Brussels Sprouts with Life

After a weekend in one of the more unholy places on the planet, the Brussels stop was intended as a cleanser of sorts. Unfortunately, and fortunately, a 24-hour Belgian cleanse consisted of two deep-fried Belgian waffles for breakfast (no parents!), one covered in ice cream, one in chocolate and strawberries. Yes, I added strawberries to complete a balanced breakfast touching the five food groups – carbs, fruits, fats, chocolate, and grease.  On top of that, Belgium has some weird “French Fry Complex,” as I have aptly dubbed it – they claim to have invented French fries. As a consequence of France claiming name rights, they abuse all of their tourists with fries slathered in about a liter of whichever of the thirty sauces you choose in their stores dedicated to fries. So Goose and I accepted this, and housed two orders in our time. No regrets.

The result of our stay:

Hostel: 8

Pretty clean with a fine location in walking distance to the city center. The only real issue was some deodorant-deprived Indian men coming in and out of the room at 4 a.m. Sadly, that still leaves it with an above-average mark.

Food: 8.5

The waffles, fries, and falafel combo was deadly. I would be totally fine with doing that the rest of my life as long as I buy quadruple bypass procedure packages in bulk somehow, but it’s tough to say if we actually consumed a real meal at any point, so that leaves Belgium with an 8.5.

Sites: 9

Being the “Capitol of Europe” (where’s the Capitol of North America?  Or Antarctica?), Brussels definitely has the old school look down pat, but it left a little to be desired considering one big tourist attraction is a little boy taking a pee. There’s also a complimenting “peeing girl” statue in another part of town and that was just excessively graphic and awkward. For some reason it seemed far more acceptable to look at a 4-year-old boy taking a tinkle. Europe is weird.

I know. Awesome picture. Two first ballot hall of fame Catholics here.

Best Site: Grand Palace – 8

Goose and I came to a pretty vague conclusion here: “That was probably the best square we’ve ever been in, although the one in Prague, two or three in Rome and a couple in Madrid were also really awesome.” Nonetheless, walking through and around this area full of antique buildings, French fries and rain puddles was a treat.

Nightlife: 7.25

Walked around and tried some local Daddy Pops (beers), and Goose celebrated Roger Federer’s Wimpy (Wimby, whatever) win at an English pub. For me, all that’s ever really mattered in tennis history is that fellow Omahan Andy Roddick has the fastest serve in history. And that Anna Kournikova was…herself. I’ve noticed that Goose and I have a stark contrast in the sports world. I have a concentrated fanhood: Nebraska football, Boston Red Sox, U.S. Soccer, Nebraska Football, BC sports, and Nebraska football. That’s really it. Goose on the other hand has something like the following list: USC football, Roger Federer, Nadal as 2^nd favorite, L.A. kings, Spain soccer (his “3^rd favorite team”), Barcelona, Mariners in the AL, Pirates in the NL (I never knew about this…until they were first in their incompetent division), Seattle Seahawks, Buccanneers in the early 2000s but the Titans in ‘99, other USC sports sometimes, Cal State Fullerton baseball, the Clippers now, soon acquiring Duke Basketball, and more. Also of note is his abandonment of Nebraska Football during the Dark Ages, also known as the Callahan era, but he’s slowly coming back around to his roots. Thus, once Nebraska returns to glory this year (this is the year!), with that lineup of teams he will never be unhappy again. Ever. Now, this created some controversy for me as three of his teams have won their respective championships in the last 4 weeks. My teams have combined for 3 championships in 5 years, which is awesome, but they’ve all been BC Hockey (THANKS!). Aside from those, I think the ‘Skers beating an unranked Oklahoma team in ’09 was the next greatest moment in the last 5 years. Or U.S. beating powerhouse Algeria…then ousted by Ghana. Great. Despite our differences, we remained civil gentlemen and enjoyed the evening following Fed’s 17^th championship at Delirium, a brewery-turned-bar, and retired early.

40.75.  The new rankings:

1) Rome - 46

1) Prague - 46

2) Madrid - 44

3) Barca - 43.5

4) Amsterdam - 42

5) Vienna - 41.5 

5) Venice - 41.5

6) Nice - 41

7) Brussels - 40.75

8) Frankfurt - 40

9) Genoa - 39.5

10) Florence - 39.25 

11) Berlin - 39

12) Marseille - 38

13) Narbonne - 36

On to Paris.