Day 6 - Desserts, Peeing Baby, & U.S. vs Germany

Brussels is best known for being the capitol for the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as well as a main hub for international politics. More importantly it's known as an international hub for BEER, CHOCOLATE and FRENCH FRIES!! Definitely our kind of town (we skipped the brussel sprouts for obvious reasons).

Although Brussels is smack dab between France, Netherlands, and Germany - it's about one hour to any of those countries' borders - Brussels is distinctly French starting with the language. The city is technically bilingual with French and Dutch as the official languages but a majority of people - store owners, cab drivers, bartenders, market workers, etc - primarily speak French. Other parts of Belgium differ slightly with more influence from the Dutch and Germans, but Brussels has French flare in their food, architecture, culture and overall lifestyle.

The goal for Thursday was to explore the city a bit, see some sites, and be setup at a bar by 6pm to watch the very important US v Germany match, a deciding third game that the US need to win, tie or lose by a small margin in order to advance to the knockout stage.

The morning started early with a revisit to the American Embassy (above) to finalize the issuing of a new passport. Fortunately, it was a relatively easy process and I was able to get a temporary emergency passport within a few hours.

Our friends Jeremy and Pam, who we are staying with in Brussels, live in a beautiful vintage building in the upscale area of Ixelles. The most vintage part of the building is the old school elevator, which fits 3, maybe 4 people and requires the manual closing of the doors as well as the exterior black metal gate. 

First stop after the Embassy was breakfast/lunch, which looks a lot like a bakery

I opted for the strawberry tart

I've been making a bit of a habit of feasting on sweets on this trip whether it's apple pie, chocolate almonds, strawberry tarts, coffee mouse, and much more :)

CHOCOLATE!! Speaking of sweets, Neuhaus is one of Belgium's most famous chocolate houses along with Godiva, Leonidas and a few others

Arguably Brussel's main tourist attraction is the peeing boy statue, aka Manneken Pis, which I'm sure most people have seen replicas of, but like us had no idea the original was in Brussels. It's tiny and located on a random street corner and some how it became a popular tourist stop. The only cool thing about it was that it was decked out in Belgium soccer gear in honor of the World Cup.

Brussels' main square is called Grand Place or Grote Markt. It is lined with restaurants, shops, bars and several historic buildings including the Town Hall and the King's House (above).

We stopped at a local Belgian ice cream shop

Matt expressing his feeling toward Birkenstocks...just not a fan

Brussels' Cathedral of St. Michael

By 6pm we landed at Fat Boys, an expat sports bar in Luxembourg Plaza that was packed with a mix of US, German and general soccer fans

Let's go USA!

Greg making peace not war

Despite the 1-0 loss to the Germans, the U.S. advanced to the next round

Thursdays at Luxembourg Plaza are packed - soccer games or not - because the plaza is in the middle of all the international offices and most of the workers leave on Thursday for long weekends so they booze after work before they head out

Outdoor drinking is allowed around Brussels which allows for beautiful evenings dining and drinking outdoors in the sunshine

Thursday was a successful day all around - new passport, chocolate, beer, saw some sites, and most importantly U.S. is advancing. Friday is our last day in Brussels and we have a nice dinner and fun night out planned. We fly out to Copenhagen early Saturday morning.