You gotta be shitting me...

One last post. While Chris and I were sitting in the Keflavik airport in Iceland, guess who we ran into???

Our good friend Kim from high school! She was coming home from a week in London for business.

Can you believe that shit?

It was a great way to end the trip - reduces my anxiety when I fly with others. :)

Until next time - au revoir, auf wiedersehen, so long, farwell...

Goodbye Europe!

Last morning in Paris...slept in, got croissant and a bagette to finish the cheese we bought last night - a fabulous breakfast in bed.

Then went for a little walk to say goodbye to the Rue Cler. We will miss the Fromagerie the most!

We will definitely be back to Europe, and spend more time in certain places.

Pray for an uneventful trip home! Thanks for following along with our blog - I hope at least some of it was entertaining. See everyone soon!!

XOXO - Patty & Chris

Favorite things, and other thoughts...

Here is a quick run down of favorite things and some observations of our time in Europe:

- Favorite City Overall: Cologne - we both agree!
- Favorite Food (1 item): (P) Foie Gras at Le Petit Cler, (C) Goulash in St. Gilben
- Best Beer: (P) Schneider Weiss, (C)Ayinger Ur-Weisse at the Brewery
- Worst Food (1 item): (P) Potato soup on the Castles Tour, (C) Bratwurst...same tour
- Least poop on the street: Cologne
- Best transportation: Munich S-Bahn and U-Bahn
- Worst transportation: that fucking coffin of a train sleeper compartment overnight to Munich
- Best Dessert: Chocolate Petit Pots at Le Petit Cler - we both agree!
- Best thing overheard from another tourist: (P) The Austrailian guy on the castles tour, upon smelling someone smoking meat yelled, "Ummmmm...SCHWEINE!!"
- Best tour: Sound of Music tour - we both agree!
- Best cleavage: Munich...big boobs everywhere
- Best see-through shirts: Paris
- Most disturbing biking apparel: Flourescent green shorts, shoes, socks, helmet in Amsterdam
- Most proud moment: (P) Ordering a bagette and an eclair in French, (C) remembering where the gift shop in Salzburg was from memory after having been there once 9 years ago
- Least proud moment: (P) taking the bus up to Neuschwanstein...we could have walked, (C) he doesn't have one because he is apparently perfect
- Biggest meltdown: (P) Losing it in Cologne after a week of overwhelming travel, (C)sitting in that fucking coffin of a train compartment wanting to punch the conductor
- Best Couples Moment: Picnic in the Parc de Champ de Mars in the view of the Eiffel tower
- Worst Couples Moment: we haven't really had one, and for all of you that are saying, "Riiiggggggghhhhhhhhtttttttt..." I'm serious. Because you also know I would tell all.
- Funniest moment: (P) almost losing my eclairs as a gust of wind picked up and I had to lunge for them, (C) almost falling out of the Sound of Music tour van and knocking down two more tour attendees as he ran into a hotel to pee (tiny bladder)
- Best Hotel: Dom in Cologne, fantastic hotel, service, beautiful room
- Worst Hotel: Hotel du Cadran in Paris, but ONLY, ONLY, ONLY because the Wi-Fi sucks and you have to go into the hall for full bars - otherwise it is phenomenal
- Worst toilet: Amsterdam apartment - it had that weird shelf rather than just a bowl with water - think about it, gross
- Worst rule: Munich apartment - Chris was instructed to pee sitting down

Last Tango in Paris...

Well, tonight is our last night in Paris. We went out for dinner - shared a croque monsieur with a fried egg, picked up a bottle of wine and two eclairs and now are hanging out in our hotel room watching the French Open...in French.

I've decided that I've done a good job trying to speak French when I can. I have a new found respect for folks that have English as a second language, or as no language. It's very intimidating to be somewhere where you have no idea what anyone is saying, beyond words that everyone knows like "merci."

