Up by 6:30....

Up by 6:30 this morning and took the laptop down to the breakfast room to check world affairs. Nothing changed, so had a couple cups of coffee and checked email...seems Joe is having a rough time with the house...watering, pool, cat...whole nine yards, but will be there soon, just hope for some rain.

I had breakfast before I came back up to the room, then showered and checked out the tour situation. Worked out pretty good, they picked up at the hotel so I didn't have to work my way through the Algerian refugees to get there. Took the tour of Brussels and it was hosted by a lady named Jasmine, she spoke all the languages and had to the whole tour cause they coulnd't use the recorded version today due to a marathon race being run in Brussels today. We walked the Grand Plaze and I took LOTS of pictures. We then boarded the bus for 'outter' Brussels. There were four Spanish people on the bus..reason I know is because as soon as the first couple (older couple) got on they kept saying "Espanol??" Well the driver didn't say anything...finally they learned that Jasmine DID speak Espanol as well. The younger couple never said anything...but remember them.

Once we got away from the Grand Plaza and the "Pee Boy", there really wasn't much of Brussels....saw the sight of the 34 and 58 world's fairs, the Kings Palace, and a bunch of other Dallas Like buildings...so I coulda just stayed in the Grand Plaza and been happy. Well there was St Christophers Cathedral....but after all the cities I'd already seen more cathedrals than I'd been to all my life...so no pics of that. It was nice though.

I did learn that the French burned Brussels to the ground (well 3000 buildings of it) in 1699, the ONLY part that survived was the Grand Plaze, that's why it is SO beautiful and different from the rest of the city. I tell you what, between the French, Turks, and Christians it's a wonder there's anything left of Europe!!!

It started to rain on the tour...but no problem we were in an enclosed bus. As soon as the tour was over I headed to a little bar just off the Grand Plaza to have a beer and get the name of a place for dinner. While there I visited with a couple of guys, one had lived in Australia for years, finally back to Belgium (about 70 yrs old) and another 47 yo that has a twin sister married to a guy in Colorado....LOL. Well while visiting with those two, who walks in but the younger couple from the tour. I went over and said "English", he replied "little". So I asked how he liked the tour and got the impression he liked it about as much as I did. So I said "nice to meet you" and shook hands with both he and his wife. Anyway the bartender told me to go to a restaurant called Kelderken on the plaza. So after a couple of beers I headed that way.

It is a small restaurant in the basement of one of the old buildinjgs...pics if I can publish them...and I was told to order Waterzooi, which I did. Was pretty good. A Belgian Chicken dish. Well while I was eating, who should walk in but the Spanish couple!!! They waved and said "hi", then as I left I told them good bye and have a good trip.

From there I walked down some of the side streets, ran across a Greek street...all the shops and restaurants on this street were Greek...thought I was back in Athens. Then I went around the corner to a chocolate shop and got some chocolates to bring home...I mean go to Belgium and not get chocolate!!! I'm sure they'll look like a hershey bar by the time I get them out of DFW...but had to take a chance.

Then did a little more shopping cause you know I have this last 20 euro that's burning a hole in my pocket, and they sure don't use that cheap money in London...no sir, ONLY the pound and sterling!!!

Well all loaded down I waited for the hotel bus to catch a ride back to the hotel and catch ya'll up on the blog. Oh, by the way. Pictures were finally added to some of the earlier blogs...Venice, Vienna, and Athens, so check'em out if you get a chance.

Oh, and the pics I took today were ALL bad...don't know what happened, looked like the autofocus wasn't working. Only after I changed batteries did any of the pics come out good, so will try to publish a couple of those if the connection is good in the morning, if not will try to update them once I get to London.