Yesterday I took the train to Paris, stopping in Brussels in between trains. I only gave myself 4 hours to walk around, but wish I had more time. The architecture is great, lots of variety. There’s practically no tourists (except for a few, and they’re all Italian for some reason). It reminds me of a dirtier Amsterdam without canals, maybe that’s why no tourists. Still, there were huge grand palaces with hardly anyone around; I was at a railing overlooking the whole city, alone on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Only walked around a quarter of the city in all. Kenny, how did you manage it in two hours? Anyway, other than the buildings there didn’t seem to be much going on, so Bjoern - I can see how it might be a boring town to spend a whole year.

Anyway, I focused on buildings and food. Belgian beer note for Brian: there’s a Leffe brune (brown) and it tastes even better than the blonde. So do Belgian waffles and chocolates. And I found the Manneken Pis fountain that gives name to a chain of Belgian frites stands that we frequented in Amsterdam. Main tourist attraction, a pissing baby - very bizarre. Pictures will come later….