
<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-october-2012/8141156821_f4ab11af86_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Smiling Nora">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-october-2012/8141156821_0d1688ab4c_t.jpg" alt="Smiling Nora"/>
</a>

We had a major breakthrough in potty training this month. Several months ago we prematurely tried to have Nora not wear diapers at night, but the result was a full week of having to get up sometimes more than once during the night to change sheets. After ten nights or so, we called it quits and went back to the peace and tranquility of wearing a diaper at night. Lately the diapers have almost always been dry, and I considered suggesting we try it again, but we came up with a plan. As a computer nerd, I like algorithmic rules, so we decided that "Until she gets up by herself at night to go pee, we'll continue to use diapers. When she is capable of getting up to go to the bathroom at night, we'll try without diapers again."  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-october-2012/8141183562_4fefcfda35_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Concentration">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-october-2012/8141183562_dbdcc9eacd_m.jpg" alt="Concentration"/>
</a>

Well, a few weeks ago, she did it. She didn't make it all the way to the bathroom, but she came and told us she had to "do pee-pee", so I helped her take off her diaper and get up on the toilet. We left the diaper off for the remainder of the night. The following night, we discussed it with her and she fully understood that if she had to urinate at night, she would get up all by herself. And she did! But she woke me first. When I turned on the bathroom light, she was so dazed that she hit her head on the door, cried a little bit, and then hit the door again. Poor thing.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-october-2012/8141186482_fce6e48a72_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Studious Nora">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-october-2012/8141186482_6ef4b95f0d_m.jpg" alt="Studious Nora"/>
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The third night, I heard the bathroom door opening, saw that the light was on, and heard the toilet seat being put down, and, to my surprise, my wife was still sleeping beside me! I got up to shower Nora with praise. She is very proud of herself for sleeping without a diaper now. It has been a few months since she's had any daytime accidents bigger than a few leaked drops. At 42 months of age, she might finally be potty trained! (as potty trained as any of us really are)

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-october-2012/8141154785_74d2df1f08_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Pony Tail">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-october-2012/8141154785_bd0aa18d0e_m.jpg" alt="Pony Tail"/>
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Inevitability reared its ugly head one morning in the form of my first experience (I have no sisters) with the ubiquitous first world problem known as "chewing gum stuck in little girl's hair". My first instinct was the correct one. Those "home remedies" – e.g. ice, peanut butter, etc. – are crap. We had to cut our losses, so to speak. No noticeable damage, but just enough trauma to learn from.

If, should you meet 'er, my girl's height shan't surprise you. 'Tis but a meter.

In preparation for our upcoming trip to the United States in November, my mother inquired about Nora's height and weight in order to acquire the appropriate car seat. We hadn't weighed or measured her lately, so I was curious to see. She came in at 100 centimeters (3' 3.7") and 14.6 kilograms (32 lb, 3oz). So excited, was I, about her hitting such a metric milestone, I wrote a haiku.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-october-2012/8141162833_a4ea4a93bf_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-october-2012/8141162833_47dfdab92f_m.jpg" alt="Nora"/>
</a>

We had an incident this month that cracked me up, but it requires some backstory. We've had this running joke since August that "Nora knows how to speak French", because we taught her the French-sounding phrase "Le pee-pee in le potty" (speak with exaggerated French accent). Every week or so, it comes up, and we pretend that it sounds French, which she thinks is as silly as it is. One day, however, when she was on her way to the bathroom, I said, "Le pee-pee in le potty _s'il vous plaí®t_!", and she repeated as she had heard: "Do pee-pee in the potty if you want to play!"

Right now, as I write this, Nora is off on a field trip with her school. I packed her little backpack with a sandwich, some juice and some water, and took her to school where they all piled into a bus to head off to a local zoo that I'd never heard of called [Karpin Abentura](http://www.karpinabentura.com/), which is pretty much due south from us, but in the Basque Country. They have animals and prehistoric animatronic creatures as well. I volunteered to go as a chaperone, but there was only one spot and another mom got it. It's just as well, as there will be future field trips that might be more fun that I'm still in the pool for.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-october-2012/8141156821_f4ab11af86_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Smiling Nora">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-31-state-of-the-offspring-address-october-2012/8141156821_0d1688ab4c.jpg" alt="Smiling Nora"/>
</a>

The state of the offspring is strong!


State of the Offspring Address - October 2012


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132556454_88783d61f4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Jack-o-Lantern">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132556454_a337a6da96_t.jpg" alt="Jack-o-Lantern"/>
</a>

Tonight we did our annual October tradition of pumpkin carving. Unfortunately, the pumpkins we were able to get this year were pretty sad. The shape was okay, but they were small with incredibly thick walls. So small, that the face I carved had to have its features so close together that we had a bit of an accident in which the eye hole broke through to the nose hole. Mistakes happen even to the worst of us pumpkin carvers.  [Last year](/2011/10/30/halloween-2011/) we had a great time inviting our three-floors-down neighbor, Carmen up to participate. She and Nora get along splendidly and the quality of her parents is apparent in her excellent behavior. We invited her up this year as well. She had a friend over visiting, so we invited her as well, but she was too shy to come play with us, so she, rather unfortunately, stayed in Carmen's house playing with Carmen's toys while we carved our pumpkin.

Carmen brought some candy with her, "to put in the pumpkin". I found this misunderstanding quite understandable and funny. So many of the jack-o-lanterns that Spanish children see are from American cartoons, and they've all seen the ubiquitous plastic candy basket shaped like a jack-o-lantern that kids carry around to go trick-or-treating. Pretty reasonable that she'd think pumpkins were for holding candy. Very cute.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132468463_f44cfbcdcc_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2012">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132468463_cd4f188cd4.jpg" alt="Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2012"/>
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I have such fond, sepia-tinted memories of the tactile sensation of reaching into a freshly opened gourd. I'm glad I can share it with my child.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132477313_5da015e314_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2012">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132477313_7cd2a3b344.jpg" alt="Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2012"/>
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The pumpkin was so small that my hand wouldn't fit. Luckily we had child labor available!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132498526_10d65c2ae0_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2012">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132498526_7bc915541a.jpg" alt="Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2012"/>
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Traffic jam!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132485759_b538c1c7db_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2012">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132485759_26a972d752.jpg" alt="Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2012"/>
</a>

Real friends help you clean gourd goop off your hands.

Once the pumpkin was emptied and I scraped it out a bit with a spoon, it was time to do the carving. The girls said, "Okay, now what can we do?" I suggested they play with the goop they'd removed from the pumpkin. Oh my, what a mess they made!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132517764_79ef7f873e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2012">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132517764_0756a2f5e2.jpg" alt="Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2012"/>
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Nora complained briefly about her hands itching, and I remembered how last year her face had swollen up a bit during pumpkin carving, but she had no further symptoms this year.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132549256_8cc73ea9c3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2012">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132549256_95de56fe78.jpg" alt="Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2012"/>
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Caught orange-handed. Off to the bathroom for some scrubbing, young ladies!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132552730_d40d04b631_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Jack-o-Lantern">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132552730_3d9554e144.jpg" alt="Jack-o-Lantern"/>
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Scary!!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132538419_08f173fca2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Jack-o-Lantern">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132538419_68bdd57623.jpg" alt="Jack-o-Lantern"/>
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Long exposure photography with three and four year olds is not easy. How we have any clear daguerreotypes of children is a mystery to me. The room was completely dark for this shot, and the camera picked up the light from the street lamps outside.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132572632_d1fe8b1418_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Jack-o-Lantern">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132572632_19af207e73.jpg" alt="Jack-o-Lantern"/>
</a>

Remind anyone of [_The Shining_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMbI7DmLCNI)?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132547449_2318c98163_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Jack-o-Lantern">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-28-halloween-2012-pumpkin-carving-with-carmen/8132547449_d90c4067e2.jpg" alt="Jack-o-Lantern"/>
</a>

Happy Halloween, everybody!


