10 Weeks, 2 People, 1 Nerve: A Travel Guide: Bruscels

Brussels ended up being a little bit lackluster for us. There is definitely a bit of pattern; when we spend time outside of big towns for a while, transitioning back into large, touristy cities always leave us over- and underwhelmed. I ended up getting out and running around the small ring road (5 miles) which surrounds the downtown district. On the edge of the ring there was a lot of diversity going on, and after reading somewhere that Brussels is 46% foreign born, I didn't really feel it until I took the jog around the edge of downtown. African neighborhoods and exotic grocery stores gave way to the Middle eastern Kebap stands and small shops, which met up at the South Train Station (Bruxelles Midi), and began it's trek up a big hill, which became more affluent and bright until it burst into a long stretch of high priced boutiques and embedded shopping galleries and malls. From there, up and to the left, the European Union buildings and various governmental embassies dot both sides of the Ring. A last hard left reveals the Botanic Gardens fronting a large Baroque-y building and a long down-slope to the river.
We stayed in a hostel this time, not knowing anybody. I got some good ping-pong in and we met a couple of travelers, I played some songs I didn't know how to play, and they're on YouTube and Facebook now. Enjoy! Of course there's Belgian beer, and a lot of it. We found that it wasn't that expensive, but also wasn't really that cheap. It was nice to find the Chimay Blue that I love was more readily available, but looking at the Wall of Beer in Bruges (Brugge), I saw a lot of familiar bottles, which means the distributors are doing them jobs. Duvel, Kwak, and Leffe, plus Kierke and Gueuze (try them yourselves, I can't explain them) were all over the place. Chris was initially excited to go to Delirium Tremens Bar, but one step inside made it clear that Belgium is still allowing smoking. One lesson we've taken to heart on this trip has been that, to a certain extent, doing something for the sake of doing it isn't a good enough reason. So we didn't get a beer in Delirium. We got beer and drank it on our own time.
We ended up with one good coffee place, and I got a jacket that I'm sure will feature prominently in future pics. I'll leave Chris to cover Bruges and Scarborough before I pick up at Tenby again.

Here's some pics of the festivities!
Our first night in town, walking around, and going out for dinner. Note the mussels and frites :D