{"id":1060,"date":"2011-04-24T13:22:13","date_gmt":"2011-04-24T20:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayivey.com\/wordpress\/?p=1060"},"modified":"2011-04-24T13:22:13","modified_gmt":"2011-04-24T20:22:13","slug":"spring-forward-day-36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com\/wordpress\/spring-forward-day-36\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>

Brussels, Belgium
\nApril 17, 2011<\/h2>\n

Day of Tourism<\/h3>\n
\"Les<\/a>
Les Lesbiens Belgique<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Let\u2019s just get this out of the way right here:\u00a0 The whole low carb thing is just going to take a beating while I\u2019m in Europe.\u00a0 Other than outright starvation and suicide, I don\u2019t see any way around that.\u00a0 I\u2019ll concentrate on recovering this summer in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\"It's<\/a>
It's a giant iron molecule! There's nine atoms, one for each province of Belgium, see, get it?!?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brussels if famous for five foods and beverages:\u00a0 Beer, mussels, chocolate, waffles and french fries.\u00a0 Today, in the interest of cultural literacy of course, I tried three of them (the first two will remain untried).\u00a0 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\u2019s woefully inadequate to the task at hand.\u00a0 I broke mine immediately, and so by the time I had finished the delicious treat, I was pretty messy.\u00a0 It was a sacrifice I was willing to make.<\/p>\n

French fries.\u00a0 Or, as they are called in this part of Europe, \u201cfrites.\u201d\u00a0 They\u2019re good, they\u2019re fine, but let\u2019s face it, they\u2019re just French fries.\u00a0 Nothing you can\u2019t get great examples of in the States.<\/p>\n

The chocolate is another matter.\u00a0 Oh, my.\u00a0 The tour I took today included a lecture and demonstration at a chocolatier.\u00a0 It was extremely informative and interesting.\u00a0 And there were free samples afterwards.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s European for \u201cbus\u201d) all over the place.\u00a0 We saw the Atomium, which was built for the 1958 World\u2019s Fair and is now considered the symbol of Brussels. We saw the royal palace, where all of the Belgian monarchs have lived (there haven\u2019t been that many of them; it\u2019s only been a country since 1830).\u00a0 We saw lots of other stuff, too.<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/a>
Inside this 18-meter-diameter sphere, I assume there are Belgians smoking.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the tour I went and got my required photo of the city\u2019s most famour article, the ridiculously over-famous Manneken Pis.\u00a0 Yeah, the small statue of a urinating boy.\u00a0 Fascinating.<\/p>\n

Took several rides on the Metro, the sparkling clean and easy to use (once you figure out the goddamned ticket machines) public transportation system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was taking pictures like mad, naturally.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 A few snaps in, I felt a tapping, as if someone gently rapping, rapping on my elbow.\u00a0 It was and extremely polite policeperson, who explained to me that there was a 500 euro fine for taking photos in the subway.\u00a0 \u201cReally?!?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cYes, because of terrorisme.\u201d\u00a0 Okay, I get it.\u00a0 I apologetically assured him I would comply and he waived the ticket.\u00a0 I told this story to the IT guys in the office and they roared with laughter.\u00a0 They had never heard of such a fine.<\/p>\n

Cities You Feel Ridiculously Safe In<\/h4>\n
    \n
  • Brussels<\/li>\n
  • Tokyo<\/li>\n
  • Minneaoplis<\/li>\n
  • Geneva<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Average Rating: 4.5<\/span> out of 5<\/span> based on 251<\/span> user reviews.<\/span><\/div><\/p>

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