Halloween 2012 - Pumpkin Carving with Carmen


![Cutout Question](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-26-10-questions-for-pro-choice-people/3118060123_d9b2da0683_o.png)One of my religious conservative friends on Facebook linked to a blog post entitled [10 Questions a Pro-Choice Candidate Is Never Asked by the Media](http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2012/10/24/10-questions-a-pro-choice-candidate-is-never-asked-by-the-media/). There's a bit of redundancy, but overall, they are pretty good questions. Abortion is a very slippery topic, and, although it often detracts from arguably more important issues in politics, I think it's a very good litmus test for how advanced a society has become, in much the same way capital punishment or gay marriage is. Personally, I quite enjoy being asked probing questions of my morality and world view because it forces me define it better and better understand my underlying philosophy and its arguments. So I thought I would have a go at these ten questions. 

1. You say you support a woman\\'s right to make her own reproductive choices in regards to abortion and contraception. Are there any restrictions you would approve of?

No.

1. In 2010, The Economist featured a [cover story](http://www.economist.com/node/15606229) on "the war on girls" and the growth of "gendercide" in the world – abortion based solely on the sex of the baby. Does this phenomenon pose a problem for you or do you believe in the absolute right of a woman to terminate a pregnancy because the unborn fetus is female?

I don't particularly _like_ it, but I'm not going to infringe on their right make decisions about their own bodies. Maybe if the abortion abolitionists stopped making life so damned difficult for women, these gender selecting parents might choose to have more daughters.

1. In many states, a teenager can have an abortion without her parents\\' consent or knowledge but cannot get an aspirin from the school nurse without parental authorization. Do you support any restrictions on parental notification regarding abortion access for minors?

It's a sad state of affairs that we can't talk about sex and contraception with our kids such that, when they do make an uninformed decision, some lawmakers think they need laws protecting them from our parental wrath. The decision and distribution of information about an abortion is ultimately up to the pregnant woman, regardless of her age. If you're such a horrible parent that your daughter is terrified of telling you about her abortion, then you don't deserve to know.

1. If you do not believe that human life begins at conception, when do you believe it begins? At what stage of development should an unborn child have human rights?

At birth. Biologically, the life never stops, so how can it start? The egg is alive, the sperm is alive, and the resulting gamete is still alive. Consequently, where you draw the line for "before this moment this life didn't exist" is completely arbitrary. Why not when the sperm is still in the testicle? _Every ejaculation kills millions!!!_ Or after the child turns 18 years old? Equally ridiculous. I can understand the argument for conception in terms of "a living cell with _this_ specific DNA", although I don't think that DNA processes are that clear cut, as mutations occur all the time. Are cancer cells a separate human life with rights? The biggest problem with defining human life and rights as beginning at conception is that the logical moral and legal consequences (e.g. do we prosecute miscarriages?) are extremely damaging to all women. If we begin human rights at birth, all those thorny moral issues slough off like the placenta.

1. Currently, when genetic testing reveals an unborn child has Down Syndrome, most women choose to abort. How do you answer the charge that this phenomenon resembles the â€œeugenicsâ€ movement a century ago – the slow, but deliberate â€œweeding outâ€ of those our society would deem â€œunfitâ€ to live?

See #1.

1. Do you believe an employer should be forced to violate his or her religious conscience by providing access to abortifacient drugs and contraception to employees?

No, but I don't believe employers should be _forced_ to provide any healthcare at all. However, if we're forcing coverage of Viagra or vasectomies, in the interest of fairness, we should provide the pill and abortifacient drugs, too. It will keep costs down, too, because contraception and abortifacients are somewhat cheaper than the healthcare costs of a birth and child.

1. Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King, Jr. has said that â€œabortion is the white supremacist\\'s best friend,â€ pointing to the fact that Black and Latinos represent 25% of our population but account for 59% of all abortions. How do you respond to the charge that the majority of abortion clinics are found in inner-city areas with large numbers of minorities?

As long as abortions aren't forced on any women, there's nothing morally wrong about the clinic distribution. The best way to prevent abortion is to educate women (and men) on how to avoid unwanted pregnancies. _That's_ probably what is failing in poorer minority communities.

You know what a smart white supremacist would do? He'd ban contraception and abortion, specifically in the targeted racial community, which would result in a massive, poor population with dysfunctional families where desperation would lead to violence, reenforcing his message that the targeted demographic is uncivilized or dangerous.

Oh wait, that's what abortion abolitionists do!

1. You describe abortion as a â€œtragic choice.â€ If abortion is not morally objectionable, then why is it tragic? Does this mean there is something about abortion that is different than other standard surgical procedures?

It's not like pro-choice people think abortion is Morally Wonderful. No one walks jauntily into the clinic and greets their abortion doctor with a cheery smile. It's tragic in the same way that it's tragic when firefighters have to do controlled burns of forests ahead of raging forest fires in an attempt to put out the bigger fire. It would be nice if the original fire hadn't been lit, but, like in all decisions, you have to weigh the potential outcomes, for all involved.

1. Do you believe abortion should be legal once the unborn fetus is viable – able to survive outside the womb?

Yes. See #1. You can do whatever you want with something inside your body. Period.

1. If a pregnant woman and her unborn child are murdered, do you believe the criminal should face two counts of murder and serve a harsher sentence?

No. See #4.

I'm curious what my readers think of my views. Am I a depraved Nazi baby killer? If you disagree with me, do my arguments still make at least a little sense? This is not a black and white issue, by any means. It's really very, very gray, but to me it feels more right to side with the woman over the uterine parasite every time. What do I have wrong?


10 Questions For Pro-Choice People


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-26-how-to-talk-to-a-three-year-old-about-the-future/8125811466_6be451e5ff_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Making a Calendar">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-26-how-to-talk-to-a-three-year-old-about-the-future/8125811466_fda0c930a9_t.jpg" alt="Making a Calendar"/>
</a>

We have this trip coming up in a few weeks to the United States to visit my folks, and my three year old daughter, Nora, is very excited about seeing Grandma and Grandpa. Lately, her video conferencing hours have skyrocketed. She speaks to and sees her Grandma and Grandpa nearly every day lately to fill the second hour of her two hour lunch break from school, and often until phone battery death on the weekends. Ironically, despite the ocean between them, I don't think they've ever been closer.  When they told her that "Soon you're going to go in an airplane and come see us!" she got very excited. She doesn't really have a grasp on what Time is yet, but she's slowly getting better at not referring to last year and one minute ago as "yesterday". Suddenly it became very important to her to know exactly _when_ she was getting on this airplane to go see Grandma and Grandpa.

After about two days, and fifty inquiries of, "But _when_ is 'in three weeks'???" an idea dawned on me. What this child needs is a calendar!!

Deep down in my parental insecurity neurons, I feel that I don't do nearly enough drawing and crafts with my daughter, so I was delighted to have an idea of something to do. I declared, "After you eat all your lunch, we're going to make… \[horn fanfare\] …**a calendar!!**" Clearly my emphasis was successful, because she immediately began begging to do it _before_ lunch rather than after. I held firm.

After lunch, I was feeling like a great army general (parenting is such a power trip!) commanding that what we needed here was a big sheet of paper and a pen! Immediately, Private Nora ran off to gather materials for our mission.

We cleared the coffee table, set down our paper, and then had The Permanent Marker Talk. Once she could answer correctly twice in a row "Who _can_ use the permanent marker?" and "Who _cannot_ use the permanent marker?" we began.

I explained that first we needed a big rectangle, which she subsequently referred to as a triangle. Oh well, geometry lessons are for another day; today we're learning about \[reverb\] The Fourth Dimension \[/reverb\]. She then helped me count out each line as I drew six lines to divide the triangle rectangle into seven vertical triangles rectangles. She didn't catch the trickiness about how we needed _six_ lines to divide it into _seven_ boxes. Then we did the horizontal lines to create four weeks.

Permanent marker capped and stored, I labeled each column with the name of the day of the week. She's familiar with them from her "What day is today?" sunrise interrogations, but can't name them in order. Then, using my calendar app on my phone as a starting guide, I added the dates, not that it mattered to her at all, but it's helpful for parental validation that the calendar is up to date.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-26-how-to-talk-to-a-three-year-old-about-the-future/8125857365_5056972c04_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Making a Calendar">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-26-how-to-talk-to-a-three-year-old-about-the-future/8125857365_248867b6ef.jpg" alt="Making a Calendar"/>
</a>

I explained that "This is today," and we have to wait through "This day, this day, this day, … , and this day, and then the next day, _we get on the airplane!_" I drew a not-too-shabby drawing of an airplane on our day of travel. She said, "So this day, this day, this day, and then the second day we get on the airplane." I chose to nod.

