Brussels

I’m kind of upset with Brussels because I got horribly sick while we were there.  It started with my breakfast while waiting for the Euro star. I had ordered an almond croissant.



It came stuffed with some kind of rich custard inside which would have been fine for dessert but really didn’t make my stomach feel so great that early in the morning.  The heavy cappuccino didn’t help things much either and I was feeling a little weighed down on our train ride.



However I bounced back once we got to Brussels and went out for some fantastic beers at Mappo Mudo (loved sitting upstairs and staring down at all the people) and big silly Leffe Brun’s at La Lunette.  Look at this head on the Duvel!



I had heard some good thing about In 't Spinnekopke so we headed over there for dinner.



The place was very quaint and old fashioned. Our waiter was great with helping with the menu and we ended up ordering two dishes to split.  I got some sort of chicken dish that was really good but after what happens later I think I blocked the name out of my head.



Second the Stoemp Saucisse. This is an old Belgian potato dish topped off with a big hearty piece of sausage.



Both were actually really good but filling.  The heavy cream from the chicken was really starting to make me feel bloated but I pushed ahead because hey- we’re on vacation. I decided the only thing that would help at this point would be a bite of Chocolate and more drinks.  So we headed to the Belga Queen for a few cocktails and then back to our beautiful hotel bar for some chocolate and beers to round off the night. I passed out in bed that night happy and content with life.  However 6:00 am is a different story.

I wake up with the worst stomach pains I’ve ever had in my life.

You know the kind where you curl up in a ball trying to somehow quell the knife stabbing pain coming from your stomach, all the while praying to a higher power to not let this happen.  Well it happened...and it was bad.  I was pretty much violently ill for about an hour. Every time I pictured my croissant, chicken, beer or any sort of chocolate it started all over again.  By the time I was able to crawl back to bed my throat was on fire, my face and body were covered in sweat and I thought I was going to die. Mr. T had slept through the whole ordeal but after about an hour of being sick and not being able to move off the bed I finally woke him. I needed some serious fluids and pictured myself dying from dehydration right there on the bed.

I laid in bed all day with the lights off, washcloth on my forehead and aspirin in hand.  I knew Mr. T was really disappointed.  Brussels was the part of the trip he was most looking forward to and now our one full day was ruined. I had to pull through. I would feel horrible the whole vacation if I didn’t.

So around 5:00 I somehow managed to get myself out of bed and fake being healthy enough to venture outdoors. We were going to do everything we planned to do in Brussels whether my stomach liked it or not!  Of course most of my Brussels plans involved drinking lots of beer and eating lots of chocolate.  Unfortunately that was out of the cards for me but we did end up getting things accomplished- at least Mr. T did.

We walked around the Grand Place and had some drinks at a cute outdoor café.  Then we headed over to the Delirium Cafe and stayed there for a while so Mr. T could sample a bunch of beers from their crazy huge beer list. We even made it to dinner!

I had encouraged Mr. T to drink enough strong beers at the Delirium that he no longer was as worried for my health as he was before.  I knew he wanted to have mussels in Brussels so I convinced him to go over to Chez Leon. I of course, had only had a bite of croissant and a piece of bread since my troubles that morning so I played it safe (or so I thought) and ordered a small salad and some frites. My salad said it was going to have some bacon in it but what came out was a plate of bacon, fat from the pan and all topped with a lettuce and cheese garnish.



Needless to say I didn’t really eat that.  However I did have the frites and they treated my stomach nicely.



Here are Mr. T’s mussels.



Man they were big! I really wish I had been feeling better so I could try one out but he said they were wonderful and for that I was happy. The next morning I woke up with pains still in my stomach but definitely on the road to recovery. We had just enough time before we left to stop and get a waffle right by the Mannekin Pis.



Wow this waffle was awesome! It was perfectly charred and almost caramelized on the edges and warm and fluffy inside. Seriously there is no need for any toppings at all. It tasted better without them.

So my Brussels experience was not as much fun as I had hoped but at least we still had one more leg of the trip and I was getting my beer drinking and meat eating shoes on whether it killed me or not for Munich.