Friday, July 22, 2011 Paris France to Brussels, Belgium

Reba and Bridget were going to leave today but they cannot get on the Paris flight to go back to the USA. The flights were full and they could not get the non-revenue seats back to the USA (airline people). She checked all over Europe and finally found a very good chance to get on a flight out of  Brussels on Saturday morning. We told her they could take the train from Paris in about 1 1/2 hours.  She thought that was a good idea.  Then she was able to get a really good hotel rate for 2 rooms at the Holiday Inn Crown so we are also going to spend the night in Brussels and then we will come back Saturday to Paris and they will go to USA.

We got on the train that morning for Brussels and next thing we are sitting in a restaurant having lunch. We had a really fun time with them trying the Belgium beers.

We sat in a bar near the Mannequin Pis famous statue and drank a few there in front of a nice fire place - it was about 60 degrees. Edward and I had a 1/2 yard of beer that is a lot of fun to drink (see picture below).

They had free wi-fi so Reba could keep track the flight status coming over and the one leaving.  Reba called her husband, Don, in The Woodlands, on Skype and we all talked to him for some time.

Mannequin Pis famous statue  - again I don’t know why this is so famous.

Edward and I had a 1/2 yard of beer that is a lot of fun to drink

Can you believe we wanted to be near a nice fire place - it was about 60 degrees.   It is July 22, isn’t it?

We decided to walk around some more and show them the streets with all the restaurants, bars, candy shops (mmm, Belgium chocolate), tourist shops and more.

We saw a little bar, “Chez Bar Georgette" that had free wi-fi and also had beers from Belgium Abbeys.

Labels of the Belgium Abbey beers

Also, we had a Duvel beer and it fizzed from the bottom much like champagne but it never stopped while there was beer in the glass. Bridget said her friend called it a "champagne" beer.

Glasses dangling from the ceiling above the bar

 See the fizz coming up from the bottom of the glass.  Oh yes, one of the requirements of this beer to get the best taste it must be served in a clean, dry, “Duvel” glass with the name on it.  I read the instructions on the bottle!

The band started about 10:00 pm and played 80s music. We liked the music and stayed until about 11:30 pm. We had fun watching the people and talking and just listening to the music.

Drink menu

Bridget on her phone

Band was really good. We enjoyed listening to them

This guy was a “wannbe” drummer.  He was in action the whole time the band played.  Look next to him – a kid!!!  A kid in a bar.  Oh well, they take their dogs to restaurants.

.On our way to get a taxi near the Grand Palace we got there and it appeared the lights were being turned off but NO they began a beautiful light show with music! We stayed and watched it and then got a taxi back to the hotel. 

We crashed in our room and slept until 9:00 am. Reba and Bridget left much earlier to go to the airport. They told us they would call if they didn’t get on the flight to Newark, NJ.

A very fun trip with Reba and Bridget.  My stomach is still sore from all the laughter.