Each morning since, we have crossed off one day. Sometimes it's the first thing she tells me in the morning, "We need to go cross off a day on the calendar!"

Since making the calendar, we've learned that she's going on a field trip next week, so immediately she demanded that it be added to the calendar. My wife drew a lovely bus on the field trip day.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-26-how-to-talk-to-a-three-year-old-about-the-future/8125812714_4e64003c3f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Making a Calendar">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-26-how-to-talk-to-a-three-year-old-about-the-future/8125812714_aa69866554.jpg" alt="Making a Calendar"/>
</a>

I'm not certain that she really, truly understands what more than one or two days really means, but at least she's stopped asking us about it every two minutes. Problem solved!


Parenting Tip: How to talk to a three year old about the future: Make a calendar!


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-25-mcdonalds-in-spain/8121492795_6a6da42a30_t.jpg" alt="McRoyale Deluxe" class="post-thumb"/>I was weak once. On my first ever trip abroad to Scotland as an early teen, when given a day to myself to wander about and choose my schedule, I ate lunch at a Burger King. And later, as a 20-year-old, having moved abroad for the first time, it didn't take me long to visit the McDonalds in the center of Copenhagen. When in Budapest, someone talked me into entering what was described to me beforehand as "the most beautiful McDonalds in the world", and, while I can't speak for the entire world, I must agree that it _is_ [quite pretty](http://www.flickr.com/photos/16457725@N04/1796613550/). Each time, my justification was curiosity about how my American culture had been translated to another culture, but I'd be lying if part of it wasn't the comfort of familiar food that makes these chains so successful.  When I moved to England with my future wife, the McDonalds brand was exotic for her (it still is), so we went several times in England, and she even formed a habit of getting a cheap quick McChicken sandwich on nights when she went to her English classes in the center of Birmingham.

Here in Spain, we live about a thirty minute drive from the nearest McDonalds. Let that sink in for a second, my fellow Americans.

The fast food giants have struggled to gain a foothold in Spain. The Spanish like to say that it's because they like _real food_, not that processed crap! That's part of it. Another part is that the Spanish are quite vehemently against foreign food or trying new gastronomic experiences. But my favorite theory can be summed up in five letters: **tapas**. There are already so many ways to grab a quick bite, with little sandwiches, made fresh that morning, cocooned in cling film, available from any local bar in even the smallest villages. McDonalds's and Burger King's over-salted, over-sweetened, frozen-since-the-factory meals, which are not all that cheap compared to tapas, offer no real competition.

What I'm really trying to say is that I'm trying to work through my McGuilt over letting my wife talk me into eating at the "local" McDonalds this week.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-25-mcdonalds-in-spain/8121491623_1118036166_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="McDonalds Menu in Spain">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-25-mcdonalds-in-spain/8121491623_291c78d6a1.jpg" alt="McDonalds Menu in Spain"/>
</a>

I found the menu somewhat interesting. Contrary to what we all learned from [Vincent Vega](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLtwFugudZE), the quarter pounder is translated verbatim into Spanish as _Cuarto de Libra_, not a "Royale With Cheese". However, there was an item called a _McRoyal Deluxe_, which I ordered. The other interesting item of note is that the combo with sandwich, fries and a beverage can include beer!

5.95€ – that's $7.74, at today's rate – struck me as very expensive for the combo meal – which are called "menus" in Europe – as I remember a quarter pounder being about $1.60 and the combo being around $3.00. I've discovered, just now, that it's really quite difficult to find McDonalds prices online, but I did find [this photo](http://www.flickr.com/photos/juusio/7628811812/) that suggests a quarter pounder combo in the US costs $6.29 in 2012. So I guess it's only 23% more expensive in Spain. Bloody inflation! Back in my day…!!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-25-mcdonalds-in-spain/8121506792_59153376cc_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="McDonalds Menu in Spain">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-25-mcdonalds-in-spain/8121506792_d9b0ff79f2.jpg" alt="McDonalds Menu in Spain"/>
</a>

Here you've got your McFlurry ice creams, your Happy Meals, which apparently come with real fruit, grapes or cherries, and the breakfast menu. What most caught my eye about this side of the menu was the nice _McNí­fica_ wordplay, which sounds like _magní­fica_ (magnificent). Also, they have a McIbérica sandwich, which the McDonalds website explains consists of "rustic bread, pork, semi cured Spanish cheese, crunchy peppers and a sauce of olives and tomatoes". In retrospect, I really should've chosen that sandwich.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-25-mcdonalds-in-spain/8121492795_cf675b8518_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="McRoyale Deluxe">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-25-mcdonalds-in-spain/8121492795_6a6da42a30.jpg" alt="McRoyale Deluxe"/>
</a>

Meh… The burgers really are the same everywhere. Don't get me wrong, it's salty and sweet and plays a beautiful dopamine chord on the cerebral harpsichord, but… BLECH!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-25-mcdonalds-in-spain/8121508810_0cb47e3b19_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="McRoyale Deluxe">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-25-mcdonalds-in-spain/8121508810_5f3769823c.jpg" alt="McRoyale Deluxe"/>
</a>

Whipped together as fast as possible by an underpaid assembly line employee. The McDonalds formula!

I'm left with the same rationalized good feeling I get after getting a haircut or mowing the lawn or painting a room: **Whew! So glad I won't have to do _that_ again for a while!**


McDonalds in Spain


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-24-how-to-manipulate-a-three-year-old/8118726810_5f1436de53_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Uninterested Nora">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-24-how-to-manipulate-a-three-year-old/8118726810_a2274aa217_t.jpg" alt="Uninterested Nora"/>
</a>

Lately I've been reading some books on parenting, and the paradigm that best jives with my morals and ideals originated from a psychologist named [Thomas Gordon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gordon_(psychologist)), who became an expert in relationship conflict resolution, valuing negotiation and collaboration over the use of power. I had not heard of him until recently, but he was thrice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, so he's not a complete kook. It makes sense that losing an argument because the other person played the power card would breed resentment and poison the relationship. I've had some success with talking through conflicts with my child, but sometimes when you're parenting, you don't have thirty minutes to work through the peace process and converge upon a solution of compromise for every item of clothing your kid refuses to put on in the morning before school. I have found a few shortcuts that I'd like to share with you.  The past few months we have had many mealtime negotiations that go like this:

> Nora: \[about halfway through her meal\] My belly hurts!
> 
> Me: Well then don't eat any more.
> 
> Nora: But I want my _Actimel_, \[a drinkable yogurt dessert reward for proper eating\]!
> 
> Me: If your belly hurts then you shouldn't eat anything else.
> 
> Nora: \[picking up her fork\] I'm going to keep eating.

And the other very similar tactic of trying to take the shortcut to dessert:

> Nora: Have I eaten enough?
> 
> Me: Are you full?
> 
> Nora: Yes.
> 
> Me: Then you've eaten enough.
> 
> Nora: Okay, what else can I eat now?

The most convincing strategy for me to use when this happens is to suggest, based on how much she's eaten already, a finite number of spoonfuls more to reach the "enough" barrier, e.g. "Okay, four more and then you're done." It even improves her counting skills! Serving size is crucial as well; ideally I've judged how much she needs to eat precisely and "everything on your plate" can be the barrier, but sometimes I get it wrong and I let her negotiate down to a number of bites.

I've also had a few breakthroughs in the general battle of motivating my child to do something that she doesn't particularly want to do at the moment. Let's say, for instance, that I want her to pick up her toys and put them back in the toy chest. When I tell her to pick them up, she will pout and say, "Why?" or "I don't want to." Continuing to tell her over and over again results in the same questions and the same inaction. Telling her why I want her to pick them up also gets nowhere. Getting angry or raising my voice only makes her cry (she's quite sensitive) and doesn't accomplish anything, nor does threatening any other sort of future punishment or loss of privileges, as she's still an extremely present-oriented temporal being. I have, however, found two techniques that work quite well without any animosity.

