Saturday in Brussels

My American labmate lives in Brussels, and after a few beers at the Blauwe Kater on Friday, we all spontaneously decided to accompany him back there for the night. We had a great time wandering around in the city; we saw a whole clan of Scotsmen in kilts (in fact, due to the kilt-wearing, Aaron even saw more of one of them than one might wish), sampled the alleged best mojito in Brussels, and were actually told "c'est la vie" when we tried to go into a bar that was too full.

The best part, though, was waking up the next morning at 9am and being in Brussels so early! We went to the grote market first, and enjoyed the lack of tourists:

No tourists! Only pigeons!

Ok, a few tourists.

It was early.

We were still a little sleepy.

Then we headed to the Moroccan market, where you can get all sorts of basic things for a whole lot cheaper than in Leuven. It's not in the greatest neighborhood...



... but well worth the trip - we got a food processor for half of what they cost in Leuven, but the big story is the Persian rug, which we bought for less than the price of an Ikea rug in the states!

The apartment feels cozier already.

We also went to a cheese shop and bought a sizeable wedge of brie for only 2 euro - I would post a picture of that, but it didn't stick around long enough to have the opportunity to be photographed!

I came, I saw, I shopped:

I've been in Leuven for 4 days now, but have just managed to get internet at my apartment (pictured above) today.  I got to explore the entire town on foot looking for a power adapter for my laptop, which was frustrating at times, but now I know where Diestsestraat is, and what they sell at fnac, and I have a store credit at AS Adventure (I bought a bells-and-whistles power adapter from them for 27 euro! And it didn't even work with my laptop.  I was getting desperate).

Luckily I got in on a Saturday, which is when the market is set up in the center of Leuven - unfortunately though, I didn't take any pictures. I did get some nice fresh bread and cheese, and a sausage and some olives, and I've been snacking on those all week.  A pushy French vendor convinced me to buy 3 heads of french garlic, and now I have no idea what to do with them.  I've been a little bit bored living here by myself so for some entertainment I've been cooking and will post some recipes soon.  I've been doing a lot of reading too, but now that I have the computer I'll probably just goof off on the internet most of the time, as is my wont.

Today I found a french press and a nice coffee mug at my new favorite store, Hema (I'm well on my way to outfitting my entire apartment in gear from Hema). And I got some coffee at Koffie Onan, so I am currently enjoying a nice cup of coffee.

Translation update: "onan" is apparently the dutch word for "unacceptable"