Jour/ Dag 4 - Brussels

+ Technically, Brussels is bilingual, French and Dutch. Practically it is mostly French that is spoken and that allows you to get by almost everywhere. Strange.

+ Travelling with my mother is really great but also very exhausting. Great because I get to see a lot of things and places, more than when travelling on my own or with friends because we plan more and she informs beforehand. Exhausting because I have to do all the planning, organising and itinerary forming. And we can never just walk around aimlessly, there always has to be a next destination, a reason to go somewhere, a sight worth seeing. Phew..

+ Visited the Musée du chocolat et du cacao this morning, complete with demonstration and tasting. Yummy!

+ Talked mum into trying a regional specialty, Waterzooi, which was kind of a stew with fish and seashells. I would never eat something like that ;-)

+ Made an observation today or yesterday: Belgium "shuts down" at around 6.00 to 6.30 pm. Shops close, museums won't let you in anymore and even churches start kicking you out. And it doesn't matter much which part of the country you are in.

+ Oh and speaking of churches: they are beautiful, no doubt. But as soon as I enter one, I feel my church allergy breaking out again, thinking how the priests must have squeezed the money to build these churches out of poor believers centuries ago.