B is for...

Brussels!! 

Just kidding..not that kind of Brussels. I'm thinkin' more like the capital of Belgium. 

A friend and I headed up since she needed to conduct some business with the US Embassy. I had absolutely no desire to drive through Brussels with my Xterra (I don't care how many people tell me it's "easy"!) so we figured we'd make a day of it with the train..and I'm SO glad we did! 

Once the Embassy was all taken care of, it was only 10:30a ....we weren't expecting to be done that fast! Seriously, Belgians are insanely slow with processing paperwork, so we were shocked with how quick the whole process went.If you've ever seen "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", I genuinely believe they HAVE to be related to the Vogons..someway, somehow!

So, what to do? We walked over to Grand Place and did what any regular Belgian would do...we had a beer. B is also for beer, how 'bout that? :) I swear, my friend had one as well ..she was in mid sip when I took the picture, so, I'm not the only morning lush. 

Know what else Belgians do? They people watch while sitting at an outdoor cafe area. Hard life, right? We figured we'd give it a shot to see what it was like...I think we got the hang of it while soaking up some sun and watching tourists do their "thing":

It's been so long since I've had any alcohol (and I'm not really supposed to have any right now as is), I got pretty tipsy. To be fair, Belgian beer is pretty potent, so the Heineken got me drunky while the beer my friend got had her feeling fabulous as well.What happens to some people when they get drunk? Munches. 

Know what rhymes with Brussels? 

MUSSELS! 

We were originally looking for our favorite Chinese place, but apparently they went out of business (sadsies!), so, we opted to do the next best thing which was to have some Belgian mussels. Yes, Belgium is known for their beer, their chocolates and the waffles, but they also make some UH-mazing mussels (or so I've been told). After being here for three years already, it was time to have some! 

No joke, if you want your ego petted, you should walk down some of the alleyways throughout Grand Place, especially near the seafood area. All of the restaurants have outdoor patio set ups (at least during this time of year) and they have employees who stand outside and try to talk customers into a table to eat. Man oh man, we heard every compliment under the sun!  After dodging some Guido looking guys, cheesy one liners and some places that looked rather sketchy, we finally found a place where we wanted to sit down. Although I will say that the guy working the place we were at (we watched him during out entire meal) was hilarious because he was SO aggressive with the patrons, it was way over the top and scared people away!

After scrolling through the menu, we opted to get mussels in some garlic and cream sauce with a side of fritz. OH. MY. GOODNESS. It was absolutely out of this world! You just eat the meat and as you plug along, you toss the mussel shells in a second bowl they give you..it actually kinda reminded me of shelling crabs. Do all the hard work first and then savor the meat, lol. The sauce was fabulous and it tasted delicious, and it didn't have that overly fishy smell. Love love love! I'm tempted to try to make some mussels myself since I can get 'em from the local market...hmmmmmmm....

Once we stuffed ourselves silly, we strolled across the alley to the famous Delirium Cafe, which boasts a Guinness World Record certificate that states "The most varieties of beer commercially available was 2,004 at Delirium Cafe', Brussels, Belgium when counted on 9 January 2004". The only reason why we went there was to pick up some t-shirts for our husbands because, hey, the cafe is awesome and the staff is always nice in addition to wanting some cool shirts. Sure enough, the bartenders were extremely friendly (one of 'em even offered us some of his lunch, lol) and actually educated me on a mug I was really intrigued with:

It was designed by Charles Quint who was actually from Ghent, Belgium. After doing a lil bit of research, I found a picture explaining the story of the odd little mug:

Since I can't read French, I had to rely on Google Translate to gimme a hand with the story translation, and here's what I was able to get out of it:

A beautiful autumn day, after a chase has part of Walcot, Charles was wanting to quench his thirst. He went into a fine inn the boss offered him a pot of beer, holding it by its handle. Charles V was therefore obliged to enter the pot with both hands. Leaving the city, desiring to taste a new beer this wonderful, he ordered a servant to send the boss a pot with two handles, order for it to enter it in the future with one hand.

Some time after, Charles V and his retinue halted in the same Augerge. The madam presents him the pot of beer this time, holding the two handles together. Charles V did not lose heart and has ordered his servant to send a three-handled pot.

The following year, Charles made ​​another visit to the shelter. This time, the boss handed him the pot, holding hands in two handles, but the third handle turned to her. Once again, Charles was obliged to enter the pot with both hands. It was only when Charles V. had given the order to send a inn a pot has a fourth handle and the problem was solved. It is following a legend that this beautiful today, in many hostels have found beercans fitted with four handles. 

Someone sounds a little OCD to me! When you're an Emperor, I suppose no one will question something you want, right?

Anyway, we had a fantastic time in the Belgian capital, enjoyed some amazing weather and kept ourselves out of the house for a while! Gotta love living the European lifestyle :)