Even though I think I have done a good job, I have recollections of high school French class where I could read, write, and listen extremely well, but when I opened my mouth, I sounded like PeeWee Hermann: "Mare-See Blah Blah!!" Sorry to my French teacher Mr. B - it's all gone after all these years...however, Mr. B was my English teacher as well and I pride myself on having excellent grammar and speaking skills in my native tongue.

Paris is an incredible city - and the culture in Europe is amazing as well. Right now, I'm vowing to walk more, or even get my fat ass on my bike this summer, because frankly, after seeing these folks, Americans are really bloated gas bags.

So we will be back in Paris someday, spending more time just being here and being in the moment. Au revoir, Paris!

Smith Identity

Chris said to me the other day, in a serious voice, "Go to the middle of the Pont Neuf."

I asked what in the hell he was talking about, and he said, "It's from the Bourne Identity. He is in Paris and he says to some guy, 'Go to the middle of the Pont Neuf and take your coat off and I'll call you.'"

Then he said, "I never knew what that was."

I laughed out loud.

So here is us...on the Pont Neuf.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame was absolutely awe-inspiring. It was more incredible than I had imagined. We took a million pictures, and every corner I went around, there was more to it and more to take pictures of!

Just check out the pics!

After Notre Dame, we went to the French Deportation Memorial - a memorial to the 200,000 French people who were killed by the Nazis. The memorial was very moving. You go down a narrow stairway into a high walled structure, and the only openings are to the sky and a grate that lets you see the Seine. Even though Notre Dame is only a block away, you can't see anything but sky when you look up, and it is very sound deadening. There are 200,000 crystals inserted into a wall - one for each person murdered. Very moving. And very well done.

After that, we walked around quite a bit more before heading back toward the Musee d'Orsay for a tour. The line was L-O-N-G. So we didn't stay. Save it for next time!

St.Germain de Pres

We started our walking tour in the St. Germain de Pres neighborhood. Saw a number of churches, and did some shopping before lunch. Super cool vibe, lots of great stores, gagillions of cafes.

The weather was pretty good, cool and windy, and cloudy with pockets of blue sky and sun. So sometimes it was cold, but if you got into the sun you were OK. Definitely good weather for walking a long way.

The pictures are of churches that we just walked by.

The first one is St. Germain de Pres - the oldest church in Paris

The second is St. Sulpice, and the third is just some random church we walked by.

All were amazing. And built anywhere from 900 to probably 600 years ago. Unbelievable and beautiful. I was awestruck, and we hadn't even gotten to Notre Dame yet!!

Breakfast of Champions

Chris and I left early today for a day of walking tours of Paris. We stopped at a Boulangerie Patisserie, and I got (of course) une croissant chocolat. (Side bar - FP at work, you can edit my horrific French grammar and spelling later.) Chris got a caprese sandwich - both were fantastic and we were off for what was to turn out to be a day of 5.5 hours of walking around Paris.

Quick itinerary, specifics to come on other posts:

Morning - Left Bank Walking Tour, St. Germain de Pres area
Lunch - Pizza Positano
Afternoon - Historic Paris Walking Tour, Notre Dame, etc.
Early evening - wine, cheese, bread

GH - we need some SERIOUS working out when we get home. Although we have put probably 35-40 miles on our shoes on this trip, there has been NO strength training. We need to work the cheese and beer off quick!!

Ah...Paris...

Sat in the park at sunset drinking champagne and eating a bagette and eclair...what could be better? More days in Paris...that is what.

It's a small world after all...part deux

So the week before we left, Chris and I went out to dinner at a restaurant in our neighborhood called First Course on 56th and Chicago - by the Kowalski's.

We were sitting at a table next to an older couple, and when Chris had to take a call from his dad, we started chatting. We talked about going on our trip, and it turned out they were going on a London/Paris trip, and would be in Paris the same time we were.

So tonight Chris and I walked over to the Parc du Champ de Mars to sit in near the Eiffel Tower and have our champagne and eclair. When we were done, we were leaving and as we walked by some people sitting on a bench, I noticed they were speaking English. Something sounded familiar, and IT WAS THEM!! Their names are Paul and Carla and they were wonderful.

