I’ve been going pretty much nonstop since arriving here in Brussels last Friday. And before that I was working all week. So it’s been a while since I took a break, which is why, when Marie and Yannic got up at 6:30am to get ready for work, I didn’t. Instead, I kinda sorta accidentally slept in until a quarter to nine. Oops. I guess I needed the extra sleep. After all, this is my vacation; I should relax a little, I suppose. At any rate, I ditched my plans to visit Namur and its famous Citadel in favour of a semi-veg day here in Brussels.
After lazing around for most of the morning, I caught the metro into the centre of town and stopped off at the Botanical Gardens briefly for a quick walk through and to enjoy the gorgeous weather. (Marie had asked me to “bring some sunshine” and my personal patch of sun has so far complied with her request). After a delicious baguette sandwich for lunch, I headed to the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée to learn everything I always wanted to know about the art of comic books (and some stuff I didn’t). A couple of hours later, full of facts about inking and drawing and Tintin and the Smurfs, I made my way back uptown, stopping off along the way to see the magnificent Cathedral Sts Michel and Gudule. Yes, if you’re counting, that’s another addition to the ABC list.
Marie and I met up after she got off work and decided a drink sounded like a good idea, given the hot sun, so we walked back downtown to the “A La Mort Subite” pub for some cold beverages (coke for her, beer for me; after all, I’m the one on vacation). A lot of the Belgian beers I’ve sampled so far have been either fruit-flavoured (like Kriek, a cherry-flavoured beer that’s very popular here), or simply very sweet. This afternoon’s Mort Subite Faro was definitely in the latter category. I’ve yet to try any of the famed Trappist beers, I think that will have to be next on the agenda.
We pretty much took it easy this evening. A quick trip to the grocery store to get some dinner fixings and to stock up on some souvenir chocolate for those of you anxiously awaiting some back home. A bit of internet surfing. Nothing too special. But sometimes, you just need a day off from a vacation, y’know?
More tomorrow.