That was the motto for Belgium. And, it was the total truth. We did little sightseeing, no museums, and only took pictures of the facades of some of the more interesting buildings we saw as we walked to find more good beer.
We arrived in Brussels by train, from Amsterdam and had to figure out how to get to our hotel. Apparently the metro/subway and the underground trams are not well integrated, so after MUCH attempted discussion in multiple broken languages, we were told that it was easier for us to walk the last few blocks than to try to get there by public transportation.
So we walked.
The first impression of Brussels was not a good one. We’d been in Amsterdam, city of legalized vice, for 3 days, and it was clean, easy with surprisingly few beggars or homeless people on the street. We’d been very surprised.
Brussels ended up being all the things we’d expected in Amsterdam. Dirty (please understand, we come from Cairo, so dirty is a relative term), unkempt, LOADS of panhandlers, guys pissing in alleys – Welcome to the seat of the EU! Throughout the trip, we loved Belgium, except our stays in Brussels. Our hotel was nice, we went to great cafes and pubs, but the city of Brussels failed the “Would you live here?” test.
Brussels and Beer:
We were only staying in Brussels for one night, so as soon as we were checked in, we pulled out the Good Beer Guide: Belgium, our friend Don’s notes, and a map. First stop, Delirium Cafe – 2004 beers available, largest beer selection in the world (I believe they made the Guinness book for that). Yes, for those of you who don’t know the Delirium beers, their logo is a pink elephant.
From Delirium we went off to find Poechenellekelder (no, I didn’t make it up). It was located beside the Maneqin Pis, so we got to see the little pissing bugger AND have beer AND watch all the tourons have their pictures taken.
Believe it or not, at this point we were ready to return to the hotel. HOWEVER, we stopped at a bottle shop for a couple of “room beers” on the way. Our destination tomorrow, Brugge.
For the beer geeks, I will (eventually) attach a link for the complete list of beers from this trip.