Moules et frites

The final train arrived at Brussel's Gare de Nord at a little to ten in the evening. Conveniently located both close to the station and within the city centre, we easily found our way to the hotel, and set straight off to find that dinner we should have had a few hours earlier. The main street had quite a few eateries, few of which were open, but just a few steps away from the broad boulevard lies the historic centre, filled with winding and narrow cobbled streets and indeed a lot of restaurants.
Worried that Bruxelles might be a sleepy city, closing early on Sundays, we were soon to be assured it wasn't so. A stone's throw* away from the national monument of Belgium lies Delirium village, a bar complex of some six to eight bars and clubs under the Delirium flag of the pink elephant, all sporting slightly different themes: Vodka and beer, tequila and beer, absinthe and beer and so forth and so on. But mostly beer, and the village is open till late (or early, depending on how you would define 06:00).
A word of advice: As Bruxelles has a lot of museums, and some are bound to float someone's boat, keep in mind that pretty much all museums are closed on Mondays. And thus we missed on the Comic strip museum, and instead opted for walking around the historic centre, and indeed its outskirts, and check out some of the roughly 50 frescoes decorating the area. The different artists chosen to make these murals all uses what the Belgians call the ninth art form. Comics.
And so, in between checking out yet another cathedral, some towns squares with statues of dead kings riding on horses and of course Manneken Pis**, we got to appreciate the murals of such artists as Greg, Morris, Uderzo, Franquin and of course Hergé. And a long time was spent writing postcards, some of which had more lame jokes than others.
A must in Bruxelles is its frequently present, often double-fried, chips, or french fries as the USA:ians might call it. The Belgians love their deep-fried spud slices, and you often see the locals carrying a cone of the fattening roots, sometimes taking them to the nearest beer hang to get some brew to go with the chips. Aside from mayonnaise, the best companion would probably be the traditional mussels, cooked in white wine***, and it was delicious.
Another trip to Delirium ended this museum-free Monday, and a collection of small micro brewed beer was sampled. Winner of the bunch was the Imperial IPA from Anderson Valley, with honorary mentions to Heretic's Evil Cousin. The Kriek, however, remained largely undrunk; beer is made from hops, yeast, water and barley/wheat, not from cherries.
As the sun rose and the time of departure closed in, we took a quick trip to the Comic Strip museum, and focused on taking pictures on the iconic red and white moon rocket from Tintin's lunar adventures and browsing the extensive book store. However, time was short, and the end of this year's European adventure was drawing nigh. Soon enough we boarded the plane from Charleroi and set foot on Swedish soil some two hours later.

Fin.



*) Or maybe a pee's beam
**) And indeed the little boy's sister, presumably: Jeanneke Pis
***) Can I refrain from making a lame JCVD pun here?