I said, "HEY! It's the First Course people!" And we talked to them for about 30 minutes until the Eiffel Tower lit up. They took our picture - see other post.

Can you believe that? In a city of millions, what are the odds we would run into people that we met briefly in a restaurant in our neighborhood??

Mon Dieu...

Chris and I shared the bottle of champagne from FP (thank you again) before dinner, and then went for dinner at Le Petit Cler. #1, I'm hammered. #2, it was FANTASTIC.

We shared:

1) A prosciutto and cheese on open toast sandwich
2) Terrine of fois gras with bread
3) Petit pot chocolat

Holy mother. It was the best meal I've had in Europe. Although we will both need to get our cholesterol checked immediately upon returning home.

We then stopped and picked up a bottle of champagne and "une bagette et un eclair chocolat." I was proud that I ordered the whole last part in French. Although they probably felt bad for me. Heading out in a bit to sit by the Eiffel Tower, a manger notre eclair chocolat et une bagette avec champagne.

La Tour Eiffel

And there she was...just around the block really. As beautiful as I imagined. The sky today was the brightest blue I feel like I've ever seen, and it was PERFECT for our first day in Paris.

We walked around quite a bit, but the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, and the Rue Cler.

It is everything I imagined and more...and two days is definitely not enough in Paris.

Oprah, Over and Out...FINALLY

Now for the non-Europe vacation part of the blog. I am so sick of CNN and BBC News. That is basically all you can get here in English. You'd think I would be really up on world news at this point, but alot has been discussed about Oprah.

Many of you know how much I loathe Oprah. And I don't even think "loathe" is an appropriate word to indicate my real hatred. However, after reading through a story on CNN.com about her last show, I think I can fully relate to what one person blogged:

"So long you bloated sack of estrogen."

Perfection.

Champagne? Oui!

Thanks to FP for the champagne that was waiting in our room when we got to our hotel!!

As a born and bred Parisien (sp?), he has been an amazing and outstanding resource for what to do, where to stay, and how to get the most out of Paris.

MERCI, mon ami!!

Paris Driving

I thought I had witnessed some crazy driving in Amsterdam, Brussels, and in Germany.

Those countries have NOTHING on Paris. On the way from the train station to the hotel in the taxi, I literally thought I was going to die.

There aren't any dividing lines on the street - maybe if there were, people might use them as a suggestion. As it is, I thought we were going to kill at least three people on scooters/motorcycles, and one pedestrian.

I have no idea how no one dies every 5 minutes. FP, my hats off to you man - if you can drive in this, you can drive everywhere.

Train to Paris

Well, the train was definitely better on the way from Munich to Paris. Certainly not the Four Seasons, but it was 50% bigger than the last compartment, and we did have our own private bathroom. That was good.

So, while I don't know that I will do that again, it certainly was an adventure I will not soon forget.

But I did forget to take pictures!!

Volcano? What volcano?

Many of you may be wondering why I haven't blogged about the volcano that erupted over Iceland since we are flying IcelandAir.

Let me make this clear: THERE IS NO VOLCANO AND NO IMPACT TO OUR TRAVEL PLANS.

Almost on our way to Paris...

We are just sitting at Starbucks waiting to board our overnight train to Paris. God willing it won't be like the last one.

And as a special treat, we have called the hotel in Paris and have asked them to have the shuttle pick us up - the shuttle is a driver who will be holding a poster with our name on it!! Total swank!! Thanks again to FP from work who is an awesome friend and who booked the hotel for us after scoping it out last Christmas.

Now THAT is anal.

Our apartment in Munich is really, really nice. Impeccably clean, big and roomy, fully equiped, very well maintained. And it is that way because of the owners. She is quite anal and has rules to follow when you stay there. But frankly, we thought, whatever, as long as it is clean, what do we care?

