Brussels

Well here we are in Brussels.  For those of you who don't know, my brother Paul moved to Belgium almost 2 years ago to take up a position as Chief Financial Officer with the company he's worked for since he left University. We couldn't come this far around the world and not come to visit him, despite the fact that he comes back to Australia a couple of times year.  It's weird, I think we talk more now that he lives over here than we did when he was still at home.

So far we're loving our visit, especially the Belgian Waffles...hot and fresh are our favourite.  The chocolate ones are delicious but almost a little too much, especially for breakfast. Yesterday we skipped the buffet breakfast in the hotel in favour of waffles from the vendor down the street.  Good choice as far as we were concerned.

We opted to spend the day exploring Brussels via one of the hop-on hop-off buses.  They're a great way to find out more about the city and get a feel for what what you want to go back and explore. We did a whole loop of the tour which took about 90 minutes longer than normal thanks to what we think was a massive car accident.  The emergency vehicles were having as much trouble getting through the traffic as we were.

We ended up getting off the bus back at the beginning where the Grand Place is located.  Lots of beautiful old buildings around the the central square. We had a lovely wander until it started to rain, then it wasn't quite so pleasant.We got caught in a massive downpour on our way home yesterday and had to make use of Paul's laundry facilities today in order to dry everything.

One thing I've been really surprised at is how dirty the city is. The beautiful old buildings are covered in thick layers of filth from pollution and car exhausts I guess.  It's quite sad to see really.  I want to buy them a Karcher for Christmas! There are lots of smokers in Brussles too and despite the provision of cigarette disposal bins, there are hundreds of butts on the ground everywhere you go.  It's disgusting. There are lots of people begging in the streets, often with their children and some even walk up and down lanes of traffic as they stop at the lights hoping for a few coins from drivers.  Pick Pockets are a big problem here too, there are signs warning people everywhere, especially where tourists visit. I had my purse stolen on the Metro in Paris years ago, it's not an experience I want to repeat so I feel like I'm super vigilant at the moment.  I wish I didn't have to be.

Now Belgium is famous for a few things apparently... Beer, Mussels, Asparagus and of course, Chocolate!  Jemima has always associated chocolate with Paul, as far as she's concerned, Uncle Paul lives in Chocolate Land.  We decided to pay homage to Belgium's chocolate industry and visit every chocolate shop we found on our wander, and of course...buy something! We had a little chocolate feast when we got back to the hotel. We're definitely big fans of Belgian chocolate!!

Drew and Max were thrilled when we found a Tin Tin shop that had a fabulous collection of merchandise.  They made a few purchases and were pretty damned happy.

We're off to dinner soon with Paul and 'The Girl He's Seeing'.  He doesn't use the term 'Girlfriend' so I guess I won't either.  I get to check her out tonight and see whether she passes the Big Sister test...we'll see.

Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Rome.  I'm a wee bit excited about that!