A City of Pissing Babies and Belgium Waffles

Monday, 2.17.2014:

I woke early and showered before everyone else in my room so that I could meet Hannah and Becky for coffee downstairs. The three of us rehashed the night before and planned out the day ahead of us. We decided to join all the Illinois kids from Dublin on the free walking tour around Brussels. The tour ended up being pretty informational but it was really long. We got to see a little bit of everything in Brussels which was extremely nice. The city is very ornate. Here are some pictures from the tour: 

Once the tour was over, I realized that I had not ate yet (keep in mind it's like 2pm) so I decided I needed to buy from Frites (Belgium fries). The fries were delicious but the I could have passed on the sauce I ate with them. It was like spicy tomato soup in sauce form - wasn't a huge fan of it. As I ate my frites all of us walked around trying to find some souvenirs. A lot of the souvenirs revolved around the famous Mannequin Piss. Once I had my postcard and flag pin, I walked Hannah and Becky back to the hostile so both of them could catch heir train back to Leuven (the town they live in). After saying goodbye to them I met back up with the Illinois people to have a beer as we walked to a distillery. Yes, in Belgium there are no open container laws. The distillery ended up being very far from the city center. When we finally got there we were really confused because this distillery looks like a giant warehouse, we also had a tough time trying to figure out how to get into the building. Once in, we paid our for our tickets and got started on the tour. It was self guided so we all walked as a group through the distillery reading the paragraphs that's corresponded with the areas we were in. It was kinda like being back in second grade when we used to do popcorn reading during class. At the end of the tour we received two free samples. I was not a fan of this beer at all, it was very sour and tart. I'm glad I got to try it but I can say with confidence I will not be missing this beer from Belgium.

Check out the name^^

After the tour Joel, Will and I went to get some food from the local grocery store, that way we could avoid eating out again. The three of us decided to split a gigantic pan of lasagna and get a couple of beers. We walked back to the hostel and popped our lasagna in the over. While we waited for the lasagna to finish we drank our beers and watched the ice figure skating in the Olympics. It was a very relaxing evening. After dinner, the three of us decided to get one more waffle. While we chowed down on the delicious waffles we talked about Illini sports and got to know each other a tad better. We decided that we could not leave Belgium without buying some chocolates so we found a little shop. We then returned to the hostel to catch up with the other group of people that had gone out to eat. Shawn, Will, Joel, Shannon and I all decided to go to a pub for one last beer before calling it a night. The last pub was a great call because there was a live performer and my beer ended up being extremely delicious. I got something called the St Louis. I couldn't resist! Once our beers were finished we went back to the hostel to get some sleep before our early departure the next day.

Cheers,
Jenny