Brussels, Belgium – 06/29

(Michelle) One of our first major miscommunications, TJ and I missed the train from Hamburg to Brussels because I erroneously thought we should get a seat reservation with only 15 minutes until the train was supposed to leave when we probably didn’t need one and TJ waited for me one store over from where I had pointed and was behind a pack of teenagers with his headphones on. We didn’t have to wait too long for the next one, so it was a good communication learning experience.
We were meeting my friend Laura (also from St. O, but a different Laura than the one we stayed with in England) at her hotel as she was in town for work and fortunately for us, we got to benefit from the fact that she was allowed to keep the room all weekend. That was definitely the nicest place we have stayed so far!!
We did a little bar hopping, enjoying the Belgium beers, and the last bar we went to was an Irish pub. TJ got scolded by a drunk Irishman hanging out in the bar because he ordered a Guinness and apparently you are not (according to this idiot) allowed to order Guinness outside of Ireland. He pointed it out to TJ several times. Meanwhile, some very bizarre man had his sights set on Laura (this will be a recurring theme for the next couple of days). He didn’t get the hint when after a few minutes she said, I just want to hang out with my friends, so we tried to hide from him. He found us. She repeated her hint and he finally went away.
As a joke, when we were in Lubeck, TJ decided to shave his facial hair in various bizarre fashions. In the end, he settled on the Lt. J. Dangle stache. He kept it until we got to Brussels – he was saving it for Laura.

(TJ) Brussels is like a dirtier version of Paris with better beer. Did not seem like there was a whole lot to see, good thing we only stayed one night.