October 12 - Brussels

Got to sleep in but I was rooming in the hostel with 5 loud American girls. Hooray earplugs! Spent the afternoon taking the train to Brussels, where people speak French and Dutch or Flemish or something I don’t understand. I was staying in a hotel! Hooray! After hostels and campsites it was really nice. I had my own bedroom and bathroom and checkout was at 12! The Belgians seem super nice. Anyway, I was right in downtown Brussels so I walked from the hotel to Grande Place (aka Groote Markt) where the King’s House was and now it is a big museum about Brussels.

Random fact: the feminist movement started in Belgium when a lady called Marie Poppen (or something like Mary Poppins??) was not allowed to be a lawyer even though they let her go to law school!

Then across the way from the King’s house was the town square and the Brewer’s Museum! It was great wandering in the streets – I had a real Belgian waffle and found lots of cool stores, including a Tintin shop! Had to buy something of course. There were tons of chocolate shops but I didn’t go in. I also found the Mannekin Pis, which is the pissing boy statue. In Grande Place there was also a restaurant called “La Maison du Cygne” which Karl Marx once spent NYE at, but the prices were so expensive – he was a bad leftie! There were shops everywhere- outdoor markets, indoor stalls etc. And they spoke French! Hooray! That night I wandered up to the Cathedral for a bit and then headed back to watch BBC on my TV. (Neighbors was on and I haven’t seen it for about four years, but they still had the same characters, haha.)