We woke up this morning and packed our things before heading down to the hostels bar, where we met our Venezuelan friends from the other night. We checked out and locked our bags in the hostels luggage room then the four of us headed down to the metro together. We got some tickets then caught the train almost to the end of the line before getting off, then walked over to the Atomium! It's a really cool structure, made of giant metal balls connected by thin tubes, and made to look like an atom! It was very cool, and massive! We got some photos out the front of it, then bought our tickets and went inside. The first thing they did was put us in an elevator with a see-through roof and take us very quickly to the ball at the top of the structure, where they had windows all around the walls with great views over Brussels and the surrounding area. One side had a cool looking miniature park called Mini Europe, and we could see lots of miniature replicas of national symbols like the Eiffel Tower, the Big Ben and the Colosseum. The place looked cool, and made us wish it was a mini golf park! To the other side there was a large foresty area full of magnificent shades of autumn, which looked almost cooler than the rest of the view. Or maybe it was cooler, I dunno! When we were finished up there, we went back in the elevator to the first level again, then went up an escalator to another ball. This level was full of artwork and exhibitions about the making of the structure back in 1958! Wow! It's such a modern looking building to be so old! After wandering round each level we would take either stairs to an upper half of a ball or take an escalator through one of the narrow tubes between the balls to a new one. It was pretty cool. There were art, architecture and advertising exhibitions to do with the Atomium, and there was a floor about invention and innovation around the world, and there was one ball that we weren't allowed in but could see into, full of smaller balls with beds made up in them! Apparently once a week they have school groups come and stay there! That would be so cool! Wish I was a school kid! After the last exhibition we went down a very long escalator back to the bottom which was dark, then filled with flashing disco lights! So we partied in there on the way down, then made our way through the gift shop and back outside. We went into the cafe next door and Darren and I got a very expensive quiche and hot chocolate each, and Gabi and Guille got a pasta and soup. The soup was the best value, but it was still all expensive! So after our meal, we headed back over to the metro (resisting going to play in Mini Europe) and got a train back to the hostel. We went to the bar while Gabi and Guille went out to get something printed and organised, so we chilled out on the wifi for a bit, sussing out how to get to Gent that night. I contacted our couchsurfing host there, Karina, who was having us stay for the next few days in Gent! We were pretty excited, as we've heard quite a few good things about couchsurfing over our trip, but never done it. So we thought what better time to give it a go then when our money was getting a bit low!! So when we were all sorted, we grabbed our bags and headed down to the metro, being sneaky and only buying one ticket and going through at the same time. It's extremely easy to fare evade in Belgium... We were waiting for the train, when who did we see, but our Venezuelan friends again! They were leaving as well, so we got on the same train and had a bit more of a chat while we headed into the city. We said goodbye when we got to our stop, then went out and bought our tickets to Gent and got on the next train out there. We found a seat and headed off, then before we knew it the train was slowing down and everyone was getting ready to get off! It had only taken about half an hour to get there! After being in some massive countries, we'd kind of forgotten how small Belgium is! We got off the train and looked around a bit for a snack, but didn't find anything we liked the look of so decided just to head out to Karina's house. We got on a ridiculously packed bus, which was awkward with our big jackets and bags, and caught the bus out to Ledebergplein, then walked up the road to her house. We were greeted at the door by Daren, who was another couchsurfer who had been staying there, then we went inside and put our bags down then went through to where we met Karina and her neighbour, Steve, who were both pretty preoccupied with getting her two cats into carry cases as she had to take them to the vets. So Karina and Steve headed out pretty much just as we got there, and we were left there with Daren, who was cooking himself some dinner. We had a chat with him for a while, he was pretty nice, then we decided to head out for some food before Karina got back. We walked down the street in the opposite direction than we had come, and walked up to see what was around. We decided on a Belgian fries place, where we went in and got a large fries with a spicy sauce called Samurai sauce. The serving of fries was absolutely huge, and the sauce was delicious! That was a much better Belgian fries experience! We ordered some more sauce when we'd finished the first bit, and they gave us a sweet curry flavoured sauce with