Today we visited just about every chocolate shop in Brussels looking for the best deal on Belgium chocolate. After spending a small fortune on all the chocolate we could possibly fit into our backpacks we bought one box of truffles for ourselves and some fine Belgium beer to wash it down (from a store that had 400 varieties of beer. Wowza!). The truffles were heavenly. We may just buy a second box for the train ride to Amsterdam tomorrow.

We also went for our first REAL dinner out tonight (thank you Mark and Fran! Our tummies thank you too).  I had some excellent pizza and Jeremy had spaghetti. Sure beats our usual bagguette and cheese. Cooked food has become a luxury.

Now, to comment on a few cultural things here that I’ve noticed, the crazy lady in our hostel room, and Maurice the photogenic backpack. So, first of all, the cultural things: J-walking may or may not be legal, but either way everyone does it. The little walk or don’t walk sign is mearly a formality to be ignored. Sure makes getting around easier. Beer is substantially cheaper that water (37 cents for a bottle), and I’ve yet to be ID’d since I got here. Now, the crazy lady: SHE IS CRAZY! We’ll be having a perfectly civil conversation then she’ll suddenly be like: “You’re talking too loud. People across the street could hear you” or “Don’t sit there, its a communal space” or “I wasn’t talking to you. Don’t talk when I’m talking.” All our roomates think that she’s totally off her rocker. And third: Maurice. Maurice is Jeremy’s UofA backpack. Now, I take all the pictures, and often times Jeremy will walk ahead of me and his back (and therefore Maurice) will end up in the picture. Its rather hilarious. Also, my photo count in around 750 right now. I’m impressed.

That is all for now. Hopefully Amsterdam also has free internets.

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