Waffels, Fries, Chocolate, and Beer

Outside the Grand Palace in Brussles
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We woke up in Cologne, went to the Cathedral which was massive, I even lit a candle for safe journeys for us and then we were off to catch the train to Brussels! However we got side tracked by the wonderful fragrant store the Body Shop, Liz apologized and said she must go in and indulge in something that smells good (and not like beer and shnitzel). I was in complete agreement given that we had backpacked for a few days now.

Once on the train we cozied up into a luxiourious space, propped our feet up and were good to go (since we had a really good breakfast (again). We had just become relaxed when the train manager was coming around checking tickets, we learned the hard way that we should read our Eurorail directions....if there's an R in your train time you need to make a reservation on that train to be sure to get a seat. If you do not make one you are fined 50 euros!!!!! EACH.....he was nice- we smiled and he only charged us 15 each. ok so in the clear we are ready to go to Brussels!

Shortly thereafter a large Belgian woman started yelling at me in dutch or french, I'm not sure what she was saying but I do know she was not happy with me

In other words, "Sudden Death"
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We get off the train at the most ghetto train station ever, that smelled of urine. Our travel book said to beware of pickpockets and muggers so I had my blairanoia on and I think some of it rubbed off on Liz!! We asked a cab driver how to get to our hotel......YES hotel....the only one on our trip. He said to go under the bridge, and turn right up the hill and it would be on our left. As we looked down the road to "under the bridge" it seemed as though scary music started playing, clouds came out of the sky, and lightning was striking. (no kidding it really did start raining) The cab driver was suprised that we wanted to walk there....so we decided to let him take us......of course he took the long way around and when we realized where our hotel really was it was only about 200 meters from the train station. We seem to learn things the hard way in Europe:) BIG SURPRISE......

Our new friends.
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After settling in we decided to go on a hunt for waffles, fries, chocolate, and belgian beer. We took the train to down town, as soon as we got off the train towards the Grand Palace Square we smelled waffles and fries! We b-lined to the first consession stand and purchased fries.(did you know french fries were invented here? A new friend we met named Daniel told us this on the train...he has houses in Germany, Switzerland, and Chicago and invited us to stay in any or all of them whenever we please!!!)...in belgium they serve fries (frites) with mayo and ketchup. Dont knock it till you try it! They were yummy.  A few hundred feet later, we found ourselves at the waffle stand and bought our first belgian waffle.  It was delicious!  Now, off to find the third thing on our list- belgian beer.

Cherry Flavored "A La Morte Subite"
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( Narrative now in Liz's words...)

We ended up in the Grand Place or Palace and sat in the most expensive restaurant ( they even charge you to go to the bathroom- more on that in a minute) but the view was worth the pretty penny we spent on our libations.  Sarah had no idea what to order to used the stand by technique of pointing at other people's drinks that looked interesting. This time, choosing a beer that came with a glass that looked like an hour glass, callec a KWAK.  I ordered a Chimay and was not as adventurous as Sarah since I had already tried mine in the states.  NOTE: belgian beer is probably popular because it has almost double the amount of alchohol as beer many of us are used to- Sarah's had 11% while mine had 9%. Good thing we don't need to drive home.

In other words, "The Coffin."
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Back to the paying for the bathroom story...so obviously, that's already been talked about but what I need to say is the manner in which you must pay.  Since I did not read the signs, stating in clear "Picture- language" that you must pay to use the toilet- I went blindly into the ladies room.  Shortly thereafter a large Belgian woman started yelling at me in dutch or french, I'm not sure what she was saying but I do know she was not happy with me.  Some passing men took pity on me and gave the woman some money for me.  I thanked them kindly and came to find out that they were American as well, Daniel and John from Tenessee and Louisiana.

The dark alley leading to "The Coffin"
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I introduced my new friends to Sarah and we all agreed we were up for more beer but not for the prices we were shelling out at the Palace. Sarah and I had a few suggestions for places to go since we actually read the chapter in Frommers earlier that day on where to go in Belgium.  The first stop on our Belgian Beer Crawl was a place called "A La Morte Subite", or "Sudden Death".  The establishment actually serves a beer called Sudden Death so we were intrigued to say the least.  We all tried a variation of the Sudden Death, my favorite was the Kriek, or cherry flavored beer.  We had one round and headed out for our next stop on the Belgian Beer Crawl...A place called Le CERCUEL, or " The Coffin".  Boy Belgium sure does seem to like this death theme.

Notice the decor and the "table"
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"The Coffin" is probably named that because the interior is much like a coffin and even has coffins as the tables...that's right, we were not sure if we had just walked into a part of the movie, " From Dusk Till Dawn."  The bartender had an uncanny resemblance to Dracula and the dim lighting and purple velour drapes did not do much for his appearance.  To make the whole scene even stranger, we ordered beer and were given skull mugs to drink them from. Now we felt like we were in a part of an Indiana Jones film.  ( Must see pictures to understand ).  Don't let our review of this bar scare you- Sarah and I agreed that the music alone made this bar one of the best on our trip so far...Dracula the Bartender seemed to have quite a taste for 50 and 60's american music, ranging from Elvis to Patsy Cline to Otis Redding.  I found it necessary to shake his hand and give him a hug prior to leaving in an attempt to show my appreciation for his fine taste in music.

Yummmy! Scull mugs of beer
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That ended the Belgian Beer Crawl and our evening with our new friends. We all parted ways. Sarah and I headed back to our HOTEL...key word, HOTEL...and were looking forward to a good night's rest, and personally, I was excited about a hair dryer.

Tomorrow- Amsterdam.