Belgium - Brussels

So I planned a trip to Belgium that would be the only trip I went on by myself (just bec. i wanted to have that experience) It was plagued with misfortune especially as far as FLIGHTS are concerned...

So I had a late flight out to Brussels, but of course it is delayed bec. there is "fog all over europe" I was really mad because I had planned out my buses from the airport (bec i was taking ryanair and they fly to airports that are small and far from city center) and the last one was at like 11:15. My plane is delayed perhaps like 1-2 hours. So with the 1 hour time ddifference I'm going to miss the last bus from the airport... which is kind of a problem! Not the mention the fact that I already paid 20 euros for a return ticket on the bus! So we finally leave London and we can't LAND in the airport we were supposed to but instead we land in Liege... which is east of Brussels. There are several other flighs that are due to land. Ryanair says "we have coaches to take you to the other airport" I run to get on the bus but its already full. Its REALLY CHAOTIC, people yelling in French, flemish, spanish, english, etc etc etc Its 1 am, I don't know how i'm goign to get to my hostel now since even if i get BACK to the original airport I have NO way of getting into burssels form there bec ther are no more buses until 6 am! I try to get on this ONE bus goign into burssels but they are full. So, luckily I meet these 3 chinese people who are actually studying in the UK who were on my flight. We talk for awhile and basically just figure the only way we're goign to get into town is by taxi. We get this other lady who needs to go and we tkae a taxi to brussels for 200 EURO!!! Luckily the lady paid more, so it only cost us 35 euro. It was only about a 50 minute drive...
So I finally make it into my hostel bed at 3 am 35 euros down the drain.
ANYWAYS, I really had a fun time in Brussels. Its such a random city.

The first day, I just did a few things like saw the city center or "markt" and walked around that area. I saw the famous "mannekin pis" which is basically a fountain of a little boy peeing. Apparently he put out a fire with his pee. HAHA Its a lot smaller than I thought, but it was still pretty funny. After I saw that I had a belgian waffle (yum!) and then went to this national art museum of belgium... blahhh Walked around the city center to shop for chocolate and I went to this really expensive place called Neuhaus and bought 250g of chocolate for like 23 euro. hahaha But at least I know it is quality. There are an obscene amount of chocolate shops all boasting to be the best chocolate in belgium...
later that night I met up with those chinese people I met the night before, and we went out with these spanish people... some argentinian and an austrailian. it was pretty fun ... i got to practice my spanish although they spoke better English than I did spanish. hahahha

My second day in Brussels, I first bought a day pass on the metro and headed out to the "Atomium" This is what my guide had to say about it : This is like Belgium's Eiffel tower: its outside of the centre of the city, you have to pay a lot to enter, it looks the same up close as it does from a distance, but you go there anyway because you think you have to. The atomium was built for the world exhibition in 1958 when everybody still believed that the future was bright and that atomic energy would save the world. The nine balls represent an iron crystal, magnified 165 billion times. You can go from ball to ball inside, on long moving staircases." I WOULD go somewhere that had something to do with chemistry...
Then I walked over to this museum for comics, because I'm pretty sure TinTin, the Smurfs, and Asterix are all belgian creations. I didn't acutally go in bec it was really expesnvie, so i just browsed the extensive bookstore.
After that, I went over to this unique brewery called Cantillon. So background: This is like the only brewery left that makes this special kind of beer called Lambic and gueze. They also make these odd "fruit" beers by infusing fruits like cherries, apricots, grapes and raspberries. Legend has it they use bacteria that is only available in the Brussels area, which is what makes these beers so unique. Belgium is really known for their beers .. there are some impressive stats about how many different types of beers they have but I forgot. Anyways, I got to try Kriek: Schaerbeek cherries macerated in two-year old lambic for 5 to 6 months. 30% of young lambic added beofre bottling causes refermentation. basically it has cherries. It had an interesting taste... pretty sour, kinda tasted more like wine than beer... but it was obviously really bubbly. Then I tried the Gueuze: Blend of 1,2, and 3 year old lambic, fermented in the bottle. Can be kept for a long time. again, it tasted pretty sour. from the guidebook: "You will probably think a real gueuze tastes rotten, but that's because you don't' know anything about beer, my friend"
pretty awesome
Ok after that I went to one of the famous Frites stands and got some fries! Belgians are REALLY big on their fries... like they REALLY like that. They come with neat sauces... i tried "americain" which tasted kind of meaty... and spicy. I wouldn't be surprised if it had some sort of raw meat origin because there some dish here called steak americain that is like minced raw beef... hmmm suspiciious. I wanted to get mussels at this one stand but I got there too late and they closed. Oh yeah, and they installed these public urinals against this really old and dirty church ... and i peed there bec. my guidebook told me about it HAHAH "In Italy or Poland, you might end up in jail if you would pee against the church, but we installed a public urinal here to "drain the potatoes". Welcome to Belgium!
So in brussels, I ate delicious waffles, fries, and chocolates... had some unique fruit beers, saw public paintings of tintin all over the city, peed against a church, climbed these massive balls resembling an iron atom, and saw a glorified peeing boy. Welcome to belgium indeed!