Brussels is.. Home

Moving on to Monday (21st)--the day started a little bleak and dreary. This was the kind of weather we had been expecting for a couple days. It was chilly, windy, and very foggy out. Not exactly the best kinda of day for sight-seeing, but it was the hand we were dealt. Henry and I arrive at our meeting point in the city a bit early, but slowly people arrive. Around the time everyone has shown up, our tour bus arrives, and we all pack in for our guided tour. Francois, our tour guide and a couple girl's host-father, points the bus through the city, laying out the history of Brussels and Belgium. He is very knowledgeable, and it was a pleasure having him lead us around.

We passed several historical places and buildings through the course of the day, stopping at the Place Royale, in front of the Palace, by several embassies, and making trips into two different cathedrals, the Grand Place (Town Hall and Square), and around several shops and marketplaces. We also visited for a short amount of time the Atomium and the Cinquantenaire. 

Midway through the day, we stopped at Falstaff, a Belgian restaurant with a decent sized Belgian menu. I ordered rabbit, quite delicious, with a Hoegaarden. I'd had a Hoegaarden before back in the states, so I didn't bother with writing up all its information. After lunch we walked around a bit more, visiting the Grand Place, as well as largest cathedral in the city, the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula.


At the end of the day, most of us went to an old and prominent bar in Brussels called, À La Mort Subite, or Sudden Death. The bar was pretty busy, and the waiter seemed like one of the cantankerous old men you'd expect working/running a place like that, but he wasn't unfriendly, even making a couple jokes on the girls when they asked him a question. It was a nice place to go and grab a drink and spend time with some new friends.

The next day (Tuesday) was the start of our classes for the week at the ULB, Université libre de Bruxelles. The three classes focus on the European Union overall, European Union Security, and EU-US Relations. Dr. Birchfield teaches all three classes in a, more or less, blended fashion, so we learn about bits and pieces of all three subjects throughout the course of a lecture or a day. The first two days and Friday were all full-day sessions of lecture, extending into the late afternoon.

However, Thursday was only a half-day of lecture, because we went to a conference dealing with Belgian and EU citizens' issues. While I must admit I had an issue focusing during the first couple speaker's turns, I woke myself up and was very intrigued by the rest of the afternoon. After the conference, we stayed for a reception to chat and share a glass of wine with the speakers and audience members alike. I had quite the informative discussion with a German journalist about the strength of the EU, the Euro, and the idea of a European identity that may eventually outshine national identities. That evening was the first and only time thus far that Henry and I have experienced bad weather in Brussels, and it was finished before we made it off the metro.

Friday was the start of the Brussels Jazz Marathon, a three-day Jazz festival starting Friday that lead into a marathon on Sunday. Friday evening a decent part of our group went out to eat, find a drink, and listen to jazz for a good part of the night. Before the night was over, we went to watch the sunset over the Place Albert gardens. Afterwards, we went back down near the Grand Place to find a bar, which we did in a little hole in the wall bar. I ordered a Kwak for the first time, a beer that literally quacks at you as you break the bottom bubble of the glass.









That night ended from there, but the next day was a fun trip back into Brussels, starting with an African museum dedicated to the Congo, followed by the best fries in the world, and ending with Belgian waffles, chocolate, jazz, and beer. Somewhere along the line, Henry and I stopped at an Irish pub called Kitty O'Shea's, and we made it back to the house early enough to cook up a spaghetti dinner for ourselves.



The next day, Henry and I met a couple girls from the group, Yvonne and Chloe, at the Central Station for a trip back to Antwerp. Neither of them had been before, so we had to show them around. We arrived in Antwerp just before noon, took a walk around the Chinatown-looking area, then proceeded down towards the waterfront. We ended up back toward the main part of town and ate lunch outside at an Italian restaurant, and hung out after eating to watch the start of a bike race around the main square of town. After that we took the girls to the nice little bar we visited last weekend. We ordered a few beers and got the girls to drop a couple Euros in the box to get the musical wall playing.

We left before too long to walk around a small weekend market. We left there after a bit to get ice cream, then went back to the main area of town where there was a small festival occurring alongside the bike race. After we all finished our ice cream, we were planning on heading to the Ruben's museum. However, Chloe got distracted by a tent where you could play with clay for free, and shortly we all joined her. Unfortunately, we made it to the Ruben's museum about half an hour late, so from there we hopped a train back to Brussels, and parted ways once we made it back to the main station.

Monday (28th), Henry and I decided to sleep in as much as possible. I woke last, just a bit before noon, to the smell of hamburgers being cooked up on the stovetop. Breakfast/brunch was a medley of leftover foods from the fridge, including hotdogs, curry and rice, sloppy joes, and a bowl of mixed veggies. After lunch, we went to Leuven, a nearby small college town, to wander around and see the sights. We walked the city, went in a couple churches, and viewed the remains of Saint Damien, a Catholic Father canonized recently in 1995, who is native to Belgium. Later, we grabbed a beer at a nearby café, before heading home. We grilled out in the backyard for Memorial Day, which happened to share days
with the Belgian holiday of Pentecost this year. We played lawn games, grilled pork chops, drank beer, and had a good ol' American time. And I should take this time out to say how thankful I am for the American Armed Forces. Love and respect to every serving member, past, present and future.

Anyway, that's the past week in a nutshell, more or less. This week brings sight visits to NATO, SHAPE, and the European Commission. Also, my friend Alyssa is coming to visit for the week, and lands tomorrow morning! Alyssa did this trip last year, and pretty much recruited me for this year, so once she touches ground we're gonna have some fun.
Stay tuned for next time, hopefully it won't be so far out.


"I don't wanna make excuses, I don't wanna lie. I just gotta get loose" - Boston