A Night on the Town

NH Brussels City Centre, Brussels, Belgium

The public transit system is definitely the way to travel around town. It's very easy to use and took about the same amount of time as a taxi. If you ever come here, never use a taxi if you can help it.

By the time we went out at 6:30, the rain had stopped. The weather was quite nice for the rest of the evening.

I checked another item off of my list of things to do: eating Belgian Waffles. When I first came here, I thought that Belgian Waffles were along the same lines as french fries; I'm sure the French don't see fries as French in any way. But I did start seeing waffles when I came over here. The waffle I got had chocolate syrup, strawberries, and ice cream on it. The only problem I had with it was that the tiny plastic spoon given to us to use was holey inadequate for cutting up the waffle. It was so good. I went back to the same place later and got an ice cream cone with homemade caramel ice cream. I ate well tonight.

And onto Ommegang. Apparently this is the celebration of Charles V's arrival in Brussels some 175 years ago. went into the square not knowing quite what to expect. I knew that people would be dressing in historical garb. There were flag carriers and musicians, knights and ladies, and peasants and kings all dressed up and on parade. The Grande Place was set up with bleachers on three sides, with the cheap seats going for about 30€. There were large breaks in between that you could easily see through. All of the re-enactors would then parade into the middle of the square and perform. I asked the nearest police officer where they would be coming into the square. He said he was pretty sure it was the street coming in from the right rear side (facing the "king's court"), so I made my way over.

I don't think I've ever wanted to speak French so much in my life as tonight. Sure, all of the announcements were done in French. But there were these two little girls, probably about 5 and 6 years old, standing next to me at the police barricade who only spoke French. They acted like all little girls do, talking and giggling and hanging on and through the barrier. All I could say to them was "no français; anglais" while pointing to my ear. They couldn't have cared less though; they kept trying to talk to me and look through all the pictures on my camera.

The festivities started, and I realized that the participants were not going to come through our street. I thought most of the good spots were taken, but I happened to see a handrail that no one was standing on. You can't really tell by the picture, but the ledge is at least six feet above the ground. When the guy to my right jumped down and I took his spot, I think I got the best free seat in the house. Or at least the highest.

The action was pretty impressive. I am little frustrated with how the pictures turned out; most were overexposed or blurry. Maybe it's time to get a real camera. At any rate, I also got some video of the brass playing Ode to Joy. I hope I'm able to post this somewhere. I left when it got too dark to take pictures. I have to be rested up for Ireland, after all. All in all, I had a great time.

So here's everyone, minus Ellen & Chirag from America, who were kind enough to take the pictures. In the back row, we have Hassan from the UK and Jeroen from the Netherlands. In the front row, we have Adam from Poland, Patrick from America, Isabel from the UK, Nick & Deidre from America, Pedro (today's instructor), Sebastian, & Cesar from Spain, and Christian from Austria.