Beer!

I was really lucky to be in Brussels for the annual beer festival. Kacee and I got a late start due to our normal procrastinating-yoga, running, brunch, coffee, buying jewlry from a stand, buying chocolates, etc, etc. So we had a short amount of time to complete our mission of trying as many different beers as possible-mission accomplished perhaps all too well.

Some really interesting beers we tried were apple, peach, brown sugar, coconut, banana, and really bitter cherry.

Some beers I really enjoyed were the Leffe and Delirium blondes.

Brussels-it will surprise you

This is the slogan of the Brussels government or tourism ministry to promote the city, and I think it’s clever. Pretty much everyone I know who has heard of Brussels, been to Brussels, or is Belgium has told me Brussels is super boring. I don’t really agree. It has rained the entire 5 days I’ve been here, but I like Brussels.

The neighborhoods are made up of narrow cobblestone streets lined with balconies, flower boxes, and bicycles. The city center has lots of well preserved French gothic architecture like old government buildings and churches, as well as many green areas of public parks. This could describe many European cities, but as Brussels is small, there is a quaintness that I enjoy.

Observations about Brussels made after 5 days (so they are definitely accurate):

It smells like waffles everywhere-the metro, outside the palace, the pub. I think it is another pretty clever play of the Brussels tourism ministry to pump the waft of waffles and chocolate into the air.

The train station and system is very confusing, and people don’t really want to help you when you ask questions.

The museums and other public tourist sites do not have lots of English explanations-French and Dutch for sure and maybe an English card on the side of some rooms, if you are lucky. This does not make me mad because I speak English and want to understand what I’ve come all the way to Europe to see. I can sort of understand the French if I want to take the time to read it because of my Spanish. However, it makes me upset for tourists from other places-I have seen a lot of Asian tourists who don’t speak French or Dutch- and they travelled halfway around the world to see these things.

Euro Trip

I feel so fortunate to be on this very very last minute planned Euro trip for 3 weeks. The plan is Cyprus, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Barcelona. :-)

In Bruges

Kacee and I watched the movie in Bruges and then went to Bruges the next day, and I recommend doing both of these things very much. The movie is a really dark comedy that makes fun of Bruges and showcases the city at the same time.

We did a canal tour

Ray: Do you think this is good?

Ken: Do I think what's good?
Ray: You know, going around in a boat, looking at stuff?
Ken: Yes, I do. It's called sight-seeing.

The swans

The alcoves

I would agree with Harry, the big boss hitman in the movie, that Bruges really is like a ***ing fairy tale-a rainy fairy tale for Kacee and I.

Driving in Cyprus

It was very confusing to drive in Cyprus, because everything is written in English and either Greek or Turkish. However, it is not always written in both languages so one sign might be Greek, the next in English, and your map is in Greek. There are some names that are easy enough to figure out like Lemesos is also Limassol, but it’s enough to make you second quess yourself in the middle of a rotary where you are driving on the left hand side and counter clockwise. Then on the Turkish side the names were not even close our map said Girne and the road signs said Kyprenia, our map said Lefkosa and the road signs said Nicossia. I understand why the man at the rental car place told me a GPS was useless.

The Green line

Cyprus was the last closed border in Europe with a Greek and Turkish side until the 90’s. We crossed into the Turkish side which was less developed and touristy than the Greek side. There were also Turkish flags everywhere. We got to see the Kvsrenia Castle which is some preserved some ruins from about the 7th cen. There was part of a shipwreck from about 300 BC, which they were able to date that far back using almonds which were huge and still whole.

Aphrodite's Birthplace

We went to the beach and rock where Aphrodite was born from the sea. Here is the story Wikipedia tells me about the legend:

Gaia (Mother Earth) asked one of her sons, Cronus, to mutilate his father, Uranus (Sky). Cronus cut off Uranus' testicles and threw them into the sea. A white foam appeared from which a maiden arose, the waves first taking her to Kythera and then bringing her to Cyprus.

Painting from the Dali museum at the end of my trip of this place