21 December

The train ride to Brussels was thankfully uneventful and after our arrival at the station, it took us a little while to orient ourselves and find our hotel. Once we did, we were extremely pleased by its appearance and even more happy when we realized it was a four-star hotel. Sachi was the one who found it and scored major points with Saket and me. We freshened up and rested for a short while before heading back out into the city. Since we were situated close to the grand palace and a gorgeous city square called the Grand Place, we went there first and admired the pretty Christmas decorations there. The citizens had built these huge snow globes with small trees in them covered in flashing lights. All the main buildings in that square dated from the late 1700s and looked remarkably good for their age. There was a Christmas market near the square which we happily walked through. Christmas markets are popular in Europe according to Saket as he saw them in Stockholm, Oslo, and Lund. Vendors set up wooden stands and show off goods ranging from freshly made waffles to jewelry to winter accessories. We tried some Glühwein which is simply hot red wine and a German winter tradition. Like the beer in Amsterdam, I didn’t like this much either and even though the warmth of it felt good, the taste was enough for me to refrain from more than a couple of sips. From the Market we headed for a famous cathedral and admired its interior for a bit. It was late afternoon by this time as since we were all feeling a bit hungry, we decided to hunt for some dinner. Traditional Belgian food is not very vegetarian friendly and so we chose a Pizza Hut. The food was all right and it looked much like the Pizza Huts at home. It was a boring choice, yes, but we still had a good meal. On the way back to the hotel we stopped by the Grand Place again to see it lit up. A light show was designed for the square in which the façade of one building was used as a screen for a quaint Christmas slideshow. Images from several European Union countries (Brussels is the HQ for the Union, after all) were displayed as was Santa Claus on his sleigh. It was a pretty sight and nice end to our day. We found a grocery store nearby from which we purchased some bread, cheese, juice, and chocolate for breakfast and a late night snack. Grocery stores are great for travelers on a budget as you can get wholesome food for much cheaper prices than what you’d pay in restaurants. In the hotel we checked out what was on television and found a Bayern-Munich versus Hamburg football match. Saket learned a bit about European and German football in particular from some German corridor-mates of his and proceeded to educated Sachi and me as to the finer elements of the game. The match was fun to watch and we shared a bottle of Leffe, a type of Belgian beer, and some chocolate while watching. I found the Leffe as disgusting as the Amsterdam brew so Saket and Sachi really shared that one. I started feeling very sleepy during the match and after it was over we all went to sleep.