Arrival

The price of traveling in Europe is first spending a day traveling to get there.  My sister Dawn and I left 8am Saturday, 9/5, to drive to Milwaukee, hop on a plane to Atlanta, and then hop on another plane to Brussels – arriving 8:35am local time.

By and large, everything went smooth.  We drove to our sister Christine’s family’s home who dropped us off at the airport…after a last meal at Kopp’s consisting of a Chicken Caliente, 1/3 of Dawn’s cheeseburger, and a bunch of frozen custard.  As is my usual routine, I stayed up during the entire flight; watching 17 Again and Stark Trek movies.  The first twist came after we arrived…a huge human traffic jam at Border Control.  Our next hour or two was all about waiting – worst entry experience ever.  I will not be flying into Brussels again anytime soon.

Once the airport experience was behind us, we hopped on the train to arrive at central station.  We walked a few short blocks to our hotel, which consisted of rolling our suitcase over the brick sidewalks and roads – envision loud clacking on a peaceful Sunday morning.  We dropped off our luggage and hit the town…for a bit.  We eventually came back to the hotel to use the restroom and were told that a room was ready if we wanted one.  Oh yeah, nap time!  After a few hours, as I write this, I am feeling 10x better; although still slightly feeling like the night after an all-nighter – appropriately so :-)

Apparently it is Beer Fest here, so we may not have to go too far to sample all of Belgium’s finest.  It changes the look of Grand Place a bit, but the tents setup in the otherwise open square will offer their own rewards.  The Moules (Mussels) are also waiting.  Time to go explore!