bonjour!

i decided that at least one of my pictures should have me in it to prove that i am in fact here in belgium and taking these pictures. we had a "light" day at the conference. i went to one of the keynote lectures and then, set off in search of food that didn't involve french fries, mussels or mayonaise (i wonder if belgians really do eat them all together as we're told or if they just tell the tourists they do and then laugh when said tourists are not looking).

no, i wanted something less heavy and something that my body was more used to digesting...so i went in search of belgian vegan food. about a block from the lovely arch above sits the little restaurant and store pictured below.

i grabbed a to-go lunch full of all sorts of different veggies with all sorts of spice combinations i had never had before. most were winners but i wasn't a fan of whatever was on the artichoke. i ate in the sun on a lovely little bench in the park on the other side of the arch.

when i finished lunching, i continued on my self-guided tour of brussels and happened upon this:

brussels is the captial of europe. i wandered around the streets checking out all the e.u. headquarters buildings. outside of one of them was the following story:

aside from the gender confusion, i think we need more teachers like him/her. that teacher makes me want to learn too.

that and my experiences reading the other signs about the history of the e.u. brought home needing to learn a bit more about world history (exercised my freedom of choice and elected to not take that course in high school!).

my tour then led me through the rain to central station and then to the grand place for a tasty late afternoon waffle break. i saw the palais, a church that appeared to be on the palais compound and then did a lot of window shopping as i wound my way back to my hotel.

i am happily sitting down now.