Belgium has a reputation for good food and great beer, so we expected these to be the highlights of our stop, and for the most part they were. We arrived in the afternoon, after a short train ride from Amsterdam. After finding a hostel, we set out to explore the city. We couldn't walk around the center for too long without succumbing to the delicious looking waffles being sold all around. They are totally different from waffles in the US, even "Belgian" waffles, and make a better snack than a breakfast food. Though they come with many toppings, the most common form had the edjes lightly rolled in syrup.

Brussels also has one of the most impressive central squares in all of Europe, at least as far as we have seen, the Grand Place. The centerpeice is the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall), dating from the 15th centurey, made of white stone with an intricate soaring spire. The rest of the buildings surrounding the square are old Guild Halls, dating from the 17th century. They were each originally built by a different craftsmans guild, for example the bakers, the cabinet-makers, or the boatmen (my favorite). I can't think of any place better to enjoy a waffle or one of Belgium's famous beers.

Surrounding the Grand Place are tons of small streets filled with shops and restaurants, as well as some of Europes first Galleries, or enclosed shopping spaces.

Brussels also has some interesting Art Nouveau buildings.

For dinner our first night we found a great local bar where I tried the Belgiun Duvel beer and ate two big sausages served on top of an enormous mound of mashed potatoes. Great combo!

The next day we spent the morning at a museaum full of African aftifacts collected from the Congo while it was a Belgiun possession. It was a bit odd to see all this stuff sitting in Europe.

In the afternoon we made our best stop, the Cantillon Brewery. This small local brewery makes traditional Lambic beer. The difference with lambic style beers is that instead of being infused with yeast like modern beers, they are left out for a night to collect natural yeasts and bacteria from the air. Then they have to be aged for several years in order for the natural yeasts to do thier thing. Originally all beers were brewed this way. What comes out is a beer that tastes totally different than what we are familiar with. It's probably best described as "grain wine" than regular beer, but we really liked it.

Since it is just a small family brewery there is really no tour, they just let you wander around. We saw where the beer is aged, in oak barrels. The second picture shows the masher where the ground wheat and barley is mixed with warm water. The water extracts the sugars and is then filtered through the grain husks. It is then pumped upstairs to the pan, shown in the second picture, where the sugary water is exposed to the air to gather natural yeast. This can only be done in the winter, when the temperature is cooler, so there is a very particular brewing season.

Taste test!