12 hours in Brussels

After the shocking prices of the UK we were ready to head to the continental part of Europe by train via the chunnel. ( Eustar was great btw, lots of leg room and comfy seats) After 2-3 hours we pull into what looks like a deserted little town, get off the train and nothing around just an empty platform. Walk down the stairs to the main floor, again deserted. Starting to get the feeling that were in "The Matrix" but we kept walking anyways until finally we found somone to ask direcitons but, of course you guessed no english.  Doesn't matter we found the map to brussles in the bottom of my daypack so we would be ok...well actually we woulda been ok if the map had the train station on it but instead it just said "Gere zuid 1.5km  <---" Whoa do i love this city already or what eh? So anyways lets just say weere awesome (read - lucky) and finally got onto the crapptacular map we had and began to get lost some more but at least in the general direction of the hostel. Ok, sooo finally we find our hostel which is hidden behind a construction site at the time ( sleep well hostel ) haha can you say Ironnyyy!  Went out exploring as we arrived at 5pm and had to catch a train at 5am the next morning. Wandered around till we found Mannikin Piss which was a whole lot smaller and sillier then i thought it might be but i supose next to the square it comes in second place for things to see or do in Brussels.  Ahh The Square, ok so i ferget the name but hey it was still awesome and seeing as there truely is only one real square in Brussels i'm gunna let it slide this time. Picked up a Stella Artois and a Belgium waffle before finding a spot to sit and enjoy the view and bands playing all night long while we were there. Not entirerly sure what was the occasion but marching bands from all over played traditional music from there homeland and wore traditional outfits to boot. This was the one hour of Brussels i enjoyed before returning to the hostel and , not sleeping. I doubt anyone slept in our room at least due to the  party going on in the streets until the sun came up. Cops everywhere and sirens balzing all nightto try and keep control but ya cant be everywhere at once as we found out at 5am when we got up to walk back to the train station. Walk a block and find the street blocked of due to police cars and yellow tape, looked like eveyrthing had been cleaned up already but it looked like someone got the torn to pieces in the street while a lil too drunk. Everyone was still out in the streets at 5am , well mostly everyone that you wouldn't want to meet in a back alley anyways and after walking past a few broken windows and more people trying to push crack on the sidewalks then i could count i finally decided that i really wasn't into the town...at all.  Well, i supose my experience was a lil different then most people will have in Brussels but still, to anyone wanting to go just a word of warning to be carfull. |'m travelling with two other guys and carried a knife and still felt a lil un easy, not my type of city. Alright , just got a call from several major sleeping aid companies and there sales have dropped in half since i started writing this entry so i better jet, later all!  -Darren