grand Place. As I sat down to order it started to rain. The waiters raised all of the umbrellas at the tables and then the wind gusted up and ripped one of the umbrellas out of it's holder and up into the air. It floated down and crash landed on one of the tables. That was the que for everyone to head inside and the waiters seemed annoyed because everyone was all mixed up and some of the orders were as well. After dinner I headed back to the Delirium Cafe for one last beer there. They do know their business and were busy as usual. After that I walked around and took a bunch of night photos. I have just figured out how to take good photos without using the flash by setting the ISO to auto high. I was really happy with the results. The only blurry parts were the people who were moving, which I think is a nice effect anyway.
