Today was quite the day. It started when I woke up at 7:30 in the morning and thought that it was still 4 in the morning. My sense of time is still a little thrown off, but it should be coming around to normal pretty shortly. It is 8:37 here right now, and that actually feels about right.
Anyway, after waking up and having a breakfast of pastries, scrambled eggs, and bacon, Frans and I went to the Museé Hergé. This is a museum about 30 minutes outside of Belgium dedicated to the comic strip artist Hergé, who, among other things wrote the Tintin comics. He is one of my favorite comic artists. So much so that I named my dog, Snowy, after the dog in the strip. (Who I learned today is named Milou in French, which does not translate to Snowy.) The museum was wonderful, and was definitely set up to cater to English speakers like myself. The audio tour could be done in English, and all of the signs were done in English, French, and Dutch. Quite thoughtful!
So after the museum we drove back into Brussels to go to the Atomium. For those of you that don’t know (like I didn’t), the Atomium is a large structure built for the Brussels’ World’s Fair. It is shaped like an Iron Molecule. You know what. Go here. So we saw and went up inside that and it was pretty cool. Inside they had some of the most dizzy inducing escalators that I had ever seen. Luckily I didn’t throw up or pass out.
Next was the Museum of Musical Instruments. It was very interesting, and I got to see some interesting old instruments, including something called a rotophone which was like a saxophone with an oboe read. Very weird. This museum wasn’t as catering to English speakers, but you don’t really need to understand the language to appreciate the beauty of 400 year old instruments.
I was kind of carsick at this point, so we walked around the city center of Brussels some more, and ended up getting the most decadent waffle that I’ve ever had. It was a waffle, covered in strawberries, covered in whipped cream, covered in chocolate. It was delicious, and the waffle was unlike anything I’ve had in the States. It was much more delicate and like a pastry than the typical pancakey waffles we are used to back home.
So then we came back home, and I uploaded some pictures and talked to some family members. And for dinner we had some amazing chicken flavored with Roman herbs, goat sausages, which were not my thing, Belgian sausages, which were my thing, and two salads which were both good. The one with the pears and walnuts was definitely my favorite, but I ate the garden salad as well. Oh, and chocolate pudding for dessert. Like the Jello pudding cups, except different. Pretty good.
That is basically the story of Day 2 of this adventure. Tomorrow is set up to be even crazier, because we are leaving in the morning to board a train and head to Paris. So when you hear from me again I will be able to report to you on that. Like usual, I’m nervous and excited.
Bonne nuit!
btw, go USA hockey!