Chocolate, beer and a little pissing statue...we were in Belgium! Following Paris we headed straight to Brussels with a pit stop overnight at the sight of The Battle of Waterloo. We parked in the visitor's parking lot overnight and were unimpressed by the large hill and statue that represent the 1815 battleground. But it was free parking. The next morning we were in Brussels. We parked outside the city and took a streetcar to the center. The old town square is a sight in itself and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Large and intricate buildings line every side of this rather small (in comparison to some we've seen) cobblestoned square and include the beautiful town hall and several guildhalls, which are buildings that once housed different "trades" of that city. Now they are museums, restaurants or tourist offices. We picked up a map and planned out a few things to see and do including a brewery that still uses the spontaneous fermentation process, chocolate shops, a place famous for its french fries (which are not French, but actually originated in Brussels) and the European Parliament.

After filling up on Belgian waffles for breakfast and fries for lunch we carted ourselves over to the Parliament buildings. We took a free tour where we got to sit in on a debate about internet copyrights from the overhead balcony, which was the most interesting part of the short tour. When we left we found ourselves walking into the Parlimentarium, which is a giant interactive learning center. It provides information about the inter-workings of the European Union as well as European history and how the unification changed many aspects of life for the better (of course, some disagree with that). We wandered through touching our headset devices to the different sensors above text or photos (so that the information would be spoken in our language) and playing government games. One educational game was set in a large round room with seating that represented parliament chairs, each with its own touch screen on the desk. The walls were like an IMAX theater and every 10 minutes a video would play, talking about the law making process and showing images of parliament in action. The touch screens offered games to see if you could get a law passed. I was trying to get parliament to implement and fund environmental protection due to future projections of damage by industries. I went through the process and tried to balance how much funding should be provided and in what time frame. Well…I guess I wanted lots of money and I wanted it too fast. They threw my bill out the door. L After I failed there we went on to more rooms with maps, interviews, statistics and more. We spent nearly 2 hours enjoying the Parlimentarium, and for free!

Although we didn't actually see the pissing statue I mentioned earlier, it is an icon of Brussels. This little bronze statue urinates into a fountain year 'round, and the current version was sculpted in 1619. The original version dates back to 1388. Many legends and tales surround this statue but the most famous is of the two-year-old lord, Duke Godfrey III of Leuven. During an important battle in 1142 the infant lord was placed in a basket and hung in a tree to encourage his troops, but he only managed to pee all over this soldiers from his raised basket. The statue has been stolen and returned many times.

That night we slept in the van at a truck stop, nestled between the protective shelter of several semi-trucks. The next morning we each paid 2 Euros to use the showers and sat in a nice café while we used the internet for almost 2 hours.

We stopped in Bruges that afternoon for lunch and a canal tour. This town pleasantly surprised me. It is known as "The Venice of the North" and is the second-most visited city in Belgium. With winding canals and old, moss-covered bridges, Bruges proved that old and new can be combined harmoniously. It is home to the oldest hospital in Europe and was once an economic powerhouse. It lost much of its prowess after losing its direct ocean access due to the silting of the Zwin Channel in the 1500s. But despite that, it is a medieval city dripping with character. I bought some inappropriately shaped chocolate at one of the shops (of which there are probably more than a hundred) and Steve bought a large slice of fresh pistachio marzipan. The only thing missing in Bruges was a good selection of bars for watching the game that night, so we drove to Antwerp.

We wanted to watch Germany play Italy in the semi-finals that night and we went to the right place for it. Antwerp is not only the diamond capitol of the world but also the city with the most bars per capita. Near an Italian restaurant heavy area we settled in at a falafel house because it had the biggest screen. Sadly, Germany lost and we left the busy street with the sounds of cheering Italian chefs in the background, who were tossing pizza dough back and forth across the street to one another as a sort of Italian themed victory dance.

That night we stayed at a privately run campground on a farm that was clean and quiet. The street was right on the border with The Netherlands, the next and final country of our adventure.