Belgium

It was our last day in Brussels so we had to squeeze it all in. We hit all the must see items on both of the Hop-on/Hop-off lines. Everyone said you must see the peeing boy statue. It was only 6”...tall. I was expecting a masterpiece and it was this tiny little statue. Here are some of the sites:

We also had our share of Belgium sweets. Some of these were way too much for even us to eat. Certainly picture worthy.

We capped off our evening with some time in the square and some pictures of the lights. Tonight’s blog is short since it’s 11pm and we have to get up early to catch the train to Oberwesel, Germany.

A side note to Moms coin catastrophe last night...turns out the panhandlers use sympathy to get their coins. They set their clear plastic cup about 1’ away from them so when passers by kick it they fly into a rage. Then, the kicker feels so bad they replenish the supply. Watch out Durango, I have a new retirement gig coming.

We wrapped up our stay in Brugge with breakfast in the Markt square. Come to find out, the pomp and circumstances around Prince Andrews visit was commemorating the 75th anniversary of the British delivering the Dutch troops (?). Will need to look into the details since there was some language barrier.
We grabbed our bags and headed for the train station. We arrived in Brussels around 2pm, dropped our bags and hopped on the ‘hop on/hop off’. It’s a good way to cover a lot of ground with little effort.

After dinner we went to Grand Place...it lives up to its name. They had a Belgium Beer Fest in full swing with 100’s of breweries represented.

After walking off a little more of our dinner (awesome Greek food) we headed to a chocolate shop. How else was I supposed to get change for the bus ride home. I had to buy something.
The funniest part of the evening was around this woman. She found a very popular spot in the square, arranged herself on the ground, sorted through various pictures of kids mounted on cardboard until she found the winner then she set her cup of coins way out in front of her. She was setting up a begging station (not to be insensitive). Mom has her head in the sky looking at buildings and she kicks over her cup sending her coins down a
Storm drain. They are both scrambling to recover some of the coins...I see Mom practically crawling on the ground. Then Mom raids my pocket to replace some of the coins/wood plugs. I’m laughing so hard I almost wet my pants. Good times.

I’ll start by showing you last nights dinner view. According to the waiter, we need to see ‘In Bruge’ with Collin Farrell. The hotel in the pic was in the movie.

This morning we got off to a late start...10am. We went down to the Markt square to see the royal British band and Prince Andrew. He’s been quite notorious lately for all the wrong reasons.


Then we went out to breakfast and did the Rick Steves walking tour. That took a couple hours so we’re now just chilling out. Tonight we are going to the oldest Taverns in Brugge for dinner.

We shared a table with a a coupe, she is American and he is Dutch. And there was a small Jack Russel dog that sat at Mom and my feet and begged.

I’ll start by showing you last nights dinner view. According to the waiter, we need to see ‘In Bruge’ with Collin Farrell. The hotel in the pic was in the movie.

This morning we got off to a late start...10am. We went down to the Markt square to see the royal British band and Prince Andrew. He’s been quite notorious lately for all the wrong reasons.


Then we went out to breakfast and did the Rick Steves walking tour. That took a couple hours so we’re now just chilling out. Tonight we are going to the oldest Taverns in Brugge for dinner.

The morning started with some excitement. Mom and Greta got bumped out of Portland, so with only one more flight that connected to Brussels tensions were high. As it turns out, they got on the flight and we all were upgraded to Business class. A great way to kick off Greta’s birthday.

After landing in Brussels, we hop the train to Bruges. Feeling a little jetlagged we started off with something easy...a canal tour. Belgium is home to chocolate, waffles and beer. We have ticked one of those off our list.

We are now taking a small nap and then off to find a killer waffle!