Beer and Your Bladder

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No stop in Belgium would be complete without going to Brussels, and since that is exactly what happened last time I was in this country I figured I should probably go see what it's all about. And the answer is...really not much.

Brussels is a government town and is pretty representative of what it seems government towns are all over the world. The Grand Place really is quite impressive though, and there were some beautiful buildings and cozy side streets filled with restaurants. Weaving through the tourists in these streets, we made our way to two more of Belgium's great statues. Mannekin Pis is probably the most famous, and also from what I saw and heard, the most disappointing. Everyone gets excited to see a fountain of 'pee' but turns out this 'statue' is about the size of a Cabbage Patch Kid and tucked into a little corner of a building. Cute sure, but perhaps not worth the hype. It's sister statue however, it much more amusing. Tucked back in a dead end alley is the much lesser known, Janneke Pis, a fountain of a small girl squatting to pee. I think this statue was supposed to represent loyalty and trust, but to be honest that connection was a little lost on me.

Brussels is a government town and is pretty representative of government towns all over the world.

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After our little tour of the local urinating children we decided to encourage our bladders ourselves and check out the local bars. A bit off the tourist drag there were great corners full of patios where we enjoyed a few overpriced beers, I got to speak french again, and did some people watching. After a very late night out the night before though we were feeling a bit spent and Vanessa's boyfriend and his friend didn't end up waking up early enough to meet us (one called at 8:30 to tell us he just got out of bed) so we decided to head back to Leuven and have more of a low-key night. Conveniently, Vanessa happened to have a copy of the ridiculous movie Eurotrip and since I had never seen it we decided now was definitely the time to watch it as my own Eurotrip was coming to a close...