Brussels, July 7 and 8

Well, after our first few days alone in Paris, we took the train to Brussels, which, being very near the border of Belgium, was only about an hour away. Shortest train to another country we've taken yet. We had little trouble navigating our way to the hostel, and though it wasn't in the center of everything, it was a splendid little place, quiet and right next to a metro station, so easy to find our way home. Air and I had a four bed dorm to ourselves for the most part, and there was *space*, such a novel concept in hostels. We set out right after showers and food to see the sights. Brussels, whilst being the center of the EU inner workings, is a remarkably small and vaguely uninteresting place. We got lost everywhere we tried to go because the maps we had, while free, were utter shite about actual distances and where the things they were trying to point you to were. Eventually we gave up the ghost and settled down in the pub we were going to watch the game in (Germany v. Spain!). We wanted to watch downtown because it would be a lot more fun than the hostel would be. We met some interesting German girls who are interning in Brussels for school, and we had a long talk about the unfairness of their ability to just take an internship in another country so easily. Their schools and governments make it easy, they WANT them to get out and be socially and culturally aware, and to have better international skills. Whereas we don't really like to send our people out into the big wide world without no small hassle. Oh well.
Anywho, Germany supporters were on the bottom floor of the pub, and Spain on the top. It was a tense game, and while we were rooting for Germany, we were just as well with Spain winning. In the end of the game, things got ugly and we scarpered quick from the downtown area. We got turned around in the subway, and ended up coming out of the wrong station entrance. Air got us to the hostel though, she's like a homing pigeon when it comes to getting home.
As for what we saw while in Brussels, mostly we just walked around looking at the architecture. Though the Mr Falafel was a favorite, I must say. We visited twice because it was good, and because it was cheap. For 3.50 euro you got 3 balls of falafel and all the salad you wanted. OM NOM. The second day we went for falafel, he gave us an extra ball! I think it was a combination of our obvious enjoyment and praise the day before, and the fact that we were more than willing to come visit his shop again. We saw a lot of chocolatiers, and we even stopped in a few for free samples. We bought a couple of delicious truffles and savored them for desert over the two nights.
For my birthday we mostly stayed in, but there was a Moroccan market that was interesting and we had kebap for dinner along with waffles (yummy, yummy waffles) for desert. We wanted to do more, but we were broke and exhausted, so we figured we would do more later. After all, we went to the Cactus festival the day after, so I considered that to be a good way to celebrate.
That was Brussels, really.