Today was our first day in Belgium and I already feel like I am going to like it here. We met our newest couch surfing host, Vincent, who is sharing his beautiful apartment with us for the next two nights.
Our morning consisted of tasting different chocolates in every shop we walked into. In the afternoon, we took a free walking tour to get a better feel for the city. I can't recommend Sandman's enough at this point on our trip! Our guide grew up here and was able to keep me interested in hearing about Belgium's role in World War II and as the seat of the European Union. The tour started in Grand Place, one of the most stunning squares we've been in thus far, and ended at the Mont des Arts for a view overlooking the city.
On our tour, we ended up meeting two guys from the U.S. who invited us out with some of their other friends for drinks later that night.
Before our night out, we enjoyed pizza from Mamma Rosa. Vincent met up with us after he was off work and we grabbed French fries and drinks with him. French fries here are different than the fries at home - they're cooked first, and then fried and they have a variety of different sauces you can dip them into or put on top. We opted for the "Brazilian" and one at tasted like Curry. You can bring fries to most of the bars here, so it was really convenient
We checked out Delirium Cafe, part of the bar "village" they have near the city center, where we relished in my new favorite drink - cherry beer. It's seriously amazing, so it's probably a good thing you can't buy it in the states.