Zackberridge’s Weblog

My mission is accomplished for my trip to Brussles!   It was a pleasant train ride from paris and took almost 3 hours, but I arrived safe and whole.   My host had to work until 530, so when i got there i just took a bus, not knowing where to go, and got off at some random stop. (Nico has GPS in his car, so he said to just give him the address where I was and he could pick me up, so I wasnt worried about being lost). Apparently I got off on the worst part of Brussels where I stopped at a very, very local bar and had a couple beers.  The owner didnt speak english, and I of course didnt speak any French or Dutch (the two languages of Belgium, depending if you’re in the south or north), but when i asked him to point on my map how to get to the ‘Grand Place’ another man asked if I spoke spanish, and I said yes, so we were able to communicate somewhat. (I do know enough spanish to get by, and by all means I dont actually speak it, but at the time its all I had to work with, plus when I drink beer I tend to speak it really well, ha) I walked towards my destination and stopped off at a hole in the wall place for something to eat.  The restaraunt served food that is half Indian and Pakistani and |I must say it was some of the best I’ve had yet.  Later my host picked my up and we went straight to the market to get some good.  Nico picked out 20 different beers for us to sample and we went to his flat and drank half of them while conversing and getting to know one another.  I was very fortunate to have a host like him because we connected in a way thatonly brothers from another mother connect, and we instantly became friends.  Next we went out to get some Frites (Apparently Belgium is very well know for their ‘french fries’ and they are by far the best Ive had….even better than the ‘checkers’ fries from back in the days).  We took our food to the Grand Place (i never made it there earlier), and we ate and hung out for a bit.  The grand place is a very large square that all the locals go to in the evening and hang out.  Afterwards we met with two of his friends back at the flat and we finished the other 10 beers.  I learned a lot about the politics and government of Belgium……because there isn’t one government in particular that rules, the citizens pay up to 60 percent of their income to taxes of the various other government combos (up to 5 different ones), so for example, a person who makes 4k euro/month will only bring home 1500. 

The next day I toured the city alone and saw some beautiful churches and parks, and later had dinner with Nico and that night when he got off work we stayed up late talking about a lot of topics.  The following morning, with only 2  1/2 hours of sleep I caught the next train to Amsterdam and was in for an experience that was out of this world.  cheers!