Last night in Belgium and whoa is it a doozy

So I'm almost falling asleep today at work - go to dinner right next to a 1446 castle outsite of Leuven - can't seem to find it right now.

Go to some bar. Visit with some guy from Romania, a couple from Antwert, who are going to the hospital tomorrow for a visit - she's very nervous as well as he - but it's down to the wire and they're gonna find out what's wrong and probably not a lot of sleep - oh, and he bought me a Duvel and a shot of some "Geneva" wheat liquour.

Oh, and then a bunch of Manchester guys show up - I buy a few of them beers, no wait - a few Canadians show up - I buy them a few beers, one of them stays around, a bunch of Manchester guys stay around - I buy a bunch of them a bunch of beers - some are from the RAF, but I doubt it. Bunch of damn dentists, anyway.

God I love Belgium - and spell checker...

How did the cross race go? Seriously.

night 1 in Belgium

OK, meeting Karim's 2.5 year old daughter makes up for the escalator excursions I endured on Saturday afternoon. Cutest girl possible. I don't speak her Tunisian, but she's a total sweetheart.

Got a chance to briefly see the following landmarks: NATO headquarters, the Royal Palace of Brussels, the Manneken Pis, the Cinquantenaire, and the Atomium. And when I say briefly, I mean drove by in the passenger seat.

Just came back from having an in-depth discussion on beer with Willem tending bar - no, Bram is not working tonight, but Willem just happened to have Michael Jackson's great beers of Belgium book in his bag - a publication I've desired since it's first printing in 1991. Unfortunately the hardcover I just browsed is in Dutch, so I didn't get a lot of information from it, but the photos alone are deserving of the purchase. Willem just finished writing an article on Delirium Tremens for the beer tasting club he's a member of. It seems that Willem and I have similar hobbies and interests - bonding but no physical contact, sorry readers.

I got a few sweet photos of bikes this afternoon in Amsterdam - will post them when possible - I left the camera cord at home and flickr is blocked from my work laptop - land of the free, eh?