May 31 – June 2
We woke up early after a late night with Ben (still on first name basis) and headed to the Paris airport to meet up with a few buddies who had come to visit and drink a few beers with us. Sarah, Janine, Ken and I all went to college together, and since Janine and Ken live in Chicago, Mike and Ken have become great buddies (as you’ll see in the upcoming photos). We had been anxiously awaiting their visit and I was too excited to sleep the night before.
We had a bit of drama getting to the airport that morning. The Paris trains were not going all the way to the airport so we got dropped off a stop a few miles away. From there, buses were shuttling people to the airport. There weren’t nearly enough buses which made it a disaster. It was like being at a Walmart at 5am on the Friday after Thanksgiving. People were pushing and shoving, trying to get on the buses and make their flights on time. It was dangerous. People were throwing luggage over other people to get on the bus. Really horrible. We waited 30 or 40 minutes and finally just got an Uber. This landed us at the airport right on time to meet Ken and J9 (and a bit late for Sarah – whomp whomp).
Then we headed straight to the train station next to the airport to grab our train to Brussels.
Look how unhappy Michael is. Then….
Ken brought his bestie some presents: beer, beer hat, beer book. Look at how happy Michael is!
Train pics:
After a few hours on the train, we were in Brussels. So these couple of days mostly blur together. We had an amazing time together. We visited three breweries, had a few amazing meals, ate waffles (obviously), played some Euchre, and just had, in general, a great time catching up and spending time together. Here… you can check out the proof.
Yep, that is Michael tearing up over a beer that Ken brought for us to drink from Chicago.
No – he didn’t get to play this hand. His partner called something red, I believe, which is why the photo had to be taken.
This is all that was left of the waffles that we inhaled:
And, J9 with a life sized waffle:
Cantillon brewery, the big daddy of Belgian beers:
This translates to “good beer takes time”. Ok – it’s a pretty rough translation.
Brussels Beer Project:
Then a few pictures of us out on the town:
Just way too much fun walking down the street!
Awwwwwwwwwwwww:
Another day and another brewery. This time we went out to 3 Fonteinen.
We had an amazing cheese spread while playing some trivial pursuit. We felt great about the game since it was in English until we realized it was the British version. That made quite a few questions much harder than they should have been.
I’d like to say that we had fun and it doesn’t matter who won the game. But let’s be honest – in a game being played with four of the most competitive people out there – it definitely matters. Sarah was an innocent bystander. In the end, Michael and I demolished Ken and Janine. Big time. Maybe next time Janine will assert herself more. Or Ken will listen to her more. I’m not sure where we landed on who was at fault.
Then back to town for more fun in the city center.
Did you know that Barbie in Brussels is named Lucy? And Lucy is ready for the World Cup!
How awesome are these pin wheels?
The mussels were good, but Janine definitely won at dinner.
Back to the city center for some people watching!
He said yes!!
Why does it feel like somebody’s watching me?
Yes – he’s still creeping back there. https://youtu.be/91LQWQEyD8w
Finally, he almost made it into the foreground of a picture… almost.
Take a look at the couple to the left in the picture. Why is he holding her leg up!?!?
So. Many. Questions.
Only more now.
We had just a great couple of days together. The pictures actually do some justice to how much fun we had. Michael and I are so lucky to have wonderful friends who are willing to take such a long flight to come visit us for just a long weekend. Thanks Ken and J9! We love you both tons and miss you already! And now it’s off to our next adventure with Sarah in Munich!
So glad you had a good time.