the Samurai sauce which was also delicious. When we were done, we headed back, and said goodbye to Daren who was on his way out (he was staying with a different friend for the next few nights) and sat down with Karina who had just gotten back. We had a good chat with her while she ate the dinner that Daren had cooked for her, and played with the cats, then we got a tour of the house and put our bags in our room. We freshened up a bit, then got ready to go out for a drink together. Karina brought out the two bikes that she had and we went out the front. Darren went to ride one, but the seat was too high, so I jumped on one, and Karina got on the other, then I tried to ride with Darren on the back. It was really hard and I couldn't get balanced, so he ended up jumping on the back of Karina's and we rode into town like that. It was pretty fun to be on a bike again, and funny watching Darren jumping on and off the bike at the red lights! As we rode into town, we got our first real look at the city, and it was so pretty! Such a beautiful town! We stopped at the library for Karina to drop off some books, then continued in to town. Not long in, we were stopped by a policeman on a bike, who talked to Karina for a bit, then after a while he let us go. Apparently you're not allowed to have someone on the back of a bike that doesn't have special foot rests built in, and also my bike didn't have lights! Karina is originally from Holland, so with her accent, she was able to successfully claim ignorance, and we obviously didn't speak any Dutch, so he let us all off, and we continued into town, walking the bikes. We didn't have so far to go though, so it was alright. We walked through the beautiful old medieval town, and over some beautiful bridges crossing the river. We stopped at the hospital, as Karina had to drop something off for work (she's a cleaner there) then we crossed the pretty bridge again then she took us into a little bar down an alleyway, called Druppelkot. There was an old man at the bar there, with a cigar in his mouth, who seemed to not enjoy his job that much, but I think maybe it was just how he was. We read the drinks list, which was full of about 50 flavours of this drink they make, called Druppels (drops) which is kind of like schnapps. We struggled to choose a flavour, so Karina suggested a few, and I ended up getting blood orange, Karina got pink grapefruit and Darren got hazelnut. They were so yummy, and the colours were awesome! There was a bright green one that somebody ordered, which looked kind of like radioactive waste, so naturally I ordered that one next! It was sour apple, and it was so nice! That round Darren got a bounty flavoured one! There were so many awesome flavours! Yum! After hanging there and chatting and laughing for a bit, we went next door to a jazz bar where they had an act playing on stage. They had a very strict silence policy inside the bar while the music was playing, which was a pretty cool idea, but we wanted a chat, so we got a beer and went and sat outside for a chat. We added some beer pictures to our collection, then decided to move on to the next place. We grabbed the bikes and walked through more of the beautiful town to a bar called Het Trappistenhuis that had over 150 different Belgian beers! They had a menu to read to choose your beer, but it was in Dutch, so we picked randomly! Darren ordered a coconut beer, which came out, and was served in an actual coconut bowl! It was so cool! I got a beer called Kwak, which came served in a glass that looked like a giant test tube! That was awesome too! Then later Darren got one in a three-handled Viking style cup! This place is cool! We had a chat and many laughs here, making a little bit of fun at a guy who was falling asleep on the bar! When we were done there, we went and had a chat with the workers for a bit, then Karina realised she knew the sleeping guy! So funny! Darren made a joke about the kwak beer being called that because its a duck (dark) beer, which got him blank faces from the workers, then about a full minute or two later, the younger girl randomly burst out laughing! She got it! Then we left and went down the road to a Chilean restaurant/bar that Karina likes, called El Negocito, and talked to the owner, Jacqui, who was originally from Sydney. We got a special Chilean drink there, called Roomers, which was sweet and yummy and had tiny flowers in the bottom of it, then got chatting to a group of people on the next table, who were a mix of locals, Croatians and an Albanian girl. After what we thought was a good time with them, one guy started to get weird with us. We think it was because he was a ginger-in-denial (aka a strawberry blonde), and there was some kind of weird jealousy/possession issue with us talking to his cool Albanian girlfriend so they left. We chatted and hung out there a while longer, then left, grabbed the bikes and started walking back out of town. We walked through Gent's small red light district, then when we were outside the city centre, we got back on the bikes, but this time Darren rode and I got dinked! It was fun, and the world looked very cool slightly drunk on the back of a bike! We rode all the way home, then said goodnight and went up to bed. I think I like this couchsurfing thing!!