Second week in Belgium

Early in the week I decided to change my flight by a week so I can travel through Europe. I'm here, I might as well do it. It cost me $285 to change my flight, a small price to pay I think. I was planning to hit Amsterdam and maybe London or Paris, I wasn't sure. Then I got the news... my time working had been extended until mid-March. This is great for my weekend trips, but I'll hope that I can still have a week to get further from Brussels in March. There is a chance, according to our deployment team, that the next part of the project will take me to Canada. Oh, joy.

I came down with some kind of sinus/cough/congestion thing early in the week - thank you, Carnaval. The week was pretty miserable until I got the news on Friday that the deployment team was trying to put me on the Australia leg of the project. Now THAT is what I'm talking about. If you remember, they were teasing me about a project in New Zealand that didn't end up coming through. The NZ wave is finished and they are starting up on Australia now. Fingers crossed on that.

With this extra time to see the sights, I didn't have any pressure to try to rush anything. I spent Friday night in Brussels, so I thought I would try to make some friends and go out to the bars to experience nightlife in the city. I went to dinner at a restaurant around the corner from my apartment and heard an American accent at the table next to mine. It was a group of 3 girls, so I figured my odds were pretty good. I'm getting more comfortable talking to girls here, but I still feel weird walking up to random guys. Maybe I'm a homophobe, I don't know where the awkwardness comes from. I went over and talked to them and it turned out that one was from the US, one from Greece and one from Brussels. They were in an MBA program, so we had a lot in common.

They invited me out to a few bars, and I was surprisingly more familiar with the Luxembourg Square area than they were. We headed downtown after a while, where I had never been, and waited in line at a club until we were too cold (after about 2 minutes). Then we went to an Irish pub and hung out as late as we could until the buses stopped running. It was a good time, though I'm not impressed with the nightlife (that I've seen - maybe there is more?).

Carolien was having a graduation party on Saturday night in Utrecht. I just KNEW we would end up meeting up again on this trip. I had a day to waste before the train ride, so I strolled around Brussels to see the city. I ate a Belgian waffle which was... ok. I wasn't that impressed and I prefer Liege waffles (which are still Belgian, but a little different). Get educated on your waffle varieties! I also stopped by Neuhaus Chocolatier and got Carolien a little graduation gift. I'm not that into chocolate, but this place was GOOD (and expensive). The praline was invented here, and they have been in business since 1857.

Mannekin Pis is the most famous statue in Brussels. The problem is, it's only 13 inches tall and a let down when you actually see it:


Mannekin's sister, Jeanekin Pis (and I thought the Dutch were weird):



St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral - the most impressive I've been to so far (including South America):


Again at night:


Royal Palace - residence of the Belgian king:


Another church and square in the city:



I'll split my trip back into Holland into a separate post...