Brussels

Brussels a;kd

Today, we went to the European Commission to learn more about the how the EU is structured and how it works. It was mostly a lecture inside of the building. Once again, just like the French Senate, there really was not any security, just sliding glass doors. The lecture was ok, but we did get to ask questions for quite a while at the end and it was much more useful of our time. This guy was clearly more for giving the European Union more power than the French girl was.

Later, we started a tour at the same place we went to dinner and walked around all these tiny, stone streets until we came to the peeing boy. It is the biggest tourist attraction in Brussels and no one knows why. Personally, I think it is hilarious, but I am not sure why so many people go to see it. The weirdest part is that the people of Brussels also do not understand it. They don’t even know what it is from or for. Apparently it’s super old but they still mess around with it and give it different outfits during the year. Now, he is in a Barcelona soccer uniform. I got the feeling that Brussels finds it amusing that people come from all over the world to see what their home town and of the things that Belgians take pride in, none of them are sought after as much as this fountain of a boy peeing in a puddle. But hey, if it brings in money to the city, who can complain?

Next, we went on a bus tour and went all over Brussels. We saw everything and anything that may have some historical or political meaning. Then, we went right back to the same place we had started. I did not think at first that this could be the actual town center since it seemed so small, but by now I think I am starting to realize just how small Europe really is, even down to the cities. They just don’t have room in the cities because they are so old. Anyway, we said goodbye to our funny tour guide (Kylie Frisbee even gave him a kiss on the cheek) and we were free for the night. I kinda just wandered around a lot and tried to take in the town. Brussels is more what you would imagine Europe as when you aren’t thinking of Britain, France, or Spain. I always think of these tiny countries as basically just big cities that might as well be one country called Europe. However, I do not think that would actually be a good idea, unless it somehow excluded Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and most of southern Europe (which in my mind is just Mediterranean). But if Belgium and the Netherlands were suddenly one country, it really wouldn’t change much. Again, off track. We visited Delirium, which has the world’s largest selection of beers (over 3000), or so they did. I tried to order an Egyptian beer to be fun and the bartender said it was out. So I ordered the other Egyptian beer and they were also out of it. Then he suggested that I order a Belgian beer and acted offended that that was not my first choice. I ordered a sour beer which I actually thought was good since I hate the bitter taste and this was so sour that it was almost like a candy. Everyone else who tried a sip from my cup hated it though. So I guess I will probably never like beer, just how I don’t like coffee or tea, since this was the largest selection in the world and I only found one that was alright.

When we headed back to the hotel, the plan was to go to a karaoke bar that we had clearly heard from the parking lot of the hotel. It was on the second floor of a tiny casino next door. I was going to try to get to the casino, but I could not even find an unlocked door though it looked like the machines were on. Then, making it more sketchy, the bartender told us that we could do karaoke, but as soon as the Chinese regulars came in, we had to leave and let them use the machine and we were not allowed to watch them use it. Pretty sure it was the Triad. We decided we didn’t care if it was the Triad because after all, they are an international organization and that was what we were studying. But really, they kicked us out right before 10:00 so there would be no sign of us even being there. So sketch.