Dutch Land

Amsterdam is a neat place, definitely not deserving of the negatively rebellious reputation it has acquired - we had to intentionally seek out any type of stereotypical rubbish. The city is an odd blend of newly modern and fashionable boutiques and restaurants and old antiquated pubs and shops. We needed to escape the cold during our first stint of wandering which took us to one of the more modern establishments in town. A “meat and cheese” tray ended up being liver pate and raw meat. I was particularly delighted as it was amazing and I knew this meant more for me - Hallie wouldn’t be eating anything but cheese.

Dutch buildings

Canal at dusk

Tasty raw meat dish

While we were close to the Red Light District, we figured we should go check it out. Well, they should probably be calling it Red Light Alley because it was only a few creepy  and underwhelming window displays. As I was trying to get some snaps for all you followers, the subjects inside were not too thrilled. One of them ended up banging on the glass like an upset ape at a zoo exhibit. I named her Coco the Monkey.

Coco before I teased her with a banana

The next morning at a cafe we made a nice little feline friend. A black cat was jumping to and fro and all over the patrons of the cafe. Hallie was more stressed that the cat was going to jump on her than she was when our bags were almost stolen in Barthelona. 

Gatti

Brussels seems to be half Dutch and half French, which makes for a very interesting dynamic. However, after we got there and walked 15 minutes to our hotel and realized everything was closed, the front desk man (again, like the woman in Genoa) looked at us like fools when we asked why everything was closed. This time we just received a “It is SUNDAY...?!”. Apparently everything here is closed on Sunday. Having not eaten in quite some time we went on a trek to find something tasty. After walking back the same 15 minutes we came (in about 15 degree weather) we found a restaurant open. Upon seating and reading the menu, we noticed they didn’t open the kitchen on Sundays. Hmm. Luckily after more wandering we found a few little touristy strips with plenty of places open. After dinner we stopped by one of the local Belgian waffle stands not expecting much. Blown away. Neither of us really know how to describe the waffles here, but they are like an entirely different food than what is in the states. They are so good that after we finished the first one (topped with white chocolate), we downed a second one (topped with chocolate). After stuffing our gullets with gofres, we wandered through what seemed to be an unending row of chocolate shops. They were all pretty expensive, but all worth it. Think Lindor truffles, but much more rich and flavorful. 

Again, it was far too cold to be walking around getting snaps so we have very few to leave you with from Brussels.

Unfortunately that is all of our exploration for our trip. Two more (three for me) days bring us back to Paris and London, where it all began. I’m sure we’ll run into some blog worthy material in the next few days, if not, look for a final post of pros and cons and things we can’t wait to get back to doing in the good ol’ U.S. of A.!