Mussels in Brussels

Steve and Sue have a great saying, "Best to visit a new place with an open... mouth". That's definitely what Jess and I did today. The first thing we did in Brussels is find some mussels.

Mussels! (And Frites)

We also got cappuchinos to go with the mussels and quiche. The mussels were delicious and in a real hearty vegetable broth that made them real meaty. I don't know if cappuchino really goes with that, but that quiche in the background sure did.

Great looking cappuchinos. Too bad you can barely ever find a cup of black, drip coffee around (except at anyone's home)

In the same square where we found the mussels (the Grand Place), we made it a grand total of about 50 yards before deciding to stop for waffels (apparently we were hungry. These were super delicious, and went well with more cappuchino. The view was equally delicious.

My (delicious) view of Jess and Waffels.

The waffel's delicious (albeit transient) view of the grand place.

I'll get back to the beautiful views in a moment, but there is one more delicious food thing for the day. When we got back from Brussels, Steve and Sue took us to one of their favorite local restaurants. I got a hearty rabbit stew, and Jess got some delicious fish. Most importantly we washed these hearty dishes down with some amazing beers. Steve had been plying us with amazing belgian ales (both trappist and abbey and other ales) for two days now, and each beer was somehow better than the next. Here's me and steve with some Triples.

Beer number two of ??? for the brussels trip. A delicious triple by duvel. Definitely putting me off the lagers I've been drinking.

Of course, food is only one half of any dining experience. The other half is ambiance, and brussels has got that in spades. Just a few blocks from the central station, before we even made it to the gastronomic part of our journey, we got this delicious view of the town cathedral as an appetizer.

Flying buttresses! Yum!

Immediately after our mussels and waffels hunt, we got this hilarious view of a classic brussels fountain. Apparently brussels is famous for this statue of the peeing boy called the Manneken Pis. That's funny enough as it is, but of course, for the season he's dressed up as Cinterklaas. I almost lost my lunch from laughter.

Manneken Pis keeps his stream going even in this cold weather.

After that, we hiked up to the Palais de Beaux arts to check out some old art from the flemmish primatives (although they didn't see themselves as primative, and were quite advanced at the time).

Here's a view from the palace that looks down the hill towards the stadhuis and the grand place. (BTW, I've missed hills and it was great to do some uphill and downhill walking in brussels to earn those waffels.)

Looking in the opposite direction, here's a beautiful view of Jess looking towards the church and the palace right by the Beaux Arts museum.

At night we got treated to a new view of everything. The same view towards the stadhuis above is brilliantly lit. This garden is lit with crazy rainbow patterns.

Fortunately, we also decided to visit the grand place one last time before hopping the train and were treated to this amazing light show featuring a techno / classical sound track and real church bells.

Needless to say, both the food and the views were immensely satisfiying. I left brussels with an aching belly as well as aching feet.