Then this picture was on the toilet in the bathroom. Poor Chris.

It's a small world after all...

So for our last day in Munich, we went on a brewery tour of the Ayinger Brewery. Ayinger Ur-Weisse and Brau-Weisse just happen to be two of my favorite beers, and I think NJST and TL like them alot too.

Well, we hoofed it to the brewery (after a 45 minute train ride), going the long way around in the blazing sun (now it was GORGEOUS weather today, but not used to the sun yet, so we were sweaty).

When we got there, I walked up and said my name and she said that the tour was in German, and I said, no problem.

Then an older man said, "Are you Patty?" And I said, "Yes, do I know you?"

He laughed and said that they asked him and his wife if they were the Americans under my name. We got to talking and they are staying at the apartments we are staying at!! Now come on, what are the odds.

They were SO nice. Rich and Liz are a retired couple from North Carolina, like to travel, and were spending the week in Munich. At the same apartments! We spent most of the day with them, eating lunch and talking.

Now, you are all going to think this is mean, but it was so nice to talk to someone other than Chris, and he said the same thing. And it was so nice to just talk to people on a shared topic.

So there you have it. It really is a small world, on many fronts.

Salzburg and the Sound of Music Tour

Yesterday we got up at 4:00 am, and took the train to Salzburg. It was a beautiful day after some early morning showers, and I actually got a little sunburned!

Salzburg is great - and one day there is definitely not enough time. Especially when the SOM tour took 5 hours. We almost missed it, because it was a 30 minute walk from the Hauptbahnhof (train station) to the pick up place. We walked by it, then found it, then had to go get cash. She was ready to pull away as we were racing up.

But we made it - there we are next to the gazebo!

The tour itself was good - a little cheesy, but lots of information on the movie and the real Von Trapp family. The alpine villages we stopped at were simply beautiful. Chris is sleeping so I can't remember any of the names of the villages...

It was a good day, but hot and tiring. We got home, ate at Ayinger off the Marienplatz, and then came back to the apartment to pack, get organized, and pass out!

We are checking out today, heading to the Ayinger brewery for a tour, hanging in Munich, then off to Paris on the night train. And it better be right this time or I will really be pissed.

King Ludwig's Castles

We took a giant tour bus on Sunday to visit three of King Ludwig's castles: Linderhof, Hohenschwangau, and Neuschwanstein.

Side bar - there were four kids from Minneapolis on the bus. One guy lived around 22nd and Colfax. Small world...

There was also a woman and a guy from Chicago and Chris and I were trying to figure out their story. They were obnoxious. I thought she was his mom, Chris though his older sister. She worked for United. I'm not really sure who she was, but at one point she said, "Are your parents going to be mad at me for taking you." And then he said, very firmly, "I'm 22 years old. They are mad at me because I'm not calling them." Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........

OK, back to the castles...

We actually got to tour Linderhof and Neuschwanstein, but didn't have time for Hohenschwangau. Linderhof is the little white castle, and it was beautiful. Apparently it was more Ludwig's home. Loved it.

That last picture of me is how I needed to walk through the castle with our backpack. I felt like I had one of those pregnancy vests on. But basically, if you put the pack on my back, that is how I have looked every day for the last 9 days - like a pack mule.

Then we went to Neuschwanstein - it is very cool, but there is about a 1/3 mile trek uphill to get there. We took a bus. I'm not proud of it, but I wouldn't change it. The views from the castle were breathtaking - not hard to see why someone would pick that spot.

We didn't get to tour Hohenschwangau because there just simply wasn't time. I was disappointed by that. It would have been nice to see all three. Next time.

We did get to stop in Oberammergau. NUTCRACKERS!! Shipped them home, will arrive in a few weeks. Fetish fed.

Tours, Tours, Tours

Sorry for the delay in postings, we've been on two days of tours!

Day 1 - Tour to King Ludwig's Castles
Day 2 - Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg

Individual posts forthcoming...otherwise too many pictures.

Beer?

