Day Four: Brussels Madness.

Day Four:

We begin the day with a kebab from "Sultan of Kebab." This is definitely my favorite kebab so far. Apparently kebab is like the fast food of choice. I don't know how good this stuff actually is for you, but it's got to be better than American fast food. The concept is so simple, I don't know why we don't have kebab shops all over the damn place in the states too.

Anyway, after our kebab we hung around Grand Place waiting for the chocolate museum's demonstration to begin. We tried a beer sampling at a cafe, the beer was decent but not awesome. I think that our beer-o-meter is at around nine or ten new beers tried at this point. Maybe more. I know that at the time of writing the number stands around 21-25. I've lost track.

So we try the beers and then head over to the chocolate museum. There is this charming old woman who gives the demonstration to us in English. The place of course smells heavenly. She cracks cute jokes in each language she gives the presentation in. We try some fresh dark chocolate seashells. I try to ask her why I always see Belgian chocolates in seashell shapes. No conclusive answer.

After the chocolate museum, we ride the metro to the Royal Park and lounge around for a while before going and sitting in front of the Royal Palace. We discuss the possibility of taking off early since we are running out of activities in Brussels sooner than thought. We return to the hostel to try to figure out revised plans.

But instead we fall asleep and wake up when our new room mates, Elliott and Alexandra, walk in. Fortuitously, they turn out to be a catalyst of some sort that propel us into a mad drinking frenzy.

We go searching for the Delirium Tremens Cafe. We zig zag around the Grand Place, unable to locate the cafe until Alex asks for directions. It is just one block from where we are. Delirium holds the Guinness World Record for most number of beers available for sale in one location (2004). The place is super crowded because it is also live music night, so we each grab our beers and sit in the alley.

Across from Delirium is a place called Fortis, whose sign claims it is a "Whiskey" bar. But inside, we find very little whiskey but over 200 brands of absinthe. Hmmmm....

After the absinthe tasting, we walk around in a haze until we could locate fries and a hooka bar. The rest is history, and of course, all caught on tape.

-Anders 6/23/07 10:45 AM

p.s. sorry, slow on the video. Will try and upload two days worth tonight.