Bruxelles

Bonjour tout le monde! I arrived in Brussels safely and was met at the airport by the lovely Meera, my fellow ETA friend. It was so helpful to a friend know where to go, where to buy train tickets, help with my luggage and just follow around so I didn't have to worry after a drowsy 8 hour flight. We stored our bags at the lockers at the metro so we didn't have to wheel around 50-pound suitcases. I was lucky that Meera and her friend Nina had already found a hostel so my arrival was stress-free.

Beforehand, I was stranded at O'hare for 8 hours becuase my flight was delayed due to an air traffic controller strike. But 'Bruxelles' (in French) totally made up for it. I saw La Grande Place, which means the big square, the famous statue of the peeing boy (which was pretty anticlimatic) and walked around the park, sitting down in a nice outdoor cafe with some vin chaud and plate of cheese, olives, sausage. I didn't know that Bruxelles was known to be an ugly city. Haha it wasn't so ugly to me, but I can see where it gets its reputation with an odd mix of historic & modern buildings, an assortment of gray cathedrales and slippery cobblestone in the dreary rain. However, the random statues scattered throughout town and the hilly roads which seem to be a complex maze were an adventure. To a passerby, Bruxelles doesn't seem so bad.

Me, Meera and Nina walked to the EU building and to our surprise there was some sort of international festival going on with free food and drinks. It was pretty awesome and we got to try food from Italy, Poland, Italy, Estonia etc. Quelle chance that we should stumble upon free dinner! Well more later. Up next for today, some Belgian fries with mayo and maybe Little Africa and mussels from Brussels for dinner? Yes, you have to say the whole phrase 'mussels from Brussels.' And I'm going to Camroon tomorrow. yay. A plus tard.