Hey guys - I'm having a great time here in Brussels this week-end. The Marriott here is really nice and it is right in the center of things. THey even have ICE MACHINES!!!!! At the hotel in Waterloo, they looked at me really strange when I asked where theirs were.
I had a really frustrating day at office yesterday and then stepped in a mud-filled hole on the way back to hotel twisting my ankle really bad - so I went to the restaurant and had half a bottle of wine with dinner and then went to bed with an ice pack. Slept very well with sweet dreams of the upcoming weekend.
It was pouring rain when I left Waterloo and snowing by the time I got to Brussels. But the snow stopped pretty early and I had a great day. It was bone-chilling cold though, so I hopped on one of those "get on get off" city tour buses. This was probably the worst tour I've ever been on. First of all the coach wasn't heated. And the narration was canned - the driver never said a word not even to announce the stops. I intended to get off in the museum district, but I missed it. Still, it was a good way to see all of the city and my ticket is good for tomorrow so I will pay more attention as to where I want to get off. Impersonl though it was, the narration did give some good history of Brussels.
COld as it was there were quite a few tourists about, but I found a quiet little tea room that wasn;'t very crowded and had really good hot chocolate and waffles which I had for lunch and then again when I got back from the tour. Also found that wonderful chocolate shop I had been to a few weeks ago. I couldn't believe it but they remembered me!!!! Bought TWO boxes of chocolate this time instead of one. Mary Anne - found you some more lace - more on that later.
Then on the way back to the hotel I stopped in at a used record shop I had seen earlier. I know its passe, but I still like listening to my record player and have a pretty fair collection of 33s - some (Elvis mainly) left over from my teen years and my Dad is really good about buying them for me at garage sales. Anyway, I bought four from this guy - Patsy CLine, Hank Williams, Elvis (one of the few I don't have and have looked for for YEARS, and one called "Larry Long and the Children of Oklahoma" - it's a tribute to Woody Guthrie - never heard of Long, but am eager to see what this is about. Had a nice conversation with the guy who owns the shop and told him how there is only one place in Dallas where I could buy needles for my turntable and two years ago they sold me the last one they were going to be able to get. Well, guess what? There is a guy here in Brussels who has needles - the record guy is going to get me his name.
Oh, remember Manneken Pis "the most renowned citizen of Brussels" I told you about before? I had already been to the museum where all his costumes are, but didn't actually see the statue that trip. I did see it today though. Will send some of you pictures.
Second installment coming up......
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