The first is the clichéd "I'm not going to tell you again!", which I actually mean and don't repeat my request after I've said that. It's not entirely clear to me why this works, as it's not really a threat, but it does end the dialog, and Nora _loves_ dialog. She usually stops whatever she's doing and immediately goes to do whatever I've told her to do.

The second has been absolutely failsafe; it works every single time. It's not so much about a threat of abandonment as it is about playing off her love of doing things _together_. All I have to say is, "I'm going to go do \[something else\]. Do you want to come?" She invariably says, "Yes," to which I continue, "Well then you have to do \[requested activity\] first." The dangling carrot of doing something new together is all it takes. And it's not like it has to be a fun activity I'm proposing, either; it works with "I'm going to the kitchen, do you want to come?" It's amazing!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-24-how-to-manipulate-a-three-year-old/8119674839_bc350bba7e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Surprised Nora">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-24-how-to-manipulate-a-three-year-old/8119674839_e97a9a5cb8.jpg" alt="Surprised Nora"/>
</a>

I just thought I'd share these techniques in case another parent found them helpful. Every child is different, and a huge part of parenting is learning your child's motivations and desires and using them to shape her into a responsible future adult.


Parenting Tip: How to manipulate a three year old


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-23-cloud-river/8116890399_ca5219655e_t.jpg" alt="River Fog" class="post-thumb"/>The town in which I live is situated at the mouth of the river Asón, which begins way high up in the mountains and flows down into the tidal basin estuary you see in the current header image of this blog. Occasionally I have noticed a fog hanging over the river in the mornings. The fog yesterday, however, seemed more dynamic. I could see it churning with my naked eye. I've always been a big fan of churning and flowing clouds in timelapse videos, and the visibility above the clouds was fantastic, so I raced to set up my tripod, camera and intervalometer before leaving to walk my daughter to school.  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-23-cloud-river/8116890399_eeb4e445b1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="River Fog">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-23-cloud-river/8116890399_ca5219655e.jpg" alt="River Fog"/>
</a>

You can't really see the river, but you can follow where the fog goes and know where it flows.

Several hours later, I noticed that the shutter clicks upstairs had ceased due to battery failure, I dismounted the tripod and began copying the 62 GiB of photos to my computer. When I finally got around to animating them at 30 frames per second today, the result was just as I'd hoped. Behold!

<iframe width="505" height="314" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3PX5EFItvXk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Not bad for a timelapse taken from a bedroom window, if you ask me.


Cloud River


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112847221_97ae9c6871_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Atomium">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112847221_bc8e546eaa_t.jpg" alt="Atomium"/>
</a>

The second "must see" tourist attraction in Brussels after the [_Grand Place_](/2012/10/15/walking-around-brussels/) has got to be the [Atomium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomium), a bizarre and unearthly structure built for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, which is, in theory, modeled after an iron crystal. I saw it once when I was flying into or out of a layover at the Brussels airport, which makes sense given its proximity to the airport. If nothing else, it's very big and very bizarre.  My lack of interest and the fact that it's on the outskirts of town, best reached by car, placed the Atomium at the end of my Brussels itinerary. On Sunday, October 14, Simon drove me and his three year old son, Matteo, out to see it sparkle in the crisp morning light.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112805145_d55314d4b8_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Atomium">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112805145_b705aed91b.jpg" alt="Atomium"/>
</a>

Simon says he lived in Brussels for years before realizing, when someone told him, that the Atomium, which looks like a pretty exotic geometric shape, is just a cube on its corner with an extra vertex in the middle. In his defense, there aren't many angles from which that is obvious.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112806678_f85f3c332c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Atomium">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112806678_17e66a7007.jpg" alt="Atomium"/>
</a>

Enormous shiny spheres sure are photogenic. I can imagine some cool sunrise or sunset or timelapse photography opportunities could be had here.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112803201_1d07b375ae_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Atomium">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112803201_422f7eac92_z.jpg" alt="Atomium"/>
</a>

It was funny that right when my lens had a wide enough angle to photograph the entire thing was right where all the grass was worn away from footsteps.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112807697_3ac823d3b9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Atomium">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112807697_621b13abdd.jpg" alt="Atomium"/>
</a>

We were there just before it opened, and when a line began to form to enter, we got in it. But then I saw that it cost 11€ per adult, and I decided I wasn't that interested in going inside the structure.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112811909_7817708fa0_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Atomium">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112811909_5b61188363.jpg" alt="Atomium"/>
</a>

It was fun enough to photograph from the outside.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112843725_3ec80db660_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Atomium">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112843725_e04f0dd339_z.jpg" alt="Atomium"/>
</a>

During our leisurely stroll around the grounds, a tour bus drove up and excreted dozens of hispanic tourists. Many of them were doing silly [Pisa poses](http://mini.erikras.com/post/34099742695/ha).

When Simon was taking the above photograph of me, Matteo came over and wanted to use the camera, too, so Simon let him push the shutter button once.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112847221_97ae9c6871_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Atomium">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112847221_bc8e546eaa.jpg" alt="Atomium"/>
</a>

I was just doing silly jazz hands gestures while Matteo snapped what I thought would be a blurry throw-away photograph, but darned if he didn't catch me _juggling_ the Atomium.

After I got tired of taking photos of enormous shiny balls, we headed back to Simon's house and then walked to a local bakery coffee shop for a breakfast with Paola. Brian and Cloe soon showed up with their two sons.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112860722_ab03e4d450_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Breakfast">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112860722_f791d00120.jpg" alt="Breakfast"/>
</a>

It was a very strange breakfast, to me. We were served orange juice, coffee (in a handle-less bowl), and a basket full of various types of bread. Then it was up to us to spread butter, jam, and chocolate over our bread and eat it. You can do a lot worse than freshly baked bread with white Belgian chocolate spread over it.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112972785_a26248bf49_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Milo and Erik">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112972785_a44ba0d615.jpg" alt="Milo and Erik"/>
</a>

I grew quite fond of little six-month-old Milo during my visit. He was such a sweetie with his big spherical peach-fuzz-covered head, which [casts funny shadows](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/8113371475/).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112977233_fd7687f9d1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Milo, the Obama Baby">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112977233_528ea241f8.jpg" alt="Milo, the Obama Baby"/>
</a>

Milo's "Obama Baby" t-shirt that used to belong to his older brother. Brian and Cloe only have babies when Obama is running for president.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112980907_964c13baca_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Focaccia Lunch">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112980907_c646723c2a.jpg" alt="Focaccia Lunch"/>
</a>

Before it was time for Simon to drive me to the airport, Paola brought out some piping hot focaccia to round out our all bread Sunday.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8113013800_218bfc9cf5_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="And the parenting award goes to...">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8113013800_7964898cbc.jpg" alt="And the parenting award goes to..."/>
</a>

Milo had a great time holding onto and sucking at his father's beer glass. Didn't I tell you he was a cutie?

Before long it was time to say our goodbyes. Brian and Cloe and their sons Aiden and Milo are about to move to the Pacific Northwest, which is sadly very, very far from Spain. I expect to see Simon and Paola and their kids in a year or two in either Spain or again in Brussels. But saying goodbye to our physical selves wasn't really all that sad, since we were daily online friends before meeting and will continue to be after spatially parting.

When I mentioned that I had bought some beer [in Bruges](/2012/10/17/stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/) that I was hoping to smuggle back home on my carry-on bag, both Simon and Paola were quite convinced that I'd never make it past security. I decided, however, it might be worth a try, as I regularly fly with a pocket knife. Simon agreed to wait outside the security checkpoint in case I had to come back out and unload my beer on him. When I made it to the security checkpoint, I got my tray and put my belt and wallet and stuff in it and set my bag on the conveyor belt. A security officer asked me, in several languages until she got a response, if I had any liquids in my bag. "Nah," I shrugged. I went through the scanner without beeping and awaited my bag.

