Days 13 & 14: Bruges and Brussels

We had an awesome two days in Belgium. On Tuesday we spent most of the day in Bruges. I think the draw there is that it's known as the "storybook city" and is so old, you feel like you've stepped into the 17th century. There's also a great movie called In Bruges that I highly recommend. Getting to see some of the locations used for the film was neat.

We took a canal tour around the city, climbed Belfort Tower, took lots of pictures, and visited an old church that houses the "Madonna and Child", the first of Michelangelo's sculptures to leave Italy during his lifetime.

In the evening we traveled to Brussels. Upon our arrival we were given time to shower and change clothes in our hotel before heading to a group dinner. I don't recall the name of the restaurant, but the rabbit I had was phenomenal! Afterwards, the majority of our group headed over to the Delirium Cafe for beers. If you ever find yourself in Brussels with time to kill, you have to visit this bar.

It has 3 floors of bars with most (but not all!) of the same beers on tap. I think there's over 2000 beers available, but not all are on tap. I think there are close to 100 taps. If you go, make sure to try the house beers Tremens and Nocturnum. Tremens was named the "Best Beer in the World" at the 2008 World Beer Championships in Chicago. It's pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

The next morning we traveled across town to visit the European Commission, which is the governing body of the European Union. Not all of Europe is part of the EU. The EU has a free movement of goods, money and people across the borders of member nations. We had an informative lecture from one of the officials there. It was basically a history lesson about the background of the European Union, how it came to be, etc.

After our visit, we got temporarily misplaced looking for our hotel. Once we found it, some folks got changed and we went to find a place for lunch. I had a great club sandwich and bottled water for 5 euro from a place called Panos. We were given ample time to shop for souvenirs and walk around in search of waffles, chocolate or anything else we wanted. I got a delicious waffle with ice cream from Haagen-Daz.

Once the group reconvened after lunch, we walked down to Manneken-Pis, a famous fountain of a young boy urinating. It's actually not all that spectacular. Definitely overhyped.