Brussels, Belgium

There an old joke in Texas about an old Bull and his new young replacement. The young bull up on a hill looks down on all the cows below and suggests ‘Let’s run down the hill and make love to one of those lovely cows down there”. The Old Bull looks at the younger and replies “No, let’s walk down the hill and make love to all of them”

Something about the beer in Belgium reminded me of this bad joke. But wow, the Belgians know how to make Beer. Ben Franklin is quoted saying- Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. God must like the Belgians. I do too. My expertise in beer is drinking it, not making it, but you have to ask a few questions when you find something this good. I will try to share a few tidbits about the styles of beer we enjoyed the most.

Trappist beer- made by monks at a monastery. Originally made for Monks by Monks, but now are produced for the public. Back in the day… can you imagine the head monks recruiting pitch? “Son, we want you to become a monk and give up your worldly possessions. You can serve God and your fellow man and gain entry into heaven. Not interested? Did I mention all the beer you can drink? Just sign here…”

Lambic Beers- beers made through a natural fermentation process. No yeast added, the fermentation agent comes from exposure to the air.

Kreik Beer is made by adding Cherries to lambic beer to enhance the flavor. My wife was a fan on Kreik.

As if this was not enough, there are other things to do In Brussels. Turns out they make decent chocolate as well. We were quick to discover they were very proud of all their specialty items, except one-the fries. On every corner there was a french fry stand. I understand the Belgians find it offensive that Americans call them french fries when the recipe originated and was obviously perfected in Belgium. I must give them credit, they are awesome and cheap! Makes them taste so much better to me. Also you can buy dipping sauce at most places with a tiny little dipping utensil to apply the sauce to the fry for a additional .50 Euros. The local favorite is mayonnaise. The locals really smear it on but they also have a wide assortment of other dipping sauces ketchup included.

Another Source of local pride is the Mannekin Pis. A statue of a little boy relieving himself. He has become quite an attraction. To spice things up the locals began to dress him up and now he is changed daily. He can be dressed as any type of character, a policeman, fireman, etc. he can be dressed as anything as long as the uniform has an open fly to keep the fountain flowing.

There are many stories about how the statue came to be. The most popular involves a nobleman who lost his son while conquering the town many years ago. In the process he lost track of his son and went a few days without being able to locate him. Days later, still frantically looking, he finally found his son relieving himself. Overjoyed to see his son, he commissioned a statue in the position he was found. I am sure it sounded like a good idea at the time and there was probably a few Belgian beers influencing this decision.

Crowds of people wait in line to take this young boy’s picture and cities and countries around the world will send uniforms for his wardrobe. Apparently there are many more clothes than he could ever possibly wear. Not wanting to be out done by any other tourist, we took multiple photos and sent them home to the kids that evening. Our 6 year old was able to print it out and bring to show and tell the next day at school causing some email correspondence with her school during our trip.