Brussels

So pulled into Brussels station and went to find a phonebooth to call Celine, sounds easy but no so. i walked around for what seemed like ages, looking back now it was funny because i thought everyone was a gypsy and was going to rob me becuase it was so obvious i was a tourist haha! in the end i gave up and went to an information centre and pleaded with the girl behind the desk that i use her phone. she said i was lucky because she like aussies (i never thought being australian would be such a handy thing when traveling) anyway i called and within 15 minutes Celine found me and i was no longer homeless.

We went and grabbed a hot chocolate made with real belgium chocolate, probably the best hot chocolate ever! because we were in the area we went and saw the Manneken pis which is a fountain of a little boy taking a leak which was pretty funny. at different points of the year they dress the little boy in different costumes, they had playing cards of the different costumes, it was hilarious! celine told me theres a less well known fountain that is similar but instead of a boy its a girl squatting, i pis-sed myself laughing (see what i did there) and asked her to take me to it, it was a good thing we did because when we got there we found a english guy trying to fish out the coins out of the fountain (that was theft proof) with a McDonalds spoon. he was like 'check out how many coins in there, you'd be, like, totally rich and stuff if you could get em' we just humored him and were like 'yeah! you'd never have to work again' we left him to make his millions having a bit of a giggle behind his back.
while i'm on the subject of pissing, heres something for the catholics, when i was out walking around one day i found an old church, nothing too interesting, but then i walked around the side a found that there was a uniral on the outside of the church so you could actually piss on the church. having spent many years at a catholic school and being force fed there rubbish suddenly nature called. i have to say it made up for years of matthew, mark, luke and john.

Celine is quite the talented one actually, shes done a number of different creative courses like, illustration, interior design, photography as well as a few others and she make hats also. she showed me her studio in the city which she shares with a few other artists, it was pretty cool, its an old printing factory, it made me think that i should start doing something creative with my spare time when i get back home. on the way to the studio we were walking pasted the palais de justice (i think it was the biggest building i've ever seen and the view from there was amazing, you could see right over the city) anyway, we got on the topic of government. in Belgium they speak 2 languages, dutch in the north and french in the south. this causes a bit of trouble as you could imagine and the government can't make there mind up about which one to choose. i cant remember how we got onto this subject but celine was telling me about the freemasons and how they have quite a bit of power, she was saying that she watched a TV show about it and in brussels some of the parks are designed in the shape of the freemason logo. kind of scary huh, i'm sure Tom Cruise is involved in it somehow!

Celine is moving to a place called Gant and because i was staying on her couch for a week i offered to help her move some of her stuff the next day. it was the least i could do. so we did a bit of a road trip out to Gant which is quite a pretty little town north of brussels. we found a studenty kind of area and lo and behold there was a vintage shop! i went into and i tried on some jeans and while i was in the change room the sales assistant asked Celine 'is your friend part of Daspop?' who are a band in Belgium, she laughed and said 'no'. that in itself was pretty but then i got home and looked up the band and found they were ugly sods and one was fat! i was almost kind of insulted! haha!

as i said earlier, i'm crashing on the couch of a place celine is house sitting. the place i'm staying is really nice actually. its an apartment not far from the middle of brussels were on the 2nd floor. it has one of those beautiful old caged lifts that you see in european films and the apartment itself is quite nice too, i think it has been recently renovated cause. because of its location i think its an expensive part of town. it was such a nice feeling to leave my stuff somewhere and know that it wouldn't be stolen and to have a proper shower, without a timer. it has been really kind of celine to let me stay, i'm very lucky. it sure beats a hostel!

If Belgium is known for anything it's its beer, so Celine took me to her favourite bar for a beer, i had a trappistes beer which is when the beer is made by monks the brand of beer i had was called 'Westmalle' it was quite dark and i was a little worried at first but it was really tasty. its also known for other things like its mussels, which we had for dinner one night, they were beautiful. Belgium chocolate, chips and waffles also, which i have sampled but i'm still not fat. bonus!
another famous thing about Belgium is its the home of many famous comics, like Tin Tin, the Smurfs and Asterix. on the side of a lot of the buildings around town are murals of the characters which is a really nice touch, it seems they are really respected too because local graffiti artists don't paint over them. i went and checked out a comic book store while i was here and was a little shocked because the comics you find in there aren't what you expect. they are really beautifully drawn and in all different styles, and the customers aren't nerdy introverted wierdos you would get in melbourne comic book stores. heres an interesting fact, the book Tin Tin goes to the moon was actually written before man step on the moon but amazingly its still quite accurate.

A rather strange thing happened one day, i was walking around minding my own business when a TV crew came up and began to interview me. so i'm sure somewhere on Belgium TV there will be a riveting piece with me looking a little confused with a mouth full of waffle (i had no idea what they were saying to me).
i also found a flea market, it was cool to go through peoples stuff because in my eyes your kind of going through the history of the city through people that have lived it. whenever i see peoples old wedding photos, knic-knacs and stuff i try to imagine what there lives were like by seeing all the clues. i also found a cool little book shop called 'Alice Alice' it had some awesome books on art and design and it also had a gallery out the back. i stumbled across another place and in it window it had cool design posters in it so i thought i would have a look inside, i knocked on the door and had to get buzzed in so i thought it was some exclusive gallery. turns out it was a lightswitch showroom i was so sure it was going to be an awesome design exhibiton inside, nope just a shitload of switches.

i went to an underground party in brussels, and when i say underground i mean underground. it was held at an abandon train station that had been converted into a bar and performance place for people to have exhibitions or have gigs. it was a really cool space. on the night we went they had some video art and 2 bands playing. the first was ok, they had drums and guitars, as well as many a brass section, violin and a massive xylaphone which was a nice touch. the second i felt werent as good. it was funny because both band sung in english which i didnt expect at all.

anyway, off to Paris for a week then meet up with Josh and Kate in Munich for Oktoberfest.