June 18th:
Got out of bed for the full English breakfast…same as the day before but good none the less. Walked down Oxford Street and hit a few shops. Got another cheap shirt from H&M and some socks as I had already ruined 2 pairs. Watched the second half of the Germany game at a pub…they lost. I’m hoping they make it far in the world cup because I’ll probably be in Germany at that point in my travels. Made our way to the train station to get the Eurostar to Brussels. Mom is confused as always but I managed to ignore her and hoped she would follow me without too much hassle. Had to find a post office quick to mail Trey’s phone back and still make the train. Post office is just as annoying as it is in America…lines and waiting of course. Except in London, everyone is foreign so it is like being at a post office in America with a bunch of hispanic speaking people with full on accents running things. Made it back in time for the train…Mom was stressing out majorly because it was only 30 minutes prior to the departure (though we were 100ft away from the passport check and train platform). Made the train with no problem of course. Sat down and got the fear a little bit…got worse as I realized we were under the ocean in the Chunnel and my thoughts went to the “what if” the world above us caved in and we were buried under the ocean and I couldn’t reach my xanex, etc. So…I took a half a xanex and eventually chilled out and took a bit of a nap the rest of the way.
Visiting Thomas II (our second exchange student named Thomas so we called him “Thomas the 2nd) and family in Wavre (outside of Brussels). Picked us up, brought us home and we ate a massive medium rare roast with veggies and bread and all kinds of good Belgium food. Went with the kids (Thomas II, brother, sister, and bro-in-law and sis-in-law) to Brussels and found our way to Delerium which holds the record for serving the most different types of commercial beer in the world (2004). Quite crowded with smoking present as well. Once we got settled in to a proper table we had a few different beers…all good. The best was a Mongozo which is a banana flavored beer served in a half coconut type bowl with a little ring that you sit it on. Tons of dollar bills on the wall behind the bar which people had written their name and where they were from on. Seemed like a popular stop for travelers and locals alike. Head out the door and….more penis. People just peeing the street and not really hiding it in a doorway or corner….just standing in the street peeing. Damn that’s a lot of penis so far on this trip. Made it home soon enough and crashed out.
June 19th:
Saturday morning bring breakfast from the Linthouts (people we were staying with….very hospitable folks). Went to Wavre open downtown market which was basically a big sidewalk sale with music and that sort of thing. There was a crew in full Star Wars costume walking around which I found odd but not totally unexpected as Europeans are weird in general (not that I haven’t seen that in America, its just they seemed to fit in quite well there). They did have a runway show on a second story stage above a lingerie shop. Chicks in underwear walking around to techno music. Pretty entertaining actually. Then they would bring like 1 dude out in super tight underwear and sneak him in between all of the poorly choreographed little walks. Wondered around a bit more and ate some sort of sugar waffle thing that was amazing. Eventually headed back to the house for more food….ham sandwiches with cheese and a cheese tart for dessert. Went down to Brussels and hit the Margritte museum. Had a nice walk around town then watched the end of another football match and had a beer. Afterwards walked down to the square and took some pictures and had cheery beer and more food at an omelet restaurant. Walked back to the car and had more food (another Belgium waffle with bananas, whip cream, and chocolate). There were tons of Bachelor parties this weekend. I guess it was kind of tradition to take the groom-to-be out during the day and make them do stupid tricks and dress all crazy. I assume they get drunk like a normal bachelor party that night. So there was a guy in a pink bunny suite, a guy in little pool floaties and rubber ducky type attire, and another guy who just stood up against a tree and you could pelt him with eggs for like $.50 each. Most eggs either bounced off him or they missed and exploded behind the tree in the courtyard where people were walking by. Headed home to chill and watch football…Ghana vs Denmark then spent the next several hours catching up on internet stuff. Still a bit stressed about it though I know I shouldn’t be. Looking at Nile cruises and tours of the pyramids. They have some discounted ones where you sleep on the deck of a little boat with no toilet, etc for 2 days in 104 degree weather. I’m not entirely sure about that…maybe a few years ago when I could handle that sort of thing it would be fun, but I think I’ll stick to air conditioning in August in Egypt. Think I will book my ticket from Athens to Cairo as originally planned. Always probably going to go Split, Croatia to Athens as that is a cheap flight. Trains don’t end up being that much cheaper than flights in a lot of places and they save a lot of time. Other than that, it looks like I will stay in Germany for at least a couple of weeks in July, then Prague, then try to take trains down to Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna, and down to Croatia. Looked at the Tomatina festival w/camping and a group Croatia and/or Greece booze cruise, but I’m thinking I’ll just wonder down and around on my own as otherwise it would add $1000 pretty easy.
June 20th. Slept in a bit and ate breakfast, then went to the train station in Brussels. Nice one to Koln and OK one to Bremen as they messed up our seats so I had to sit on this little piece of shit fold down one on the side and move everytime someone wanted to walk by. I made sure and gave them dirty looks as I was on the train before them but due mom acting confused and goofy and making me move seats 3 times I finally gave up and let the people from the next station have them as they were equally confused about the seat numbers. That is where I sat and typed the last 3 pages of this fucking journal and my ass hurts. I did get to listen to about 3 hours of adam corolla podcasts though so I was entertained. Think I will watch the season finale of Breaking Bad again next as it was that good…
Best of Belgium: sugar waffle, roast beef, and banana beer
Worst of Belgium: cold and rainy most of the time.