Yesterday, our first day in Munich, and we went to Schneider and the Hofbrauhaus.

Pictures. Simply yummy.

Visit to Dachau

After we took a nap after our uber-stressful trip to Munich, we got ready and went to visit the Dachau Memorial. I'm not sure how I felt about it.

There are people taking lots of pictures, but somehow, I didn't feel right about that. I think the most recognized picture would be of the gate that the victims walked through that says "Arbeit Macht Frei" or "Work makes us free." That kind of makes you sick to your stomach.

They do an excellent job with information, but there is a lot of it, and it feels very generalized, so you don't feel like you get to think about a person, versus people. On the other side of the continuum, there was the Anne Frank House, which is certainly more about one person that a group of people. It was an overwhelming amount of information, and I'm glad we went, it just didn't give me the same emotional one-two punch like the Holocaust Museum did, or the Anne Frank House.

That is probably a terrible thing to say. SJ at work has been there, so I'm eager to discuss with her when I am back and get her thoughts.

Terror Train

OK, language alert. Lots of F-Bombs are going to be in this post.

So Chris and I get on the train last night in Cologne to come to Munich. We're supposed to have a double deluxe sleeper with private bath, shower, and double bed.

Um, not so much. The fucking train only had second class cars with private rooms that had bunks and only about 18 inches from the edge of the bunk to the wall. CLAUSTRO-FUCKING-PHOBIA. It was horrifying.

I probably only slept about 2 hours, and couldn't wait to get off the fucking train.

Now, you may ask, did we get on the wrong train? It is an appropriate question. But I don't think we did. There was only one train to Munich at that time, and it was the heinous one.

What the FUCK? I am assured that this shouldn't happen when we go from Munich to Paris overnight on Tuesday. It had better fucking not, or I am going to LOSE MY SHIT.

Killing time in Cologne...

Tonight is our last night in Cologne. We are killing time until we leave.

Hotel check out was at 4:00, and our train to Munich doesn't leave until 11:46 PM. You know, it isn't easy killing seven and a half hours. Here is a brief rundown of the evening.

- Walked to the hotel Chris stayed in 9 years ago with his dad.
- Went to the Bier Museum and had some Kolsch.
- Went to the Eau de Cologne museum - bought some cologne.
- Went to our hotel bar and had some Kolsch.
- Went to Pfaffen for dinner - had some sauerbraten and halven hahn...and Chris had some Kolsch
- Now we are at Starbucks...yes Starbucks...using their free wi-fi for two hours until 11:00...at which point we will go back to our hotel and sit there until 11:20-ish.

It's not easy killing time. More tomorrow from Munich!

Liverwurst? LiverBEST.

I LOVE LIVERWURST!

I forgot that one on the post from before. But it is true.

Who'd a thunk it?

Screaming, crying children out in public are just as annoying in a different language.

Burt Bacharach

So as I mentioned, we went to Bacharach yesterday - it's in the Rhine River Valley.

It's very picturesque, and we took quite a few pictures on the river cruise of the castles along the way. In the picture of me and Chris, that little castle over Chris's shoulder is the one in Bacharach.

We did a wine tasting, and then had lunch. The wine tasting was a little messed up because the woman didn't speak English and instead of getting the sampling of sweet (lieblich) Reislings, which I love, we got the sampling of dry (trocken). They weren't bad, but just not what I wanted. I did, however, become completely shitfaced.

We stumbled over to a hotel restaurant and I got roast beef, and Chris got wild boar Sauerbraten. We also got salads, which was nice because I was missing green vegetables. It was fantastic!! So yummy.

Had another glass of wine, ran to get the train, and the passed out all the way back to Cologne.

Butt Dialer

Funniest moment yesterday in Bacharach? Cooz butt-dialing me from her cell phone.

This happens alot actually, and between the call that I took, and the three or four text back and forth, I think that little convo cost me about $16.

But it was worth it.

