Yesterday was a good day to be in Belgium, specifically Brussels. Why you ask? Well, the Red Devils (the national soccer team) were returning victors of 3rd place in the World Cup. And yes, I asked a bartender if this was a good thing and he said most excitedly “oh yes!.” The Grand Place was completely blocked off except for a few entrances and exits. I prevailed because I had to see the square in the morning light – when I arrived on Saturday, I accidentally stumbled into it in search of dinner. With all the Belgium pride of red and yellow, the Grand Place truly is a grand place.
After finding out that the soccer team would make an appearance on the balcony of the Town Hall, I got out of there. I knew the amount of crowds would keep growing and I didn’t want to get stuck. I booked a chocolate and beer tour at 3pm and I figured I had time to do some sightseeing so I followed GoogleMaps to Manneken Pis. And yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like, a peeing statue. His name is Julien and he’s supposed to represent Belgium’s carefree, easygoing attitude. I think he does the job perfectly! On this day, he wasn’t dressed but I’m told that he has many different outfits and is dressed up 3-4 times a week. You can bet I’m going to be passing by Julien again to see what outfit he’s wearing.
What else can one do to kill time in Belgium? Well, how about you find Duvel on tap and enter a deserted bar at 10:30am on a Sunday. My first question to the bartender was asking if Belgium had any rules regarding drinking before a certain time on Sundays like Dublin did. He laughed and said “no, the beer is made by monks.” I liked him. He also wrote out on coasters different establishments for the best of (ie, best mussels = Chez Leon). I love when people give me food recommendations because you know they would eat there too. No one lies about food.
Finally, it was time for my tour. I wasn’t too thrilled about the chocolate part but it was well worth it to try different infusions and actual, real, legit chocolate. My favorite is simply dark chocolate with a chocolate ganache center. I wish I could take some with me but they’d be gone before I got back to America in 2 months! The beer part was really good as well since we sampled beers at 9% alcohol and other varieties I don’t normally like – there was a 16 y/o on the tour and her parents were allowing her to partake in the beer tasting portion. You could tell the Mom was trying really hard to be cool with her 16 y/o having beer for the first time. And 9% ABV was the first one we started with…poor thing will probably hate beer after this.
So all that’s left on my food tour is carbonnade (some beef stew thing) and waffles. Danielle says look for the yellow waffle trucks on the street so that’s today’s mission after I eat some mussels for lunch. Mussels from Brussels!
There She Goes... 