EuRape Trip Part 1: Brussels
We will make this a five-parter.
I went on a ten-day whirlwind tour of five cities with Zack and Brittany last month. So begins its retelling.
We left on a Saturday. We all had to meet in Paris to catch the cheap bus to Brussels. The trip to the bus itself was uneventful, except I got my camera stolen, but I don't want to record it into eternity, so I won't tell the story in here. Suffice it to say, I was rather upset, and I don't have any of my own pictures of Brussels (Zack and Brittany stepped up for me, though).
When we arrived, we weren't really sure how to get to our hotel, so we commenced a journey that was over an hour long, in the rain and the falling evening. I was reading the map wrong, so we got a little lost, but Zack got us out of it.
We finally reached our hotel, where Brittany had only booked a double. We had to sneak Zack in. We didn't worry about it at the time, and we dropped off our stuff and asked Lars where to get dinner. He was incredibly helpful, and his name probably isn't Lars, but that's what we called him. We got some dinner and celebrated not being in France.
Upon our return to the hotel, Lars was outside smoking, was easily able to see that Zack was a member of our party. He stopped to ask him what he was doing, and Zack said he'd just go up for a drink. We got to the room and while we drank (that is, while Zack pounded whiskey), we tried to figure out ways to sneak Zack back into the room, or keep him there... Because Lars had asked Zack to say goodbye when he left. Zack got into the closet and asked me to put a hanger in his shirt so he looked like clothes, and he also tried hiding between the beds and on the window ledge. Brittany and I were laughing uncontrollably and Zack just put Brittany's scarf on to hide his head. Eventually Brittany and I opted for honesty and asked if we could just keep him for the night amidst a series of other questions. We had to pay 15 extra euros, but whatever.
The next day, I wanted to see some Smurfs. They originated there. We got some breakfast, and snuck some up for Zack, and then we followed the directions Lars had given us to the Comic Book Center. We actually ended up finding some European thing instead. Like a parliament, I think, for all the European Union. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was the European Parliament. Zack and Brittany, the social studies teachers, were thrilled; I, however, was cranky because our directions had lied and I still didn't have a camera and they were taking pictures of the thing from every freaking angle.
Once they had finished, we decided to go into the center of town and see Manneken Pis, the statue of a peeing boy. We did a lot of souvenir shopping and found the statue, who was wearing a fireman's costume. I guess it was fireman weekend, because there was like, a fireman fair in the center square, and they were playing marching band music and letting people in the firetrucks. We stayed there for a little while, then chose a side alley to get lunch.
The thing about the alley we chose is that it was one of those alleys where it is just restaurant after restaurant, and all of them have someone outside accosting passersby with offers of free drinks and tables by the fire. One guy was finally appealing, and asked if it was okay with Princess (his name for Brittany), and we got some pretty good lunchin'. I finally tried escargot, and I wasn't even in France. It's not that bad, though.
After this, we were going to find that bloody Smurf place. On the way, we passed a little street market, where Brittany found a place to get perfume for her boyfriend's mom. The man working this perfume stand became Magical Brussels Boyfriend, a man with sparkling eyes and the kindest smile, who knew his way around a perfume. He also tried to help us find this stupid comic book place and recommended other things to do in the city. We thanked him and continued on our way.
After another few sets of wrong directions, we finally made it to that freaking Smurf place. You had to pay to get into the museum, but there was a gift shop where I was able to get a little stuffed Smurf for one of my godsons. It was an expensive store though, so I wasn't able to get much. But we got some pictures with Smurfs in the lobby, and I considered the trip a success.
Europe had fallen back that weekend, so it was getting dark by the time we left the Smurf museum. And raining again. We made our way back to the center square to see the peeing boy sans costume (success!), and we tried to find some dinner. On the way, we stopped in a sex store or two. Sex stores are fancy in Europe. Most of Europe... the one down the street from me here in Reims is kind of sketch, but the ones we saw in Brussels and Bruges were pretty nice. Anyway, we got dinner at a café, and just decided to go home.
On the way, we passed two really sleazy-looking, dark, greasy-haired, young European guys. They sort of eyed me, but I gave them a stern look back, and I saw them getting ready for Brittany behind me. The one of them eyes her up and down, bumps into her and says, "Bonsoir." I BURST into laughter; fortunately, they did, too, instead of knifing me. Then we saw them later and they were creepily staring at Brittany, and we went home.
Lars was working again, so we made Zack go in first, and Brittany and I followed a half hour later. We had girl talk in a park just down the block from the hotel, and then we went and started our "tradition" of getting pictures with the guy who runs the front desk. Lars complied after we promised not to put his name anywhere (something about not being under contract or something). We made it back to the room, where we showered and I drank my Belgian chocolate liquor, and the next day we got a free metro ride to the train station and made our way to Bruges.