Stressterday

Yesterday was a very stressful day. Our plan was to:

- Get up at 4:00 am, get ready and organized
- Get to the train station by 6:15 am to eat breakfast
- Board the 6:53 am train to Koblenz
- Walk 30 minutes from the Koblenz train station to the K-D boat dock
- Board the 9:00 am boat from Koblenz to Bacharach for a three hour Rhine River cruise

Here is what happened.

- Went to bed at midnight, because I still have jet lag
- Got up at 4:00 am, got ready and organized
- Got to the train station by 6:15 am to eat breakfast
- The 6:53 am train to Koblenz is 40 MINUTES LATE causing us to miss the boat in Koblenz
- Went back to bed for an hour because I was so tired I was slurring my words and got on the 9:53 train to Koblenz
- Hopped a city train to Bacharach then boarded the 11:15 am K-D boat from Bacharach to St. Goar
- Took the train from St. Goar back to Bacharach to walk around.

There was alot of hopping from one train to another and the boat ride was a total snore (thank God it was only 40 minutes and not 3 hours like we planned).

So not a bad day, just stressful with too much moving from place to place.

Rick Steves Would Be So Proud

Chris did laundry the other night - the 2.5 gallon ziploc bags worked really well. The picture is of our bathroom in Cologne.

I LOVE COLOGNE!

I LOVE OUR HOTEL!
I LOVE THE CATHEDRAL!
I LOVE KOLSCH!
I LOVE THAT IT ISN'T GHETTO LIKE BRUSSELS WAS!
I LOVE THE FOOD!
I LOVE THE PEOPLE!
I LOVE THAT THERE ISN'T POOP ON THE GROUND EVERYWHERE!
I LOVE KOLSCH!
I LOVE SMOKERS AND NUTCRAKERS!
I LOVE LIVERWURST!
I LOVE HALVEN HAHN!
I LOVE SAUERKRAUT!
I LOVE KOLSCH!

Smokers and Nutcrackers!!!

Is it bad to have a fetish about nutcrackers and smokers? Many of you know that I do indeed have this. Today we hit the motherload at a souvenir store. They had so many different types of smokers!!

I bought two for myself - a beer wench with 8 steins of beer, and a woodsman with a big burly beard.

AWESOME!! I almost peed my pants.

The Dom in Cologne

We got on the train this morning and travelled to Cologne. Again, the efficiency of the trains here is amazing.

Our hotel is literally a baseball's throw away from the Dom Cathedral, and we can see it from our hotel room. Which, by the way is fantastic. I would stay here again 100 times.

MB from work - I lit a candle and said a prayer for you at the Dom. So there you go. You are going to be fine in no time.

Speaking of the Dom, it is amazing. It's incredible to think that it started in 1248 and took over 600 years to finish. It is really astonishing to me that engineering and architecture of that caliber is still here for us to revere, enjoy, and be in wonderment of. As you look up at the top, you get kind of dizzy. It has the largest height to width ratio of any Medieval church. The tallest spire is 157 meters, or 515 feet!! You can't even get a good picture of it, it's that high. Amazing to think that it all started almost 800 years ago.

Note to Allison

My hair is holding up surprisingly well. I wondered about it, given that 10 weeks ago or so I said to Chris, "I think that Allison doesn't know that I know that she is growing my hair out. I think she thinks I don't know. But I know." Then 5 weeks ago I confronted her about it, and she confessed.

She noted that with my stupid curl and Sally from the Peanuts like wave of my bangs, that growing it longer would ensure that if my flat iron blew up in Europe, I could still blow dry my bangs straight.

She was completely right, and this is why when I win the lottery, she will be on retainer for $150K a year to do my hair every day.

If you don't love your stylist and trust them implicitly, you are missing something very important in life.

Things I have not eaten in Belgium...

Pomme Frites and Belgian waffles.

If I had seen pomme frites anywhere, I would have ordered them. And I was just too full for the waffles.

Moeder Lambic - Good Stuff

Had a few beers last night at Chez Moeder Lambic - all really good.

