Brussels and Antwerp

Below this is the post about Amsterdam, and below that pictures are up for Copenhagen and Stockholm. Check 'em all out!

If you read back to the Paris entry, perhaps you will remember two girls I met in Paris named Elli and Klara (Klara gave me the tour of paris and the three of us went to the top of the hill overlooking all of Paris). Before I left Klara offered to give me a bed if I was ever in their area. Well, I took up Klara's offer and met her in Antwerp for a two day mega-tour of Brussels and Antwerp.

The trains were a bit screwed up at first, but I eventually did find her at the station. She told me that she could tell pretty quick that I was different that when I was in Paris. "I think your energy is gone, Mr. Rickenbach" Indeed. After almost seven weeks of traveling, I think I am ready to pass out. Nevertheless, she took me on a two hour walking tour over all of Antwerp at night. They have some really cool statues, including one of a man who killed a giant by throwing a human hand at him (ask me for the history of this - I have been educated in this matter). The city was really nice at night, but I was really tired and ready to go to bed, so we headed back.

Her parents were having some people over, but they were leaving as I arrived. Luckily for me, they had quite a bit of leftover paella, so I was able to fill my stomach before eventually drifting off to bed in her brother's old room.

The next morning we set out for Brussels. I told Klara I wanted three things that I believed to be exclusively Belgian: french fries (go figure), mussels and waffles. As long as I could consume those three foods during my stay in Belgium, my trip would be complete. The paella had mussels in it, so I was already way ahead of the curve when we went to Brussels. Her parents were working, so we took bicycles to the local trains station (the town of St. Niklaas, by the way). Apparently a lot of people ride bikes here.

We arrived in Brussels and spent the next few hours exploring the city. Everything from the town hall to the Palais du Justice to the little boy peeing - we saw it all. The most beautiful section of Brussels had to be the city square where the town hall was. It was really great.

We had worked up quite an appetite walking around, so we went to get some Belgian fries and nasty microwaved meat from a small diner type place. After eating solid grease and having a discussion about Belgian politics in french with the cook (I was really not a part of this at all), Klara took me to Delirium Cafe, a place that prides itself on serving over 2,004 different kinds of beer. We had a pretty good time there and we met some girls from Spain. I tried practicing my Spanish with them, but I didn't go that well. They told me it was good, but looking back, I'm not so sure. I was believing anything the gorgeous brunette was telling me at that point...

Elli gave us a call at that point and told us to meet her in fifteen minutes. Neither of us had seen her since Paris, so we were both excited to meet again. After a farewell to the Spanish girls (my low point of the night) we went out to meet Elli. Sure enough, she found us and we had a pretty good time just talking and laughing for a while. The best part was that we met right next to a van selling waffles (it's not as shady as it sounds, believe me). I ordered a "Banana Split Waffle" (or so I thought...it was in French) but to my horror I recieved a plain old banana split with a stupid little wafer waffle stuck on it. I couldn't believe it. I used up my last bit of pocket change for some crappy sundae. I HATE SUNDAES! Luckily there was an American behind me in line and I offered him 1.50 for it (a steal since it was 3.20). He bit and I got a nice crispy waffle glazed in caramel when I went back. My dining experience in Belgium was now complete. Turns out he was an under cover cop in NYC and had been to a few Maryland football games before.

We had to take the train back so our reunion with Elli was short-lived. We had some confusion when we got to the station because we thought that we had missed the last train to St. Niklaas and that her parents would have to pick us up from Antwerp, but it was not the case and we got to the station in time to ride our bikes through the country-side at night before completely passing out after such an exhausting day. The bike ride at night was really beautiful, though. The area is really flat so the sky was enormous.

Well, and that leaves me here, updating my blog on a sleepy Saturday morning. Back to London today!

But before I go, I must leave you with one interesting thing that falls off the list of most tourists. Everyone, and I mean everyone, goes to see that peeing boy...But how many have seen the peeing girl? Count me in for that one.