Brussels is absolutely very beautiful, who knew? It is such a puzzling mixture of old and new.

We finally figured out the tram system; it could make any American envious of good public transportation! It's cheap, on-time and gets you anywhere you want to go! I'm really cheering its qualities because it allowed us to see virtually everything on our list today, have an interesting, expensive, up-lifting lunch, and still get us back to the apartment in time to relax before our next big day tomorrow -- Amsterdam!

We saw Brussels' version of Champs-Elysees. With the right credit card, one could do some major damage there. But I must say, the tram did not get us to this famous area, we found this on our exercise trek this morning. The tram did get us to a number of great and beautiful destinations: the Palace of Justice, several beautiful cathedrals, the King's Palace -- yes, Belgium has a king -- the Botanical Gardens, and a fabulous, snooty lunch spot. I had a salad of salmon, wrapped around a mound of lettuce on top of foie gras, all topped with caviar, drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. I guess I'm growing up. I've never before been a fan of foie gras, much less, caviar. I actually thought it was wonderful. Our first courses were followed with fish with herb sauce and provencal legumes for Stan and poultry with artichokes and roasted potatoes for me. What a great day! That great tram then took us back to the Zuidstation, Gare du Midi, in time to purchase train tickets for Amsterdam tomorrow -- yes, we are going to Holland!! -- and train tickets for Brugge on Wednesday!!!

This is such great fun!