From where I was waiting, I had a clear view of the x-ray monitor. When my bag went through, I could see the outline of the bag, no clothes, but all six beer bottles stood out in stark contrast. They pulled me aside and made me wait while they searched through their staff for someone who could speak English. Once they found someone, the guy shouted something containing the word "liquid" back to the lady who had questioned me pre-x-ray, and got nod in response. He said, "Did you say you didn't have any liquids?" To which I said, "Yeah, other than the beer, of course…" Astounded by my stupidity, he informed me that I would have to leave the beer at security. I asked if I could take it to a friend outside and he sighed and reluctantly lead me back out of security to see Simon's knowing smirk.

We went back to the RyanAir checkin desk to inquire how much it would cost to check my bag. The checkin attendant was a trainee – I swear I always get the trainees! – and misunderstood me. Once I got her to understand my question, she told me it would be 60€ to check the bag. Fat chance, RyanAir.

While I removed all the beer, which I had paid 16€ for [in Bruges](/2012/10/17/stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/), Simon went to a nearby shop to ask for a plastic bag. Unwilling to accept the beer as a vastly insufficient payment for his B&B services, Simon insisted on giving me 20€ for the beer. He'd make a rubbish capitalist. We shook hands goodbye again, and he walked out of the airport with all my bottles of Belgian beer.

Except one.

There is one Trappist Belgian brewery that is famous for thumbing its nose at the capitalist beer industry and has, over the decades, gained an exclusive aura in doing so. The [Westvleteren Brewery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westvleteren_Brewery) only sells their beer on site at the monastery. You can only buy one 24-bottle case at a time, and if you buy a case, they take down your name, phone number, and license plate, and you have to wait 60 days to buy another case. They make only 60,000 cases every year. When Brian offered to give me one from his last remaining six pack, I graciously accepted.

There I sat, in the open lobby of the South Brussels Charleroi airport, with plenty of time before my flight, and a bottle of this rare Westvleteren beer. I got out my keychain bottle opener, the only purchase from the beer shop in Bruges that would make it home with me, and cracked open the label-less (since 1945!) bottle. Committing a sin for which any Belgian would buy me a one way ticket out of the country if I didn't already have one, I drank the beer _directly from the bottle_.

Once through security again (I chose a different queue), I came across an enormous Duty Free shop selling – you guessed it! – Belgian beer! For 24€, I got seven bottles and two glasses, a detail I had been missing in my previous smuggling attempt. Crisis averted!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112984533_be9cbb275d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Duty Free Belgian Booty">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112984533_be5b0eb017.jpg" alt="Duty Free Belgian Booty"/>
</a>

Duty free booty glee.

After a boring flight which may have involved the woman next to me elbowing me in the gut to make me stop snoring a few times, we were on our approach to Santander airport.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112991050_61da2efafd_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Flying over Laredo">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112991050_220344955b.jpg" alt="Flying over Laredo"/>
</a>

We flew right over Colindres and Laredo where I live. I could even make out my apartment building. Apparently I live close enough to the airport – about a thirty minute drive – that the pilot already had lowered the landing gear when we flew over my town.

RyanAir likes to talk about how they have a great record of arriving on time, but the flip side of that is that they have a reputation for arriving way too early. When we landed, I called home and they hadn't even left to come get me yet. After a 45 minute wait outside in some stormy Spanish weather, my father-in-law drove up to pick me up.

When we arrived home, I opened the door to hear a "Poppy's home!!!" from the living room and my little darling Nora ran into my arms repeating "Poppy, I missed you! Poppy, I missed you!" over and over. One couldn't ask for a better reception.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112991558_2121a95ca6_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Welcome home, Poppy!">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-22-atomium-breakfast-and-goodbye/8112991558_c60681b843_z.jpg" alt="Welcome home, Poppy!"/>
</a>

One of many welcome home kisses.

From [walking](/2012/10/15/walking-around-brussels/) to [drinking](/2012/10/16/drinking-beer-in-brussels/) to [tourism](/2012/10/17/stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/) to [fine dining](/2012/10/18/birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/) to [partying](/2012/10/20/rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/), I had a pretty fantastic trip to Belgium. A big thanks and raised bottle glass of beer to those who helped make it possible!


Atomium, Breakfast and Goodbye


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103044866_7793e299a9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Antwerp Architecture">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103044866_b6cd853129_t.jpg" alt="Antwerp Architecture"/>
</a>

On Saturday, October 13th, my fifth anniversary, I took the Metro into the center of Brussels with Simon, and from the train station, we bought tickets to go to Antwerp. I like train travel; I miss it from my days in Denmark. It's a lot more comfortable than traveling on an airplane. The trip from Brussels to Antwerp took under an hour. I had been impressed by the architecture of the Brussels train station, but then I was absolutely floored by the majesty of the Antwerp station.  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102966203_99646f63a0_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Brussels Train Station">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102966203_54f85f4153.jpg" alt="Brussels Train Station"/>
</a>

The pretty ceiling of the Brussels station.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102984008_29bb795abf_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Antwerp Train Station">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102984008_3815cd3001_z.jpg" alt="Antwerp Train Station"/>
</a>

The Antwerp station. See the difference?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102973091_30841eda6d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Antwerp Train Station">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102973091_5da3c6ef60_z.jpg" alt="Antwerp Train Station"/>
</a>

Gorgeous!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102987750_b5a039762e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Antwerp Train Station">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102987750_4e93678098_z.jpg" alt="Antwerp Train Station"/>
</a>

I've seen cathedrals that were much less interesting than the Antwerp train station.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8105346601_efa7a15fd4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Antwerp Train Station Panorama">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8105346601_6a2232b81b_c.jpg" alt="Antwerp Train Station Panorama"/>
</a>

Wow!

Outside the train station, it was raining quite hard. Simon and I quickly ducked into a restaurant. I chose Italian, and Simon evaluated the menus of two adjacent places and chose one.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102984447_fee79b83ca_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Italian Snack">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102984447_4882e4d228.jpg" alt="Italian Snack"/>
</a>

They started us off with olives and radishes. Simon's not a big olive eater, so I got them all. We both ordered the spaghetti carbonara. Simon doesn't get to go to Italian restaurants very often because he and his Italian wife go so often to Italy, and when they aren't in Italy, she's a great Italian chef.

The most interesting thing about the meal was a basket that the waiter used to serve our bottle of wine. The bottle lay in the basket almost on its side, but just tilted at an angle so that he could uncork it and none of the wine fell out. After that, he never touched the bottle again, serving us only with the basket. Some online research has informed me that what he was using is called a "_tressee_ wine basket". I imagine the benefit is to maximize the contact with the air without actually using a decanter.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102999618_b00715d293_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Cheese Course">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102999618_a3a5547d12.jpg" alt="Cheese Course"/>
</a>

The cheese course bookended our meal. And then it was back out into the rain!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103002224_eb9281b363_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Antwerp Shopping Mall">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103002224_7d157e4d90.jpg" alt="Antwerp Shopping Mall"/>
</a>

Soon we found an ornate shopping mall to take shelter in. I didn't get to see much of Antwerp's outdoor architecture, but the inside of the train station and shopping mall were very impressive.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102991329_132355d15a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Antwerp Shopping Mall">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102991329_ae73b186ac.jpg" alt="Antwerp Shopping Mall"/>
</a>

And what shopping mall doesn't have a hovering champagne bar?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102992845_68724a1fc1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Antwerp Cheese Shop">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8102992845_8cab9c23f6.jpg" alt="Antwerp Cheese Shop"/>
</a>

We found a cheese shop.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103009808_d2fcab1b9a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Antwerp Ready-Made Meal Shop">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103009808_c8644d4724.jpg" alt="Antwerp Ready-Made Meal Shop"/>
</a>

And a shop full of ready-made gourmet meals.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103018706_a0ec047009_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Chocolate Hands">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103018706_99af17e56a.jpg" alt="Chocolate Hands"/>
</a>

There are many origin legends to the name Antwerp, all involve the throwing a severed hand. So they sell chocolate hands, naturally.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103010897_8c9bd71855_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Antwerp City Square">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103010897_4636e26872.jpg" alt="Antwerp City Square"/>
</a>

Here's the Antwerp town square.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103012589_94bb895c6d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Guy Throwing Hand Statue in Antwerp">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103012589_1361d60398.jpg" alt="Guy Throwing Hand Statue in Antwerp"/>
</a>

With a statue of a naked guy throwing a hand.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103020088_3acdaa113d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Pharmacy Cat">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103020088_3ef1b34fdd.jpg" alt="Pharmacy Cat"/>
</a>

We spotted a pharmacy with two cats in the window. At first, I was convinced that they were those fake dolls that have a motor to move their abdomens up and down, but then one of them twitched an ear and we decided they were real. Simon wrote about them [on his blog](http://simonlitton.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/antwerp-antweird/).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103030126_9bc8f5cc9a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Questionable Cowboy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103030126_ef8e6a7017.jpg" alt="Questionable Cowboy"/>
</a>

This cowboy was standing outside a restaurant holding the menu.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103031560_a9418186ab_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Hanging Freddy">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103031560_f926594b5c.jpg" alt="Hanging Freddy"/>
</a>

Why would anyone choose to suspend Freddy Krueger above their restaurant? Why??

