Howitzer

Sunday, July 11:
So, our second day in Brussels started with us in search of a laundry place. We spent the morning waiting for our laundry to finish, while eating chocolate that we bought in a nearby super market. We were starving when we finished, so we headed out to a supposedly cheap Chinese restaurant. The map we had promised that we’d “never see so much food disappear so fast.” It was too bad that the 3.5 euro lunch advertised was not available on Sunday. We still had our fill though, taking in fried rice, fried noodles, and noodle soup. I think it was funny that this was our second time having Chinese comfort food in Europe.

Once sated, we were off to sample more of the famous beers in Belgium. This time, I started off with a St. Bernardus Abt 12, the beer that I will always remember for the magical time it gave me in Seattle. I moved on to a Waterloo Tripel, and then finally a Cookie Beer. The Cookie Beer tastes exactly like you’d think. It was like a gingerbread cookie drink, and the bartender even gave me a small cookie to go with my beer!


For dinner I had fries, which in my opinion aren’t all they’re cracked up to be in Belgium. They have their fries in paper cones, with sauce dumped on top. I tried mayonnaise, andaluse, and salsa diabla flavors. I think creamy fries are probably the best.

After dinner, it was World Cup time! The Spanish fans were out in force, with bright red & yellow flags and jerseys everywhere. Every third car going by on the street was honking, with passengers waving Spanish flags out the window. It was soccer pandemonium. The Dutch fans had a sizeable presence too. Aptly nicknamed “the Oranje,” their fans wore bright traffic-orange apparel. Being such a lover of orange, I decided to side with the Oranje and cheer for the Netherlands. The game was exciting, more because it was the final rather than for the action. There were lots of yellow cards given, and lots of almost goals. It was sad when Spain won on an overtime goal with only 10 minutes left in the game. I always seem to cheer for the losing team in World Cups. I rooted for Germany in 2002, against Italy in 2006, and for Netherlands in 2010. Oh well. Allez l’Oranje!

And for laughs:


-Howitzer