New Year's at the Capital of Europe (aka Capital of Terror)

I think some random American dude summed it up best. Just after midnight on New Years, Jay, Linda, Kate, and I were walking out of Brussels’s Grand Place – the crowded Belgian equivalent of Times Square – and Linda was earnestly asked by a fellow celebrating American: “Was that it?”

Indeed, it was.

Here’s a video of the uneventful occasion, in which Kate doesn’t even know we’d entered 2008.

The reason was that frightened Belgian officials put Brussels on a ‘maximum’ terror alert and canceled all official New Years’ Eve celebrations – including fireworks, music, and a lightshow – because of intelligence about a potential terrorist strike in the capital
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/30/europe/brussels.php But letdown or not, we all still managed to have a good time in this, the birthplace of Godiva chocolate, French fries (yes, according to legend they’re Belgian, not French), and pissing boy statues. Our first stop on our typically swift exploit was Mini-Europe, a park housing 350 of “the most attractive monuments in the European Union” at a scale of 1:25. It was, in a word, monumental!

As if Europe wasn’t small enough….

Actually, we all really enjoyed it – it was like condensed traveling. Kate especially liked it, which is no surprise considering she would drown herself in miniatures if given the chance. (Good thing no one has created mini water). And it was bolstered by live action models of trains, helicopters, and Mount Vesuvius erupting (which made me have to use the poopoo lounge).

Here’s my dad and I revisiting a regrettable escapade in France we had almost seven years ago.

And here’s Bruges, which happened to be our next stop of the day.

Bruges is a well-preserved (almost pickled) Gothic city in the Flemish (cough cough) part of this low country. Many friends have said the city is an absolute joy – it has the canals of Venice, they’d say, the bikes of Amsterdam, the quaintness of Rothenburg, the French fries of, well, Belgium, ad naseum.

Well, they forgot THE TOURISTS OF ALL THOSE PLACES COMBINED. Maybe it was just that this small wonder has all the acclaim at 1/4 the size; but we managed to squeeze a couple photos off before being engulfed. We also managed to gobble some fries doused in mayo – a traditional specialty in this part of the globe.

We sought amnesty in the relatively peaceful “Capital of Europe,” Brussels, the Washington D.C. of Europa, where both EU and NATO officials call home.

Our first stop here was the Grand Place (or Grote Markt in Flemish) an enchanting old-world square in the center of town. Dinner was mussels (in Brussels, of course), a dish called stoump, one of the many famous beers that this country is so renowned for, and, of course, more French fries to gorge on.


We also saw this fantabulous light show.


The next day (New Year’s Eve) all four of us got out for a couple hours of some good old fashioned staring. As very visual creatures, we stared at the “probably good” signs adorning local waffle shops, we stared at a lazy rat at a park, we stared at scantily clad child mannequins in store windows, we stared at passersby who thought they looked fashionable (scoff!), and we stared for quite some time at this unusual merry-go-round.

Our pre-midnight celebration ended with a paella dinner (not actually from Belgium) and two local dishes from Belgium – waterzooi (chicken) and carbonnades (beef) – accompanied with heaping portions of, you guessed it, French fries.

After the midnight misfortune, we went back to our hotel, stayed up late drinking champagne, eating chocolate, and comparing previous New Year’s celebrations we’ve experienced. (Some better, some worse, none with more trans-fatty acids).

Thank you Jay and Linda for a wonderful but ill-timed trip to Belgium. Next time we’ll devise a backup plan. Here's me trying to conjure one up. Or maybe it was the gas from Vesuvius.