We've come to the last city on the European leg of our travels and we're here for one reason only (no, not the beer) to see our good friends Mark and Anais. We landed quite late in the afternoon so have enough time to check in with our host and meet our housemate Frank before meeting up with Mark and Anais to go to a traditional Belgium Irish pub where we meet up with some of Mark's friends. We have a good laugh, good beers and gorgeous pommes frites before heading back for a good snooze.
Today's weather is beautiful and Anais mentions that there is a Quiddich match going on in a nearby park so we have a wander over, keep our eyes open for broomsticks and our ears open for 'rah rah rah!' chants. Unfortunately it's not as easy to find a Quiddich match as you'd think so we settle for a nice walk around the park before heading back and getting treated to leek and cheese flan cooked by Anais, yum yum!
Next up Mark promises to take us to a hip and happening place where we can dance the night away...oh no, sorry, it's Greek football, not dancing. I always get those two mixed up. After an exciting match (ha!) we move on to the next place accompanied by Mark's friend George, and the place is packed! We debate whether to befriend a man who is crying into his sandwich just to nick the seats on his table but by the time we nominate George to make the move the man has gone and a swarm of people have nabbed the table. 3rd time's a charm as we move onto the next bar where we find a seat, listen to good music and meet up with more of Mark and Anais' friends. James makes a new BBF in James and they natter together like two old women... "I have a house in Wythenshawe", "so do I!! Wait, your name is James? So is mine!!", it was meant to be! After forcing Andreas to head bang to Nirvana with his luscious locks we ask for the bill and keep quiet when we realise they've undercharged us. All except James of course, the bigmouth. Anais is on the case with a "shuuutttt upppp!!" and most probably a kick under the table and we get away with a nice cheap tab.
The next day we finally manage to get up and go round to Mark and Anais' to be spoilt again, eggy bread this time, mmmmmm! We have an afternoon/evening of playing board games (how could you forget Fox Mulder, Mark?) before saying our thanks and goodbyes and leaving them in peace.
Our last day in Brussels is a lonely one as Mark and Anais have to go to work. We have time to kill before our flight and even though we've been many times before we will never get tired of Brussels so we go for a stroll around the Grand Place, take in the amazing street art and find the smallest house in Brussels. Next up it's a trip to see Christine's favourite little man, Manneken Pis! We've never seen him dressed up before so Christine gets excited to see him in a top hat and tails, he looks so dapper. A nice lady offers to take our picture for us but she seems to have missed the point about why we, and all the other tourists, are in this spot. We now have a very nice picture of us in front of a fence. James asks her to take another photo and although she doesn't know why we want another one, this time she manages to fit Mr Pis in the photo, just about anyway! We manage to fit in one more Belgian beer and a portion of frites before heading to the airport.
Thanks for a great weekend Mark and Anais, we had so much fun we forgot to take any pictures of the days spent with you, doh! :-)
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| Grand Place |
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| Tin tin! |
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| The smallest house |
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| Yey Manneken Pis! |
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| "Yes love it is a nice fence but..." |
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| "Errrr that's...better...thanks! |
