Belgium

Since Jay had only seen 11 countries in his lifetime we decided it was about time to see a few more. To up the count we drove up to Amsterdam for a fun-filled weekend with the Price's stopping in Brussels, Belgium on the way. Brussels was founded in the 10th century by Charlemagne's great grandson and now acts as the capital of Belgium. We arrived in Brussels pretty late and Jessie kindly offered to stay with Jay as he slept in the hotel room while Tally showed us the city. It was a quick trip since it was already late but we were able to see the important things. We started by driving by the Cathedral (once you've see a few you've seen them all, right?;). We headed to the Grand Palace next which was constructed in the 1400s.
It was actually deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It's beautiful to see at night. As we walked on we turned down a street with about 8 Greek restaurants sitting side-by-side on the same street. Each had a patron shouting at us to come into the "best restaurant in Brussels." Is it really that difficult to figure out you might get more business if you weren't surrounded by 7 restaurants almost exactly the same as yours? Since we were hungry we grabbed a quick bite at the only Greek restaurant without someone trying to corral us into it. After the gyro we had to find a Belgium waffle for dessert. mmmmm.... it was incredibly delicious. The waffle tasted like it was dipped in caramel. The strawberries, bananas, whipped cream and chocolate on top didn't hurt either. Of course with so many toppings piled high most of it ended up on our faces. After our feast we stopped by to see Manneken Pis. It's this crazy fountain of a little boy peeing. A main tourist attraction in Brussels. The statue even has it's own wardrobe consisting of hundreds of costumes provided by the non-profit association The Friends of Manneken-Pis. Sounds strange to me. The fountain of course has a story behind it. One legend claims the boy saved Brussels from destruction in the 1400s when a foreign power attempted to blow the city up using explosives. A young boy from Brussels was spying on the enemy and after the fuse was lit he put it out by peeing on it. What a hero! Well that about sums up our quick trip to Brussels.

Thanks Jessie for the waffle picture!