Bruxelles and Cuba

Now Reading: Echo Park (well, they can't all be European!)

Did them both in one day. Private jet? No, Hotel Welcome in Brussels... has 18 internationally themed rooms, so I spent the night in Cuba - minus the cigars and dictator.

Spent the day in Brussels today - coldest, rainiest weather I've seen my entire trip - but frankly it's a relief to have a few spring showers. If I wanted non-stop sun, I would have stayed in LA.

After a bit of time browsing the chocolates, beer and other belgian specialties on the Grand Place, I decided to pick up some frites (fries for the uninitiated), but passed on the mayo dip. They were terrific, as expect... actually reminded me of the thick chips I used to get from the chip trucks in Toronto as a kid.

With the gloom and cold in full effect, I broke one of my own travel rules and sought the easy warmth of a double-decker sight-seeing bus. Was a first for me, and just as lame a way to see the city as I expected. It's like watching the whole thing on TV. That said, not a bad way to get around to major sites since you can hop-on and hop-off all day.

Did 90 minutes of that... then hopped off and onto the metro in a hurry to try and catch the 15:00 tour of the EU parliament. Let me tell you, with all the giant poorly marked buildings in the region of the Schuman metro stop, they certainly don't make it easy to get there. Nor do the various security folk who were very nice, but I'm convinced just giving directions for the sake of giving directions - not really so focused on actually getting me where I needed to go.

I rolled up to the visitor entrance (after covering a good 2km in a mad dash) to the parliament right as the tour was commencing. Really consists of 30 minutes of canned audio guide and viewing of a couple spots and the main chamber... but it's still interesting to sit there and consider the meeting of 27 nations, speaking in 20+ languages. With that level of complexity, even the smallest things are interesting: as we sat there, the staff was putting handouts on the desk of each MEP (member of european parliament), and I realized as they skipped chairs that they must be handing them out in the local language of each member. So, every hand-out, every speech, every comment, has to be delivered in 20 languages (and growing). Poor interpreters. Oh, and the best part of the tour - it's free, and you get to keep the headphones. ;)