Belgian waffles are amazing and I will be insulted if I see something in the US called a Belgian waffle that is not dense with clumps of sugar in it. The batter is more like dough, sort of like a sugar cookie but into a waffle iron. We ate three over the course of two days and I don't regret it at all. I liked them plain, but here's Molly eating her preferred chocolate variety.
Getting on the bus was really nice at fist because it was cold and rainy and the bus was heated, so we decided to listen to the tour and wait out the rain. But then we had to change to a nasty cold bus with decals blocking the view from some of the windows. We got out at the Antomium, a ginormous iron molecule made for the 1958 world fair. The tour on the bus made us laugh when it stated that the 9 atoms represent the provinces of Belgium, which made it hard to catch the rest of the reasoning behind this random monument, but it also had something to do with nuclear energy and/or the general industrial nature of the era.
Expo '58 brought nations together to restore faith in technical progress despite fears of the atom bomb.
View from the top. They're pretty proud of their elevator which goes at approximately the speed of light (about 22 seconds to get to the top).
After touring the city and the Atomium, we had a late (and long) lunch, after which it started to get dark. Because these adventures are fueled by coffee, we went to one of the Christmas stands near the Grand Place to refuel and checked out the decorations in that area. This pink building served as a pretty good landmark, and sometimes the lights were green instead. I think it was the Hotel de Ville.
Then we stumbled upon the most amazing thing ever - a light show on a building from around the 17th century in the Grand Place. It did a slow songs like Silent Night, and here's a more upbeat one with Pacman. Who thinks of this stuff?
The building on the left is the one with the light show.
You would think all other discoveries that night would be pale in comparison, but we managed to find the city's Christmas monster, "The Beast," right by Saint Catherine's Church. We didn't go in because we were en route to the Christmas village!
It was a bit like the one in Paris with lots of lights and decorated stands, just not as big. Here we are ice skating!
After a long, cold, rainy day, we decided that although we wanted to try Belgian beer, we didn't want to go to a bar and instead stopped in a grocery store and sampled some beer in the comfort of our hotel room after locking the door, getting into our pajamas, and then watching V for Vendetta in bed. Party animals, I know.
