A few days in Brussels

At the start of my five day roller coaster trip across Belgium, I had a couple of days in Brussels to explore the city and adjust to the time change. I had an overnight flight from Atlanta, and landed on a Thursday morning. My friend Kyle landed about 45 minutes later, and we took the shuttle to our hotel (the NH Airport Hotel). The hotel was a great value, and was really convenient with the Diegem train station literally across the street. After dropping off our bags, we took the train to Brussels Central, and met with our friend Viki who had arrived the day before. It was a bit overcast but the weather was decent, and we spent a few hours exploring the center of the city, seeing the main square, passing by the famous "manneken pis" statue, popping in a few stores, and visiting the cathedral.

Walking in Brussels.

Grand Place.

We saw a few of this TinTin murals.

Bicycles on buildings? Why not?

The Smurf ceiling near the train station.

Inside the cathedral.

From there we took the subway toward the former World's Fair grounds, but got off one stop early to eat lunch in a non-tourist neighborhood. We had sandwiches and croquettes at Le Houba, then continued on to the Atomium. This was a neat structure designed like a giant iron molecule, with some trippy light displays inside. Next we went to Mini Europe right next door, which is a legoland-style park with replicas of famous European landmarks. I thought it might be tacky, but it was actually a pretty cool place to visit.

Lunch! We were starving.

Walked by this place with "tacos."

We also walked by the Belgium Olympics headquarters.

Atomium.

View from the top.

Display of the amusement section of the World's Fair.

Light tube escalator.

Lots of trains go here!

Mini Copenhagen.

There were some nice jabs at Brexit.

Hey it's Alberobello! We went here a few years ago.

We then took the subway back to the central city, and had some beer and frites at Bier Central, on a lovely pedestrianized street (Boulevard Anspach). Our waiter was funny and offered us up suggestions for beers to try. We finished off the day with a Belgian waffle before going back to the hotel, were I caught some of the Italy vs. Spain euros game on TV.

Can we please have more streets like this in the US?

Trying a local beer.

Waffles for dessert!

The next day started off rainy, so our morning was spent museum hopping. Kyle and I took the train into the city, and had a light breakfast at Cafe Boudin, which was cute. We then went to the nearby Art museum, which was nice and focused mostly on Dutch and northern European art. We dodged the rain and went to the musical instrument museum, which is housed in a really cool art deco building. The museum itself was very impressive, with hundred of instruments on display, and an audio guide that let you listen to them. Add this to your "must visit" list if you're in Brussels! We then met up with two more friends arriving for the coaster trip, Lori and Steve, and had lunch at Drug Opera. 

After lunch we walked around a bit, and went back to the cathedral so Lori and Steve could see, then walked to the Delirium village area and had some beer. We then split and Kyle and I explored Sablon and Marollen, cute neighborhoods to the south of the center. I had a sausage and fries sandwich for dinner, then took the train back to the hotel. 

Breakfast to start a rainy day.

The main hall of the art museum.

Well that's an interesting little guy.

The cool building with the musical instruments museum.

Approved by Link and Zelda.

Harp and shadow.

The art deco stairwell and elevator.

Walking through a covered shopping area to get out of the rain.

The Euros were very popular.

Lunch time!

Cool stairway in Drug Opera.

Statue in the cathedral.

Back to the main square.

We found a geocache!

Beer break.

We popped into a few other churches. This one was St. Catherines.

Dog pee statue.

I guess some of those are kind of Mexican?

Another lively street.

A cool little market.

I love these little wild areas in the pedestrianized streets.

Statue and building. Not sure what it is but it looked cool!

A giant mural.

We saw these in a few places, marking where Jews had lived before WWII.

A neat house.

Cute little street we walked down.

The Palace of Justice.

An Aperol Spritz van? Gotta love Europe.

More neat architecture we walked by.

Heading back to the center.

A very healthy dinner.

Back at the hotel, still sunny after 10pm, on the day after the summer solstice.

That wrapped up my time in Brussels. It has some worthwhile sights, and would be a great place to live. The transit was easy to use and efficient, and they seem to be expanding pedestrianized spaces. Next up: the start of the coaster trip!

Perdido Key birthday weekend

Over Memorial Day weekend we went down to Perdido Key, Florida (near Pensacola) to celebrate David's brother-in-law's 40th birthday. We rented a condo on the beach, and Christina stayed with her in-laws about a 5 min drive away at their townhouse. Over the course of the trip we hit up a couple small amusement parks for Paul to get coaster credits, hung out at the beach and generally just relaxed. It was a nice change of pace from our more hectic trips!

Below are some of the highlights in picture form. No more narrative to go with this beach vacation!

Of course Paul found a new coaster to ride!

Solo ride!

It's Memorial Day weekend, and there are a LOT of people enjoying the water on this sandbar.

View from our AirBnB. We saw quite a few dolphins over the few days we were here.

Cute beachy living room.

Across the street from our AirBnB. Pretty decent on both fronts.

Sunrise from the balcony.

We found a little fire truck (?) that said Kalamazoo!

Paul and toddler David on the a carousel.

Getting some good spins on the Tilt a Whirl!

Yes, Paul borrowed our friend's kids to ride this tiny coaster. :)

Cousins!

Right next to Paul's Pizza we had David's Sno-Balls. They were decent, and would put some ice cream in the middle if you wanted.

Matteo's first trip to the beach. He's only almost 5 months old in this pic.

Uncle David and nephew David building a sandcastle.

Christina cuddling with Matteo.

This kid honestly gives zero f*cks about anything. Look how relaxed he looks!

Doritos and the beach.

When he's a teenager, he'll love this pic of his first combover!

And of course Paul found another little coaster credit.

A quick beer at Big Beach Brewing.

Cousins at the pier for some fishing!

Sunset from the pier.

We had fun and caught a few fish.

Even Paul caught a little fish!

Coffee truck near our AirBnB. Decent and popular.

If you squint you can see a dolphin.

Pensacola is apparently the home base for the blue angels. They flew around a lot.

More blue angels shenanigans. 

Heading to the beach at Johnson Beach National Seashore.

I've never seen this anywhere else, but it's very common for people to just leave their shoes/sandals near the pier they walked onto the beach from. Sometimes there were dozens of shoes.

All set up on Johnson Beach.

We saw this guy eat a huge fish and you could see it stuck in it's throat for like 10 minutes.

More sandcastle fun. Little David was afraid of the water the first few days.

Justin caught a fish from the beach.

Little David somehow smiling on command for Paul. He normally doesn't care about photos!

Found some hermit crabs.

Time to go!

Drinks at CoastAL for David E's 40th Birthday.

D'Onofrio's at CoastAL.

Happy Birthday David! You don't look a day over 39. ;)

This cinnamon bun place was all the rave. It was only open the day we were leaving. They open at 8 and she was sold out by 8:30. We got the last bun. =D

We stopped at the cutest little bbq place in rural Alabama on the way home.