With another hour to kill and still in the rain, we decided to pick a bar at random and got lucky.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103033934_71db4fdeba_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Gin Bar">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103033934_8330611625.jpg" alt="Gin Bar"/>
</a>

The bar we chose was a specialty gin bar. I only learned a few months ago that gin, spirits flavored with juniper berries, originated in Holland about a thousand years ago. So it seems only natural that they would know a thing or two about it in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking Belgian province of which Antwerp is the capital.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103035420_a317fbaceb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Gin Bar">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103035420_5c0345feb0.jpg" alt="Gin Bar"/>
</a>

We were an hour away from a dinner party, so Simon and I couldn't bring ourselves to try one of the 250 different gins on the menu, but we both had a gin-flavored beer, made in leftover gin casks. The other patrons each had small glasses, bigger than shot glasses, but smaller than juice glasses, from which they were sipping the gin. When they ordered another round, the waitress came to their table and filled each glass up to the brim.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103037778_d3e0a9e6a5_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Gin Bar">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103037778_d8afacb598.jpg" alt="Gin Bar"/>
</a>

I was very, very intrigued and am disappointed that I missed out on having some high quality sipping gin.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103041556_81fa0d7620_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Gin Shop">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103041556_5fe84b814a_z.jpg" alt="Gin Shop"/>
</a>

The gin-only shop across the street made a lot more sense after visiting the gin bar. They had most of the items on the gin bar's menu, and it was nice to see a visual representation of the menu we had perused one beer earlier.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103029299_f413713c16_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Antwerp Architecture">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103029299_eff86a40c3_z.jpg" alt="Antwerp Architecture"/>
</a>

Antwerp seemed like a pleasant enough European capital city.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103044866_7793e299a9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Antwerp Architecture">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103044866_b6cd853129_z.jpg" alt="Antwerp Architecture"/>
</a>

I like this photo.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103046598_a4a5ae849f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Sandwich shop is OPEÐ˜">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103046598_0e6be33ae3.jpg" alt="Sandwich shop is OPEÐ˜"/>
</a>

I couldn't help taking a photo of this "OPEÐ˜" sign.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103039401_0688429f48_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Antwerp Bookshop">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103039401_4c9efbeb14.jpg" alt="Antwerp Bookshop"/>
</a>

My travel companion, Simon, is a bit of a bookworm, so he couldn't resist checking out this small bookshop. But then we had to search around for the door. It took forever for us to find it.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103051618_b27f7da9e9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="I am the door">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103051618_2643391307_z.jpg" alt="I am the door"/>
</a>

Oh, there it is. No, actually this door didn't seem to go anywhere.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103041301_5270d608d9_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Letter from Don Martin to MAD Magazine">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103041301_e295fcc52d.jpg" alt="Letter from Don Martin to MAD Magazine"/>
</a>

For some reason, the bookstore had a mint condition typed letter from the 1960s from [Don Martin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Martin_(cartoonist)) to his employer, MAD Magazine.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103034315_297d9ebf59_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Creepy Virgin and Child">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103034315_fe8418d2be.jpg" alt="Creepy Virgin and Child"/>
</a>

We briefly entered a cathedral and found this extremely ugly mother and her child.

With thirty more minutes to kill before Paola came to pick us up to take us to the party on the outskirts of town, we ducked into one of the most bizarre bars I've ever been in. According to my friend who lives in Antwerp, when the Catholic church next door went through a minimalist phase, the owner of the bar bought up all the religious iconography and decorated his bar with it.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103062504_7646fa6a4c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Crazy Religious Iconography Bar in Antwerp">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103062504_373b56798d.jpg" alt="Crazy Religious Iconography Bar in Antwerp"/>
</a>

Saints in the rafters.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103064708_34e2b15591_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Crazy Religious Iconography Bar in Antwerp">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103064708_0ed5e203a0.jpg" alt="Crazy Religious Iconography Bar in Antwerp"/>
</a>

Saints and a big cactus penis painting. Sure, why not?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103073046_7bafdf891f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Crazy Religious Iconography Bar in Antwerp">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103073046_bae30f8a4d.jpg" alt="Crazy Religious Iconography Bar in Antwerp"/>
</a>

These hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil angels were funny.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103067432_71796f8903_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Crazy Religious Iconography Bar in Antwerp">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103067432_95caf67edd.jpg" alt="Crazy Religious Iconography Bar in Antwerp"/>
</a>

As you can see, it's right next to the cathedral.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103069576_0404fb668b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Drinking a Quack">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8103069576_8b7a2e494c_z.jpg" alt="Drinking a Quack"/>
</a>

What the heck kind of beer is that, you ask? It's called [_Kwak_ beer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosteels_Brewery), from the hilariously-named town of Buggenhout. The name is an onomatopoeia for the noise that the glass makes when the air rushes in to fill the big bulb at the end. It sounded more like a "woof" to me. The glass can't stand up on its own, hence the wooden stand and handle. Crazy Belgians.

Then it was time to head to the dinner party at our friend, [Di Mackey](http://dimackey.squarespace.com/)'s house. It was a strange experience meeting people that I'd only somewhat adjacently made contact with via Di's Facebook posts. She was continually introducing me as "Erik…from Facebook!". Di's parties are famous for having attendees from most countries in Europe, which seemed to be the case.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8105479963_91b8954b33_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Brian and Milo">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8105479963_f894c46a8a_z.jpg" alt="Brian and Milo"/>
</a>

My friends, Brian and Milo.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8105483203_d4234a1ea3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Gay Beer">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-20-rainy-saturday-in-antwerp/8105483203_1113725734_z.jpg" alt="Gay Beer"/>
</a>

Someone brought this enormous bottle that we immediately nicknamed "the gay beer".

With what seemed like three glasses of wine and four conversations, it was already midnight and time to head back to Brussels. I must have been having fun because the time at the party flew by. I gave Di a big hug and off we went, to rest up for the final day of my trip to Belgium.


Rainy Saturday in Antwerp


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097215096_d6ed9f1256_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Comme Chez Soi">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097215096_a62b9c85c1_t.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi"/>
</a>

I have long been a fan of my blog buddy, Simon's, penchant for blogging about his hobby of going to really expensive Michelin Star restaurants. [He](http://simonlitton.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/in-de-wulf/) [really](http://simonlitton.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/auberge-de-herborist/) [is](http://simonlitton.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/t-zilte/) [quite](http://simonlitton.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/eau-vive/) [prolific](http://simonlitton.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/le-chalet-de-la-foret/). I knew it was an expensive hobby, but I always wondered just how much it costs, what the ambience of the places feels like, and, of course, what such exotic food must feel like in one's mouth. When he asked what kind of restaurants I would like to try during my visit, I immediately got excited about maybe going to one of these fancy places. He sent me a list of possible options, with links to menus and his blog posts about each one, and I very quickly settled on the most expensive one, [_Comme chez Soi_](http://simonlitton.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/comme-chez-soi/).  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097215096_d6ed9f1256_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097215096_a62b9c85c1_z.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi"/>
</a>

As Michelin Star dining veterans, Simon and Paola know that the only reasonable way to order at a place like this is to choose the Tasting Menu. If you order a single meal _a la carte_, you're still paying a lot of money and only getting one thing to experience, which you might not even enjoy that much. The tasting menu is a variety of small bites designed to show off the chef's mastery, which is really what you're paying to experience in the first place.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097209611_a66234fc5c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097209611_0f221ed85c_z.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi"/>
</a>

Apart from this elaborate glass decoration and view into the kitchen, _Comme chez Soi_ was just like a lot of restaurants I've been in. Part of me was expecting either incredibly ornate palatial decorations or extreme austere minimalism, with tuxedoed waiters hovering around every table. The name of the restaurant translates to "Like At Home", so perhaps they made a special effort to be more cozy.

