Belgium post two!

I suppose this post should contain some warning about statue nudity, but never ye mind...it's only a little boy.

For your viewing pleasure, the Manneken Pis.  Say it out loud.  Yes, that's actually the correct way of saying it.  This little guy is iconic in Brussels tourism, featured on corkscrews, paperweights, and other trinkets.  Evidently local university students come and leave a part of their uniform for him at certain points of the year--note his lovely cap.

The Grand Place at night--essentially the town square of Brussels.  Around this area are side streets full of waffle houses, hot chocolate stands, lace shops, and of courses, chocolate stores!  This is also where we found a place called the Beer Temple, which we ironically visited on a Sunday morning.

A bridge we crossed whilst in Brugge.  The entire city is cut up by a network of canals, and it once had a very important role in the international shipping industry.  However, monastic activity up on a hill ended up forcing silt into the waters, causing them to become too shallow for major transport vehicles.

However, it wasn't too shallow for all vehicles!  We took a small powerboat down the waterways, getting a sense of the size of the city...I swear a good third of it is water!

 

A cathedral in Brugge.  The tower was completed over a period of 3 centuries, showing the dedication of each generation to continue such a financial and laborious burden.

Moules!  We ate our mussels in "natural" sauce--essentially a light fish stock--along with frites with mayonnaise.  Before you cringe, mayo in Europe is thinner than in the U.S. and a lot more flavorful--this one had dill in it and tasted like tartar sauce!

The reason why handmade (bobbin) lace is so expensive.  Belgian lace is internationally renowned,  but if you can't afford the top-notch stuff, this lady recommended getting the Belgian lace that comes out of India.  It's still handmade on quality lace but because it isn't made specifically in Belgium, it's generally about 20% cheaper.  Tape lace is machine-made, and is used in most commercial lace applications we see today.

The important stuff:

1. waffles are fantastic. surprisingly, the beer ain't bad either.

2. no one speaks english.  brussels they do french, but in brugge, i actually did the best with spanish!

3. NATO stands for Not Allowing Threatening Objects, where such objects include ipods, cell phones, and the like.  Once stripped of such dangerous goods (and sadly, our cameras), we got to see a conference room and the dining hall...which had quite excellent, very cheap food!

4. GO TO BRUGGE!  Brussels is neat, but not as culturally interesting. Brugge is still stuck about 300 years in the past and I love it much for it...for instance, only residents are allowed to drive a vehicle within the city limits...hence the large number of pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages.  Yeah.  You read that right.