i could live on belgian beer

No joke, belgian beer is AMAZING. My favorite was an amber ale brewed by trappist monks that I had in Bruges, Belgium yesterday. I was inspired to take a quick day trip to Bruges by the movie "In Bruges", which you should all rent, for the scenery in it if nothing else.

I also admired the amazing architecture present in the center squares of both Brussels and Bruges, mastered the art of walking on cobblestones (you just have to walk like it's a regular paved sidewalk and be prepared when it goes awry), ate ice cream, felt poorly for not knowing any of the 3 common languages in Brussels (French, Dutch, German), got a history lesson from a bartender in Bruges as to WHY they speak so many languages there, scouted out a bar called Celtica that has 1 euro beers til midnight every day - only to find out it had BURNT DOWN the DAY BEFORE I arrived, and instead had beer at Delirium - Guinness Record holder for most varieties of beer - I had 2004 kinds to choose from!! The best one that I had there was called Barbar, hilariously pronounced like the elephant Babar.

Belgium is beautiful and I felt a little inspired at times to move to a little farm in the country there, raise a few white cows (every cow I saw was at least 50% white), learn Dutch, and of course ride my bicycle everywhere.

For now I am in Berlin (newly arrived) and am ready to continue my world beer tour. Sorry no pictures as the wireless here stinks, so I'm using the hostel's computer. More to come, but possibly until I make it to Prague on Sunday. Over 1 week completed and cannot believe how fast time is flying!