Sunday the 10th of August, 2008 – Brussels is our friend.

Dear patron, prepare for a new direction for this here ´travel blog´!

I have declared the previous format of ¨and then we did this and then we did this¨ to be wildly uninteresting for both reader and writer, and so from now on it will be a little more ephemeral and snippet-based.

If you´d like to read about exactly what the three of us did each day, you can consult the blogs of my siblings, who write in such comprehensive detail that I can´t help but admire their commitment and consistency.



So, to Brussels.

Brussels is neat.
If I was a city, any city, I would be Brussels.

It is small, laid back and confusing. A constant contradiction unto itself (two official languages, mixed in with at least five others; beautiful architecture against horribly plain buildings). It´s inhabitants pride a strong sense of irony and favour the casual over the hipsters (their term for ´trendy´ is used a criticism). Everything is closed on Sundays, Mondays and during a segment of the afternoon, and noone seems to care. Everything is art-and-design-y, and there is a legacy of a comics culture that is literally painted onto its walls.

More than that, the locals always seem quite guarded and stand-off-ish at first but once you get into two minutes of approaching them, they turn out to be the loveliest, helpful people with a great sense of humor.

When we got here, in the evening, our eyes widened, glossed over with joy as we decided that we loved it so much that we may as well move here. I started scheming in my head about living costs and liabilities.



Also, there is wonderful beer, chocolate, waffles and fries. My thighs grow round already. Not cool. Actually,maybe I probably should not move to Brussels then. At least in London, the normality of everyone's´ eating disorders keeps you on your toes.



But oh! the Belgian chocolate is so good.
And I am completely infatuated by the trappist beer – particularly the kriek variety, which is brewed with cherries and traditionally drunk by girls. So, so tasty. My first experience with kriek was at my first Pukkelpop in 2006, when Sam, Shannan, Cam and I happened upon Mort Subite Kriek Extra in the ´special beers´ tent.

Since then, I couldn´t keep it out of my mind and was anticipating our reunion.
It did not disappoint.