Mussels in Brussels
Trip Start
May 22, 2005
1
6
107
Trip End
Jan 22, 2006
Brussels,
Belgium
Friday, June 3, 2005
We awoke in Brussels there to eat mussels (moules-frites is the national dish; a great combination that we grew to love on our trip to Paris a few years ago). Everything in Europe is so close together--we were in London looking at the Buckingham Palace in the morning and at night we were in a cafe in Brussels eating mussels and fries and Belgian waffles for dessert.
Upon arrival at our hotel, our overly friendly manager kept insisting that Brussels is the "capital of Europe". We nodded politely and chalked it up to Belgian pride, thinking, "Sure, 'capital' of Europe." We later discovered that Brussels is actually the headquarters for the EU
01 - Moules-Frites and Belgian Beer--Happy!
. Touché.The French and now Dutch rejection of the EU constitution has dominated the news since we arrived in Europe. It is interesting to be at the centre of the EU during this time of uncertainty as to its future. The Euro has also hit an 8-month low due to the uncertainty--woohoo!
Belgium is also famous for its chocolates and its beer. On our first night here, we visited Neuhaus and bought some delicious pralines which were apparently invented by Neuhaus's grandson.
With the exception of a German enclave in the east, Belgium is divided linguistically almost in half--the Flemish in the north who speak Flemish (*ahem* excuse me) and the Walloons in the south who speak French. We were quite disappointed to find out that the Walloons are not French oompah-loompahs.
We enjoyed the chance to practice our rusty French. "Excusez-moi, je ne veux pas manger le grand bloc de fromage."
Brussels is very charming and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly here.
(Update on our backpacks: Paul has wimped out and bought a rolling duffle to carry his heavy stuff. Paul regrets bringing the emergency bricks. Mel continues to stay the course with her backpack and will probably develop humungous guns and insist on being called "Gunner". Mel's legs are growing stronger. She is becoming absurdly bottom-heavy and from far away she looks like a little girl riding a horse.)
