Brussels, Belgium
April 17, 2011

Day of Tourism

Let’s just get this out of the way right here:  The whole low carb thing is just going to take a beating while I’m in Europe.  Other than outright starvation and suicide, I don’t see any way around that.  I’ll concentrate on recovering this summer in Los Angeles.

Brussels if famous for five foods and beverages:  Beer, mussels, chocolate, waffles and french fries.  Today, in the interest of cultural literacy of course, I tried three of them (the first two will remain untried).  The waffle was delicious, but the standard utensil you get with a street waffle in Brussels is this plastic, pixie-sized fork/shovel thing that’s woefully inadequate to the task at hand.  I broke mine immediately, and so by the time I had finished the delicious treat, I was pretty messy.  It was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

French fries.  Or, as they are called in this part of Europe, “frites.”  They’re good, they’re fine, but let’s face it, they’re just French fries.  Nothing you can’t get great examples of in the States.

The chocolate is another matter.  Oh, my.  The tour I took today included a lecture and demonstration at a chocolatier.  It was extremely informative and interesting.  And there were free samples afterwards.

I took a 3-hour comprehensive Brussels 101 tour, which started in Le Grand Place, the baroque heart of the city, and then motored us by coach (that’s European for “bus”) all over the place.  We saw the Atomium, which was built for the 1958 World’s Fair and is now considered the symbol of Brussels. We saw the royal palace, where all of the Belgian monarchs have lived (there haven’t been that many of them; it’s only been a country since 1830).  We saw lots of other stuff, too.

After the tour I went and got my required photo of the city’s most famour article, the ridiculously over-famous Manneken Pis.  Yeah, the small statue of a urinating boy.  Fascinating.

Took several rides on the Metro, the sparkling clean and easy to use (once you figure out the goddamned ticket machines) public transportation system. 

I was taking pictures like mad, naturally.  While strolling through the Hot Middle Eastern Guy District (look it up), I descended into the Compte de Flandre Metro station and started taking photos of the cool art in the tunnel.  A few snaps in, I felt a tapping, as if someone gently rapping, rapping on my elbow.  It was and extremely polite policeperson, who explained to me that there was a 500 euro fine for taking photos in the subway.  “Really?!?”  “Yes, because of terrorisme.”  Okay, I get it.  I apologetically assured him I would comply and he waived the ticket.  I told this story to the IT guys in the office and they roared with laughter.  They had never heard of such a fine.

Cities You Feel Ridiculously Safe In

• Brussels
• Tokyo
• Minneaoplis
• Geneva