Chris had a Uerige Alt - one of his favorite styles, and I had the Val Dieu Grand Cru. GRAPEY. But good.

Then we had a round of Cantillon - Chris had the lambic cask and I had the Faro cask, which is sweetened with sugar and syrup. See pictures.

Some of the guys in the neighborhood would have loved it.

Chris also had the Gouyasse Tripel - another awesome beer.

Off to Cologne this morning - trying to get all of our shit packed up. We've accumulated stuff along the way - thank God for my mom's fold up duffel bags!

Skipped the beer log in Amsterdam...

Forgot to tell you that we had two other beers somewhere in Amsterdam - I wrote them down and forgot to list them:

Stillwater Autumnal Belgian Ale
Snakedog IPA

I think this was at Beer Temple? They were good.

Cantillon Brewery

It took about a 1/2 hour to walk to Cantillon, through another sketchy area in town. But it was well worth it.

Cantillon specializes in Lambic beers, aged three years, fermented from wild yeast. Sour, funky, fruity, fantastic!

The tour is about 20 minutes and self guided, we took lots of pics - here are a few. In the cool ship (where the beer ferments near the roof because the wild yeast comes in there) it was FUNKY. And I mean funky. But that is how you know it is going to be yummy. It's very old school, and very cool.

It was amazing to see them still doing things the same way for over 100 years, and not worrying about speed of product to market, or mass marketing. They just make really, really good beer, and they know it. We have three bottles we'll bring home. It's not for the faint of heart, if you've had a Gueze, you know what I'm talking about. It sort of makes your eye twitch uncontrollably from the sourness. Chris said when he thinks about drinking it, it makes him salivate - kind of like when you bite into a sour patch kid...but not horrifying.

This was the best part of our day in Brussels, as I had predicted.

We are off now to Chez Moder Lambic to have some more beers.

Brussels in a Day

We are only in Brussels for a day, and we got here about Noon. It's been quite eventful.

Regarding that last post, I almost started taking pictures of all the poop on the street and do a little quiz for everyone. Because I'm not entirely sure it is all dog poop. It's like being is gross San Francisco and walking becomes a highly skilled activity.

To start our day, we walked over to the Grand Place - boy, our architecture is ridiculous by comparison. The Grand Place has these four amazing buildings on each side, and the open square in the middle. We got some chocolate - hello! yummy! - and then had lunch. I feel kind of douchey but I ordered the Croque Monsieur and Chris had the same but with a tomato. Total tourists, but damn...they were good. We both had a Tripel Karmeleit - and they were free! Not sure if that was because there was a Kwak/Tripel Karmeleit wagon with horses out front (some kind of promo) or because the owner liked us. I'm choosing the second.

Tangent - Chris is watching the news and this was the flash - "Meat is Murder...Cannibal caught eating his victims liver." For you Smiths fans, you see how funny that is.

Back to Brussels. After we ate, we walked to Cantillon Brewery. OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD! That will get a post of its own.

Then we came back to the hotel - which is awesome and has a shower AND a bath - and then headed out to Beer Mania, a store that supposedly sells awesome beer and ships to the US. Um...yeah. No fucking way. Number one, the beer selection just wasn't that great. Yes, they did have Westvleteren, but not much else we hadn't had. Then I asked about the shipping rates...198 EURO! For up to 30 bottles, but come on, maybe I'm a giant tight wad, but that's 300 bucks folks, plus the price of the beer. So we bought 2 bottles of Westvleteren and will lovingly cart them all over Europe and home with us. Start thinking about how you will suck up to us in order to get to drink them with us. :)

We also had to walk throught some dicey sections of Brussels, where I kept giving Chris the look and saying "POCKET." That is the code word for "guard your valuables!!" This place is going to give me a heart attack.

We're back at the hotel, but heading out soon to Chez Moder Lambic for some beers. Might see the people from Denver we talked to at Cantillon, that would be kind of fun!