There were two tasting menus, with five and six dishes, costing 133€ and 151€ respectively. We opted for the former. Some of the other restaurants Simon gave me to choose from also had a "wine pairing" package that could be added on, which usually added about 50% to the price. _Comme chez Soi_ did not, but my dining companions did some negotiating in French and got the sommelier to suggest wines with each dish. I don't know how much that ended up costing because they wouldn't let me see the bill, insisting the wine pairings were their birthday gift to me. For that I am very grateful. At least we didn't do it [the Spanish way](/2010/10/11/who-buys-your-birthday-lunch/)!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097222896_d72abc5f97_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Tasting Menu">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097222896_ea6511149f.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Tasting Menu"/>
</a>

First was had this little anchovy-shaped crunchy crackers, with some square centimeter sandwiches. They were pretty tasty. I waited longer than my companions to eat my little sandwich, and when I did, a ninja waiter, who had been hovering invisibly and non-intrusively came and swooped the plate away before I could swallow my bite. Impressive.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097225464_a724d58c5a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Tasting Menu">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097225464_74ba945778.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Tasting Menu"/>
</a>

Other various bites. If my dinner companions are anything to go by – and I believe they are – the two dishes on the right are meant to be picked up and the food dropped in the mouth like an oyster. Licking subsequent plates is frowned upon, however.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097217883_dcf6feb367_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Duet of smoked eel, horse radish cream, granny smith">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097217883_62b3a5086c.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Duet of smoked eel, horse radish cream, granny smith"/>
</a>

**Duet of smoked eel, horse radish cream, granny smith.** Apparently it's very common in high class Michelin Star restaurants to mix various flavors and then package them in a sphere using a process known as [spherification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherification).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097229848_23c8866120_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Duet of smoked eel, horse radish cream, granny smith">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097229848_5f3a7dd52c.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Duet of smoked eel, horse radish cream, granny smith"/>
</a>

The tiny light green balls were the granny smith apple flavor spheres. When Simon and Paola ate them, they each said, "Oooh! What a nice surprise at the end!" When I inquired, they told me that the green apple balls also contained some truffle, which is a taste sensation my little plebeian nasal cavity has never experienced, so I didn't really notice anything special.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097222589_8cae3f75af_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Roasted brill, crustacean béarnaise sauce, vegetables cannelloni">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097222589_209dc4b0b6.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Roasted brill, crustacean béarnaise sauce, vegetables cannelloni"/>
</a>

**Roasted brill, crustacean béarnaise sauce, vegetables cannelloni.** It takes longer to say than to eat! I was surprised by the waiter coming by after serving us our plates with a light dotting of green sauce down the middle and ladling a big puddle of green sauce. The sauce was delicious, but it seemed a bit anti-fancy. "Like at home", I guess.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097235210_9febfb017d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Red mullet, crispy veal's sweetbreads,  spinach shoots, wild mushrooms">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097235210_9989f96138.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Red mullet, crispy veal's sweetbreads,  spinach shoots, wild mushrooms"/>
</a>

**Red mullet, crispy veal sweetbreads, spinach shoots, wild mushrooms.** Don't you hate it when you're washing dishes, your hand slips, and a big blob of dish soap flies across the kitchen and lands on a plate you're about to serve to your guests? I've always been amused by the term "sweetbread", which is neither sweet nor bread. This plate was good, but nothing mindblowing.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097228473_0fce7411d4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Pan fried pluma with thyme, lardo di Colonnato,  small truss tomatoes and unpeeled garlic">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097228473_1e34d9a027.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Pan fried pluma with thyme, lardo di Colonnato,  small truss tomatoes and unpeeled garlic"/>
</a>

**Pan fried pluma with thyme, lardo di Colonnato, small truss tomatoes and unpeeled garlic.** You'd think at these prices they could peel the garlic! This was the main course. The "pluma", which is Spanish for "feather", is [apparently](http://www.encinadejabugo.com/Contenidos/Partes-Cerdo.aspx) from the shoulder/neck area of a Spanish _bellota_ acorn-fed pig. The fried onion ring was an odd addition to this dish, strangely juxtaposing cheap fried food with the high-class spherified green blobs.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097230965_274d9447b1_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Tasting Menu">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097230965_1a87045235.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Tasting Menu"/>
</a>

This dish doesn't appear on the menu, so I can't recall exactly what it was, but those are clearly some baby asparagus stalks. I do remember the caramelized bacon because we had talking a few days before with Cloe about how Europeans dislike, or dislike the imagined taste of, combining something sweet with bacon as so often happens to breakfast eating Americans when one's maple syrup spills off one's pancake and onto the bacon. And I do remember the little brown ball exploding with mushroomy goodness in my mouth.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097233901_e951c849e3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Birthday Boy at Comme Chez Soi">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097233901_e525aa1f8f.jpg" alt="Birthday Boy at Comme Chez Soi"/>
</a>

The birthday boy. We had seen a similar sparkler go to another table, and Simon and Paola must have informed the waitstaff of my birthday when I slipped up the steep narrow stairs to the water closet. I like this shot because it gives a good idea of the clothes people were wearing. Nice, but not incredibly elegant.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097235679_50ac8d603a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Minced exotic fruit, fresh almonds, peaches and nectarines sorbet">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097235679_4b1c740510.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Minced exotic fruit, fresh almonds, peaches and nectarines sorbet"/>
</a>

**Minced exotic fruit, fresh almonds, peaches and nectarines sorbet.** Both sorbets were very nice, and each blob was exciting in its own way. The red tower walls were pure sugar which must have been rolled into a cylinder somehow.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097238493_9c9bf85473_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Minced exotic fruit, fresh almonds, peaches and nectarines sorbet">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097238493_633e232591.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Minced exotic fruit, fresh almonds, peaches and nectarines sorbet"/>
</a>

The presentation is a big part of what was happening in the kitchen. Restaurants like this are a tri-sensual experience.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097251646_fd4eb378bf_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Crispy bitter chocolate, praline, pistachios, advocaat">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097251646_93f1c8ba99.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Crispy bitter chocolate, praline, pistachios, advocaat"/>
</a>

**Crispy bitter chocolate, praline, pistachios, advocaat.** This dish was served with a very sweet dessert wine. Normally I'm not a fan of sweet wines, but this one was fantastic.

Our dealings with the sommelier were interesting because he wanted to speak English so that I could understand as well, but his English wasn't that good, and Simon and Paola understood him better in French. He was, however, Spanish, so a couple times I asked him to switch to Spanish, but, despite it being his native tongue, he found this very difficult and often had to think about which words to use because he only had experience in the subject matter in French or English. Any bilingual person who has worked or done an activity only in the foreign language will understand how awkward it can be to translate back to your mother tongue.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097245803_9cfdfd7b06_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Crispy bitter chocolate, praline, pistachios, advocaat">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097245803_d07005f14c.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Crispy bitter chocolate, praline, pistachios, advocaat"/>
</a>

Pistachio stuffed chocolate balls? Yes, please!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097247545_c0200ec6be_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Crispy bitter chocolate, praline, pistachios, advocaat">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097247545_207b79cf2e.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Crispy bitter chocolate, praline, pistachios, advocaat"/>
</a>

Simon says he's a little bored of the stringy sugar fad, but that the encased nut (hazelnut?) was a nice touch. I was impressed by the architectural design aspect of this dish. Someone had to come up with the idea of a slab of chocolate sticking vertically to the cake, and then punching a hole in it to thread – very carefully – the sugar stick through. Very creative.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097250553_caabdbf4c4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Dessert">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097250553_11e18cb390.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Dessert"/>
</a>

I had a nice view through a wooden spacer of our final plate.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097253963_d246ca0053_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Dessert">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097253963_05ae55ab74.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Dessert"/>
</a>

Simon said his view, through a glass window of the spacer, was nice, too, so I gave him my camera to take these two shots.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097266480_7f18d28818_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Dessert">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097266480_506c9b3d1a.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Dessert"/>
</a>

There's only one row of chocolate things and strawberries, but the difference in glass thickness refracts the light so you see two.

