Sunday, August 21, 2011

August 22, 2011 -- Last morning in Brussels

Shortly I will be heading to the train station to take the train to Luxembourg, the next-to-the-last stop in Europe before returning home.

Yesterday I succumbed to temptation and again bought an order of Belgian fries with mayonaise. It was the devil who made me do it! I also broke down and tried one of the Belgian waffles. It was delicious! It had cinnamon and sugar baked into it, so it needed no toppings.  As pictured below, the waffles that most Belgians eat are irregularly shaped, have a delicious flavor all by themselves, and are eaten without toppings. The square waffles with toppings are more popular among the tourists.

 
At least after this morning I will be away from the temptation of delicious Belgian food.

Yesterday I visited two districts that are side by side on opposite sides of the North Train Station: the business district and the red-light district. To me it's incongruous that these two districts could exist cheek by jowl. Stranger yet, in the red-light district many of the small grocery shops are owned by Arabs and sell no alcohol. If you want to get laid, no problem, but for goodness sakes don't do anything so sinful as ask for a beer!

In the red-light district, young women sit in storefront windows in their underwear and attempt to attract clients. (Sorry, no pictures.) As you might expect, there were also shops advertising X-rated videos and peep shows.

I did take some pictures of the financial district, however. I heard the buildings referred to as "skyscrapers," a term to which New York
City residents might object. However, the buildings are tall compared to the rest of Brussels. Here are two shots.




I also enjoyed my daily can of Belgian beer and purchased a spare can to drink on the train tomorrow so that I won't have to pay the high prices in the dining car. Aug

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