Saturday, 6 August 2011

Brussels

After popping some DF and chilling for an hour on the net myself and Marcos headed into the city. The hostel I'm now in is really central. Unfortunately the check in place is miles from the hostel and once I got there I was told check in was after 4pm. Fortunately they let me leave my bag in the reception. Myself and Marcos went to a cheap chinese restaurant then the Atomium, the iconic structure of Brussels that is shaped like an atom.

The views from the top were good and I thought the museum was o.k. Marcos was disappointed with the Atomium. Although the structure of the building and it's name is based on discoveries in Physics here was nothing physics related in the museum, it was all about the world expo of 1958 and Belgian immigration.

After this we went back to my hostel to check in. It took half an hour!!! The poor receptionist had to answer all the phone calls and deal with all the check ins and deal with the customers wanting to borrow pens etc. She was well overworked but still managed to keep a smile on her face. Myself, a french/canadian JD, an englishman and an aussie called Cameron all got checked in at the same time then had a walk to the hostel we were staying in. Marcos departed then the 4 of us plus another canadian (walter) had a little wander about the city then a few drinks in the square. They light up the main square at night and synchronise the lights to music. It's pretty cool. I wouldn't say Brussels is my favourite city in the world but that was definitely worth seeing.

We then went to a bar that had over 25 beers on tap and a beer menu the size of an argos catalogue. Belgian beer is very varied. They have all different kinds of flavours with fruit extracts in them and they vary greatly in alcohol percentage. We also went to a chipper that sold frites with 65 different types of sauces. I ordered salsa diabla but got peri peri because the guy in the shop was too wimpy to open the new bottle after Cameron used all that was left of the previous bottle. I should have complained and demanded that he open it just to watch his face suffer.

My opinion of Brussels has improved. The sunshine today certainly helped. There's loads of windy little streets with old quaint buildings and outdoor cafe's. I had washed my clothes last night and decided to wander about with my t-shirt in my hand to help dry it. (I was too embarrassed to walk about holding a pair of boxers). After a bit of sightseeing we had lunch in a Belgian restaurant then I went to a park on my own to read my chinese book and get the rest of my clothes dried off. Unfortunately it started pouring down 20 minutes later. I headed for a pavillion until the rain stopped. That seems to be the place where the wayward youth of Brussels hang out. With a fragrance of fine Moroccan skunk in the air, I watched several dance off's and freestyling french rap competitions. It wasn't how I had hoped the day would turn out but interesting never the less. My flip flops have no grip at all so i nearly killed myself on numerous occasions on the wet pavement whilst walking home. I'll hopefully have dry boxers within the next day or so.

I've had one coffee in two days but still smoking quite a bit. ciao for now.

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