Day 2, Monday 09.15.08

In the Amsterdam airport, we imbibe some STRONG coffee to wake up a bit. Strong. No amount of sugar could cut through the bitterness for Kimberly. Chris likes his coffee strong and black, and even he was choking it down with some difficulty. 9:20am flight to Brussels.

Delayed.

Are you shitting me? At least it was delayed just a half hour, so at 9:50 we board the plane for the short jaunt to Belgium.

Newsflash: everyone in Europe smokes. Like a chimney. Like a four-alarm fire. We wait in line at the taxi stand amidst the throngs of Europeans smoking like they're about to face a firing squad. Cigarette butts litter the curb. A blue haze hangs in the air. Add to this the bonus of a colder than normal cold snap and these two Americans wonder just what the hell they're getting into.

We finally get to the front of the line, and enter our cab. A spacious black Mercedes. Funny. All the cabs were Mercedes. Even with the "no smoking" decal on the dash, the cab reeked of cigarettes. A mini-tour of Brussels from the cabbie resulted in our arrival at the Queen Anne Hotel at noon. Our home for 4 nights that we nicknamed the "Charlie Brown hotel" or "the little hotel that could". Our room was not much larger than a dorm room. Tiny. But quaint. We enjoyed our stay, but giggled at the simplicity of it all.

First on the agenda: a nap. 4:30pm we wake up and freshen up. What to eat for dinner? Chris (of course) has plotted out some beer-centric spots to hit that also serve food for the non-beer-drinker Kimberly. First? A little 30-minute saunter over to a place called Le Bier Circus. One of Chris's travel bibles, Tim Webb's Good Beer Guide Belgium, listed the hours as open on Mondays. We finally make our way there and....closed. Seriously? Closed Mondays. But, but, but, the book says you should be open!!! On our way back, we pass a little place that looks like "The Pie Hole" in the ABC television show Pushing Daisies, (just look at the picture!) but their menu is mainly seafood and Kimberly's not in the mood.

We stumble upon a spot that is also in the Belgian guide, A La Mort Subite, "sudden death". A Brussels "dive" and beer hall. We stop in anyway, and Kimberly has some more strong coffee; this time it's tasty. A free chocolate treat with the java! Kimberly likey. A big thing in Belgium is the "sausage and cheese plate", so we got one. Delicious salami, sharp cheese, tiny pickles, and little round white onions. Yum! Kimberly even tried a beer. Not just smelled it. Tasted it. Imbibed it. Drank it. A kriek (lambic beer on cherries) that she found most delicious. Even garnered a "I would drink a whole one of those" comment. It helped that it tasted like a wine cooler and not so much like beer, but it was a positive beer experience nonetheless.

After A La Mort Subite, we walked towards the main square and had our first official Belgian waffle from a stand. So warm and delicious. If we lived in Brussels we would be 350 pounds each on a steady diet of warm delicious Belgian waffles. Wow. And the mind-boggling selection of toppings! Yum!


We then make our way to the "Grand Place", the town square where the government buildings and guilds are housed. Gorgeous. One of our travel guides says to visit at night to experience its grandeur lit up. We didn't read this tidbit until after we did it. What a sight. Beautiful. Our first day in Europe, pretty much awake continuously for over 24 hours, a long long time outside of our little nap, was successful. This is going to be fun!