I went on a ten-day whirlwind tour of five cities with Zack and Brittany last month. So begins its retelling.
We left on a Saturday. We all had to meet in Paris to catch the cheap bus to Brussels. The trip to the bus itself was uneventful, except I got my camera stolen, but I don't want to record it into eternity, so I won't tell the story in here. Suffice it to say, I was rather upset, and I don't have any of my own pictures of Brussels (Zack and Brittany stepped up for me, though).
When we arrived, we weren't really sure how to get to our hotel, so we commenced a journey that was over an hour long, in the rain and the falling evening. I was reading the map wrong, so we got a little lost, but Zack got us out of it.
We finally reached our hotel, where Brittany had only booked a double. We had to sneak Zack in. We didn't worry about it at the time, and we dropped off our stuff and asked Lars where to get dinner. He was incredibly helpful, and his name probably isn't Lars, but that's what we called him. We got some dinner and celebrated not being in France.
Upon our return to the hotel, Lars was outside smoking, was easily able to see that Zack was a member of our party. He stopped to ask him what he was doing, and Zack said he'd just go up for a drink. We got to the room and while we drank (that is, while Zack pounded whiskey), we tried to figure out ways to sneak Zack back into the room, or keep him there... Because Lars had asked Zack to say goodbye when he left. Zack got into the closet and asked me to put a hanger in his shirt so he looked like clothes, and he also tried hiding between the beds and on the window ledge. Brittany and I were laughing uncontrollably and Zack just put Brittany's scarf on to hide his head. Eventually Brittany and I opted for honesty and asked if we could just keep him for the night amidst a series of other questions. We had to pay 15 extra euros, but whatever.
The next day, I wanted to see some Smurfs. They originated there. We got some breakfast, and snuck some up for Zack, and then we followed the directions Lars had given us to the Comic Book Center. We actually ended up finding some European thing instead. Like a parliament, I think, for all the European Union. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was the European Parliament. Zack and Brittany, the social studies teachers, were thrilled; I, however, was cranky because our directions had lied and I still didn't have a camera and they were taking pictures of the thing from every freaking angle.
Once they had finished, we decided to go into the center of town and see Manneken Pis, the statue of a peeing boy. We did a lot of souvenir shopping and found the statue, who was wearing a fireman's costume. I guess it was fireman weekend, because there was like, a fireman fair in the center square, and they were playing marching band music and letting people in the firetrucks. We stayed there for a little while, then chose a side alley to get lunch.
The thing about the alley we chose is that it was one of those alleys where it is just restaurant after restaurant, and all of them have someone outside accosting passersby with offers of free drinks and tables by the fire. One guy was finally appealing, and asked if it was okay with Princess (his name for Brittany), and we got some pretty good lunchin'. I finally tried escargot, and I wasn't even in France. It's not that bad, though.
After this, we were going to find that bloody Smurf place. On the way, we passed a little street market, where Brittany found a place to get perfume for her boyfriend's mom. The man working this perfume stand became Magical Brussels Boyfriend, a man with sparkling eyes and the kindest smile, who knew his way around a perfume. He also tried to help us find this stupid comic book place and recommended other things to do in the city. We thanked him and continued on our way.
After another few sets of wrong directions, we finally made it to that freaking Smurf place. You had to pay to get into the museum, but there was a gift shop where I was able to get a little stuffed Smurf for one of my godsons. It was an expensive store though, so I wasn't able to get much. But we got some pictures with Smurfs in the lobby, and I considered the trip a success.
Europe had fallen back that weekend, so it was getting dark by the time we left the Smurf museum. And raining again. We made our way back to the center square to see the peeing boy sans costume (success!), and we tried to find some dinner. On the way, we stopped in a sex store or two. Sex stores are fancy in Europe. Most of Europe... the one down the street from me here in Reims is kind of sketch, but the ones we saw in Brussels and Bruges were pretty nice. Anyway, we got dinner at a café, and just decided to go home.
On the way, we passed two really sleazy-looking, dark, greasy-haired, young European guys. They sort of eyed me, but I gave them a stern look back, and I saw them getting ready for Brittany behind me. The one of them eyes her up and down, bumps into her and says, "Bonsoir." I BURST into laughter; fortunately, they did, too, instead of knifing me. Then we saw them later and they were creepily staring at Brittany, and we went home.
Lars was working again, so we made Zack go in first, and Brittany and I followed a half hour later. We had girl talk in a park just down the block from the hotel, and then we went and started our "tradition" of getting pictures with the guy who runs the front desk. Lars complied after we promised not to put his name anywhere (something about not being under contract or something). We made it back to the room, where we showered and I drank my Belgian chocolate liquor, and the next day we got a free metro ride to the train station and made our way to Bruges.