Stationary Thoughts #2: Brussels Edition

1. If you like two of the following four items, then you need to come to Belgium: Chocolate
Waffles
French Fries (should be called Flemish Fries, because Belgium is killing the game here.)
Beer. Oh my god the beer. If this is the only thing you like on this list, come here anyway. While Stella Artois is essentially cat pee, the other cheap beer (Jupiler) is good, and their good beers are amazing (as I've mentioned). Also, at €3.90 or so per bottle, it's much cheaper to drink them here than in the US. I kinda wish I had more time here just for the beer (I only had the one trappist brew), but I did all right.

The English fluency rate is much higher here than in France, even in French speaking Brussels (where I stopped for lunch and lambic). In France, if you go and don't know any French, you are fucked. If you have only had one year of French in high school, you can hack your way through, but you'll wish you had a few more years. In Belgium, not knowing Dutch was no big deal in Flanders (they speak Flemish, which is essentially Dutch), and in the few hours I was in Brussels, I met only one person who didn't speak English (a bartender). He just called over a waiter, and it was all good. I suspect this is because the French are still pissed about their language not being the universal language of travel and business, but if they wanted to rule the world's dialect, they should have spent less time building palaces and mistreating geese, and more time figuring out how to outsail and outshoot the... pretty much everybody.

In America, if you have a three hour layover at the airport, you are trapped behind the security checkpoint in a world of overpriced, reheated food, expensive alcohol, and crushing boredom. In Europe, if you have a 3 hour layover at a train station, you leave, take light rail downtown, eat a sandwich made fresh for you, drink two weird beers, and come back with just a half hour wait before you board the train. It's very nice.

Also, there is no passport control between EU nations. I got off the train in Belgium expecting to have to clear security. Nooope, just step off the train and 5 minutes later you're on a bus to your hostel. The US government will have no way of knowing whether I went to Belgium or not unless I tell them.

There's also no security checkpoint at the train station either. You can literally show up 5 minutes before your train leaves and waltz right on (although running is faster, since you don't have to dance around in circles and trip all over your partner's feet).

France may have better art and better food, but Belgium is a much easier place to visit. Nothing in this country was frustrating, nothing was as expensive as Paris, and they handle tourists much better than France. They have to work harder to get you to come (France has its reputation for food, wine, the Riviera, Paris, etc. as a draw, while Belgium has beer and Jean-Claude Van Damme), but once you get there, it's a nicer place to be when you aren't stuffing your face with delicious French food.