In case you were wondering how Brussels was...

I'm finally getting around to writing the entry (also: look at Feb. 4th entry right after or before the one about the invitations- that wasn't there before)

E. is charming, sweet, vivacious, organized, and talks enough to fill any awkward silences. And yet she puts up with my brother. I'm not sure how she put up with both of us all weekend but she did...

Kudos to E.-

1. for finding us a great hostel- private bath and everything (exept they had one of the European setups with a bathtub and showerhead on a metal hose- no shower curtain. I'm still not sure how to use these. I ended up just taking a bath.)

2. Tolerating our fast food habits the first night when everything was closed (Sardinia apparently has one of the higher life expectancy rates, and it's not from eating McDonalds. BTW, this girl got my brother to eat salad. You may not appreciate the magnitude of this. My mother has been working on it for nearly 24 years. She let him try it with A1 sauce on it. She's even paid him on occasions.)

3. Wanting to duck into every chruch we passed to look around (which, in addition to being beautiful, were often heated. How do you heat a cathedral, anyway?)

4. Wanting to duck into every chocolate shop we passed (lots of them were giving away samples and they all had mad crazy sales. I bought four boxes for about 12 euros (that might have been regular price actually). I've already eaten three.)

5. Taking us by the royal palace and gardens and through the palais de justice.

6. Picking back when my brother picks on her (or at least she's getting better at it)

Other highlights:

a. A great glass elevator down from the heights of justice
b. A sort of bronze mural of Christ in the tomb that swarms of Asian tourists kept surrounding and filming one another lining up and running their hands along- anyone know what this is all about?
c. Coming out of the cold to waffles with strawberries, chocolate and whipped cream with cafe creme, aka cappucino aka coffee with milk, at a table shaped like a giant bellows pointed at a (real) fire burning (fake) wood- worth every penny.
(when E. was done with hers, she placed her cup on her saucer, her spoon in her cup, and her neatly rolled up used napkin through the handle of her cup. I honestly don't know how she put up with my brother and me)
d. My brother entertaining himself in the church by deciding it was a level in a giant, real-life
Zelda game (how would you get that key up there? Hookshot? Personally I think if you light all those candles over there St. Peter comes to life and you have to fight him for it...)
e. A large dog on his hind legs looking at us from behind a bar.
f. the market square, and, of course,
g. Le manneken pis:

Manneken pis. (Also known as Petit Julien):Corner of Rue de l'etuve and Rue du chêne.This small bronze statue of a chubby boy urinating into a fountain is known as "Brussels' oldest citizen." The first mention of the statue came from documents dating back to about 1377, but the current version is a copy; the original was kidnapped by French soldiers in 1747. In restitution King Louis XV of France presented the statue with a gold-embroidered suit, the first of a collection of ceremonial costumes that now numbers over 500.
(http://www.historylands.com/BE/Brussels/attractions.htm)

(not to mention replicas in wood, bronze, chocolate and lollipop. Mmm.)