First Night Out

This past Friday was my first night out in Brussels. And boy was it a pretty crazy first night. If every weekend in Brussels is like this for the next ten months, I'm going to be coming home with some pretty insane stories. Let me tell you about this unforgettable night:

 First, I met up with one of my new au pair friends, Kathy. She is Canadian and super nice. And boy is she happy to be Canadian. Every time she introduces herself, she makes sure that the person knows she is Canadian and NOT American because, apparently, Europeans do not like Americans very much.. So far I haven’t had an issue with someone not liking me, but maybe that is because I am not the normal loud, obnoxious, un-cultural American that they have stereotyped us to be. However, I did meet one of those types that night...I will get to it:) Anyway, I met Kathy at Place Poelaert next to the giant Palais de Justice.

Palais de Justice

It was around 9pm, so the sun was down but the palais was lit up and looked beautiful. WE walked in the entry way to see the giant statues and Roman columns, which are even more impressive in the faded light.

We then walked over to the giant balcony nearby that looks out over the other side of the city. The view is so different at night. You can see the Atomium perfectly in the distance, all lit up, the silver spheres twinkling like those silver jewelry beads studded with crystals.

After taking in the view, we made the long walk down the cobble stone streets (in our heels..talk about blisters) to the Grand Place. As we started looking for a good bar, a young guy suddenly appears in front of us. With a giant smile, he asks, “Are you guys American?” “Yes,” I reply. “I thought so! I could detect your accent!!,” he says. I tell him I'm from New York, while Kathy shakes her head violently, telling him she is Canadian. (Can it really make that much of a difference? I guess to her it does...) The guy, who introduces himself as Patrick from Indiana, proceeds to introduce his other friends, including Zoe, a young blonde women from Seattle. They are all doing a 2 week study abroad trip together in Lille, France, and came to Brussels just for the weekend. He then says, “Shouldn't I say something like, “Enchanté, Mademoiselle” and then do that kiss thing?” He doesn't wait for my anser, and leans in to do the “air kisses.” Obviously, this guy doesn't know what the heck he's doing, because you only do that with people you already know pretty well.. But he does it anyway, talking about how he is “trying to learn french.” Later, I realized he is trying, but failing, as I will explain later. At this point, I really thought this guy was drunk, but as I learned, he is apparently this strange all the time. Anyway, being the friendly, outgoing Americans they are, they invite us to join them in a bar. We wander around and finally settle on getting something to eat first. We go to a fry place (Brussels is famous for its pommes frites and all the toppings). Kathy and I share a box of le special de la maison—fries with mayo, ketchup and onions. So bad for you but sooo good. Patrick orders a giant sandwich with some humongous Belgian sausage and fries inside the baguette (also a specialty here..talk about carbs). Anyway, if I haven’t made it clear enough, Pat is a picture perfect, obnoxious American tourist who says he is trying to learn French but really doesn't care enough to actually learn it. When the waiter brought him his food, he immediately said “bonjour” (instead of merci..I mean really? And this kid was definitely not joking around this time, because he honestly looked embarrassed when everyone started laughing, even the waiter). Later he asks me, “What's “You're welcome” again? Something like derehhh?” “You mean de rien?”, I reply. “Oh yeah, that!” Later, we found the famous old bar, La Mort Subite, (Sudden Death), which is one of the most famous bars in Brussels and serves almost every type of Belgian beer you can imagine. It is in an old stone building with high ceilings and decorated walls from the 1800s. People sit at long wooden tables to drink, a Belgian tradition. Unfortunately, it was all old people so we decided to go to another outdoor bar right in the Grand Place. I ordered my first Belgian beer ever (actually, it was the first time in my life that I actually ordered any kind of beer at a restaurant..). It was called Kreik and is a very sweet beer with a cherry flavor added. It tasted more like cherry soda than beer, but that was okay with me. Coming from the US, it's amazing to me how laid back they are here about drinking. Bars, restaurants and stores hardly ever check your license.

As we enjoyed our beers, I described to everyone what each of the beautiful old stone buildings with statues lining the doors and roofs, were used for in the 1700s. There is one building for the boulangerie (bakery), one for the candle maker, the fish monger (which has ocean related statues carved into the arches) and the butcher, which has the biggest, most grand building with a golden wagon on top.

Picture from the city tour with my dad, but it shows off the buildings I was talking about called Guildhalls. The one on the far right was the boulangerie, the one next to it was the candle maker, and the one next to that was the fish monger's. Not sure about the other ones...

The building with the horse was for the butcher. Today, all the buildings are now bars or hotels.

One of the largest buildings in the Grand Place,this is the  Town Hall of Brussels.

While we are on the topic of the Grand Place, I have an interesting fact that I would like to share about it. Every 2 years in August, the entire Grand Place is covered with an enormous "flower carpet" made of begonias. The carpet is a 1,800 sq. meters and stays there for a few days, attracting a ton of tourists. Here's a pic: 

Anyway, back to my first night:

We enjoyed our beers and talked about what we are all doing in Brussels and our future plans. Patrick introduced himself to another American couple who sat down next to us (they seemed a little annoyed that he was interrupting their date..). I apologized to them about bothering them.. Patrick was starting to get on my nerves. In just the one hour that we were together that night, I had a number of extremely awkward moments with him.

1. He thought the bandeau under my shirt was my bra hanging out and decided to tell me about it.

2. I went to the bathroom in one of the bars where you have to walk through the tiny urinal room to get to the tiny bathroom stall. As I opened the door to go out of the stall, there was Patrick peeing in the urinal..whoops. He yelled at me and I immediately turned away. We laughed about it later but really??

3. When he left to go back t his hotel, he tried to give me an air kiss again, when I thought he was just going in for a hug, and that just turned out to be really bad.

As we said goodbye, he reminded me to “be careful” and make sure no one bothers me at night. I reassured him I'll be fine (he is definitely not the first person to tell me to be careful). The irony of it all is that what he was worried about is exactly what happened just a little while later that night.....

LATER THAT NIGHT... (In next post)