Day 3: Brussels

Our third day in Europe:

Steff and I left our hostel early to meet Eric at the Gare du Nord train station, mistakenly thinking his train would arrive there at 9:25, when in fact his train was arriving at Gare du l'Est and he would be walking over to our location. So needless to say, we started to panic a little bit thinking we would miss our reservation. Which we did. But that turned out to not be a big deal at all. They give reservations out like candy.

So, after a short and sweet train ride we arrived in Brussels, Belgium. Capital of Europe. We checked into our hostel after becoming briefly lost, "2Go4"which you may be able to see in the video is a very hip, totally Ikea'd hostel. Looks very expensive, and our room is very nice. We got started much earlier than anticipated and wound up venturing out into the Grande Place which you may recognize from movies and television. Its this huge old square (built in the early 17th century after the original area was artillery bombed by the French) that now has become the center for the tourist area. Many people here speak English , but Steff and I are still a bit shy about dealing with service people.

Also on this day we visited the legendary Mannekin Pis. You will see him in the video. Much smaller than expected actually. You'll also see a shot of Mannekin Pis merch. There are shops all over the place that sell anything and everything with Mannekin Pis' image on it. Corkscrews where his penis becomes the screw, lighters, postcards, statues, stickers, and even lace embroidery with the little pissing boy's image(Belgium is also famous for its traditional lace)!

Finally, we lounged around and tried our first Belgian beers before going to a bar called "Le Cercueil" or, "the Coffin." You can't tell in the video because the interior of this place was almost pitch black, but the inside was decorated with coffin tables and funeral wreaths, and had a dinstinctive embossed black wallpaper. The clientèle and bartender were very pleasant though. We drank beers from skull-shaped mugs before retiring for the night.

More to come. Usually too tired at night to call you guys, will get to it soon though, promise!

-Anders 6/22/07 10AM