About this time, we saw the waiters moving a table nearby to make room for a man to kneel down before his date and offer her a ring. She was clearly caught off guard, because it took her several _excruciating_ minutes, with waiters standing at attention and the entire restaurant staring, to respond. They ended up holding hands and caressing faces, so it seems all went well.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097268482_2c8c745b9f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Dessert">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097268482_43662d587c.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Dessert"/>
</a>

Our foreshadowed dessert platter. Nothing too special, but we were pretty full.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097260643_a75295849a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Dessert">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097260643_294e09fa47.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Dessert"/>
</a>

It was pretty, though.

Towards the end of our meal, the sommelier came over to offer us a "44 port", by which he must've meant a port wine from 1944. According to Google, "44 port" is either a brewery in Newark, New Jersey, or a TCP/IP port used by trojan viruses. He said that he opened the bottle for an American – _exotic!_ – journalist several days earlier, and she had been blown away. I must give him credit, however, for also disclosing that it was 29€ per glass. My companions let/made me decide. I declined. Perhaps on another day when I wasn't blowing so much money on exotic tastes, I might splurge on something so special, but I was satisfied with my level of splurging that night.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097263583_4647db450e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Comme Chez Soi - Dessert">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8097263583_11faa98208.jpg" alt="Comme Chez Soi - Dessert"/>
</a>

And finally, we got some little servings of custard on top of sorbet, I think it was. The bottom layer was cold.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8100263564_e942460354_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Birthday Boy at Comme Chez Soi">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-18-birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/8100263564_a75aae5b5e.jpg" alt="Birthday Boy at Comme Chez Soi"/>
</a>

I have neither the interest nor the budget to frequent such restaurants, but I think I could do it once a year or so. The experience was as interesting as I'd hoped, quenching both my hunger and my curiosity. In the mean time, I'll keep enjoying [Simon's food blogging](http://simonlitton.wordpress.com/tag/gastronaut/) as I have for years.

Thank you dearly to Simon and Paola for showing me one unforgettable birthday dinner.


Birthday Dinner at Comme chez Soi


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094972325_74460a1acc_t.jpg" alt="Bruges Sunny Sky" class="post-thumb"/>I began my thirty-fourth birthday with a pretty severe hangover from [the night before](/2012/10/16/drinking-beer-in-brussels/). It's been years since I've had such a throbbing head in the morning, especially from such a small amount of beer (two liters over six hours), so I suspect it was more about not having a bottle of water beside my bed like I normally do to stay hydrated at night. Anyway, it was a bit of a slow morning. Brian and I had made tentative plans the night before to maybe go visit the town of Bruges, a little more than an hour away. I was delighted when he showed up with his whole family, his wife, Cloe, and two sons, Aiden and Milo, ages 4 and 0.5 respectively.  During the drive to Bruges, the sky got darker and darker, and when we arrived, it was cold and raining. We walked briskly down what the British would call "the high street", a wide pedestrian street full of all the same brand-name stores that line equivalent streets across Europe. By now it was 1:00 PM and I was both hungry and wanted to ensure I was hungry again at 8:00 PM for my special birthday dinner. Once we got to the main town square, we ducked into the first restaurant to ask for a table. The waiter said, "Sorry, we're fully booked. No tables." Rejected and back out in the rain, Brian said, "But there's a table right there!", pointing to the covered, heated terrace of the same restaurant. So we walked around to the terrace and inquired _to the very same waiter_ if we could eat at "that table right there", and he said, "Oh sure, you can eat outside if you'd like." What?? Belgians...

After looking over the menu for a bit, Brian, Cloe and I all ordered the same thing. Aiden ordered a waffle.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094899864_4726b9f41a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Hot tomato soup in Bruges">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094899864_b5fedc92df_z.jpg" alt="Hot tomato soup in Bruges"/>
</a>

It really was a hot soup and stew kind of day. This tomato soup was delicious.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094901442_08b50a6d6f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Flemish Beef Stew in Bruges">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094901442_6d80a62952.jpg" alt="Flemish Beef Stew in Bruges"/>
</a>

Then came my Flemish Beef Stew, which is prepared by cooking the beef in beer, and is typically served poured over some Belgian fries, but in this case we were given fries on the side to dip or dump into the stew, which I rather preferred. It was _wonderful_! The perfect cold rainy day meal.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094911266_f888ccbc18_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Chocolate Mousse">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094911266_80b11b1179.jpg" alt="Chocolate Mousse"/>
</a>

I had chocolate mousse for desert.

By the time we had finished eating, it was 2:30 PM and the sun had come out! We had to leave by 5:00 PM to make it safely home in time for my birthday dinner, so we only had a couple of hours to wander around the town. Brian and Cloe had been there several times before, but it quickly became obvious why they didn't mind returning with me.

**Bruges is absolutely gorgeous!** I was reminded of the enchanting experience I had in another well preserved medieval town, [Saint](/2009/10/14/saint-emilion-part-1-of-2/) [Émilion](/2009/10/15/saint-emilion-part-2-of-2/), three birthdays ago. Brian and I could barely keep our cameras holstered in such a photogenic place.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094915510_49a470d27d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Tower in Bruges">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094915510_09060c0ea1_z.jpg" alt="Tower in Bruges"/>
</a>

This tower plays a central role in the very dark and funny British film, [_In Bruges_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Bruges).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094917207_c1330cb77a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Square in Bruges">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094917207_a2b3d4c2af.jpg" alt="Square in Bruges"/>
</a>

I enjoyed this square in Bruges much more than [Brussels' _Grand Place_](/2012/10/15/walking-around-brussels/), not to mention that it was about five times bigger and full of horse-drawn tourist buggies.

Cloe wanted to buy some chocolates for her mother, so she took us to her favorite chocolate shop in Bruges (one of dozens). Aiden, her four year old son, kept going on about "chocolate boobies". I wondered what he could be talking about?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094923276_42348bebd3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Chocolate Breasts">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094923276_4e08083c81_z.jpg" alt="Chocolate Breasts"/>
</a>

I guess anything you can make a mold of, you can make it with chocolate. No doubt there are plenty of more risqué stores that sell chocolate genitalia.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094921289_1660934aa0_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Chocolate Golf Clubs">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094921289_8bf46cbb50_z.jpg" alt="Chocolate Golf Clubs"/>
</a>

Some chocolate golf clubs.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094929734_7b422d2e2a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Strange Halloween Chocolates">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094929734_e87521e05e.jpg" alt="Strange Halloween Chocolates"/>
</a>

They were really milking the Halloween theme. Many of the items were quite intricate.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094938728_9ca7cfc88c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Scary Chocolate Vampire">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094938728_b6d7f645e6.jpg" alt="Scary Chocolate Vampire"/>
</a>

Gah! Count Chocula!

I bought some chocolates for my wife and daughter and then it was time to head to…

…the beer store!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094942113_5d4c217e08_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Erik in Beer Shop">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094942113_4c87804a57.jpg" alt="Erik in Beer Shop"/>
</a>

They have a long wall display case with every type of beer and its unique glass.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094964754_914ecf178d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Double Aiden">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094964754_578ce64082.jpg" alt="Double Aiden"/>
</a>

Aiden was familiar with all the interesting corners of the shop and enjoyed showing me around.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094948757_3a0907bdbb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Beer Shop in Bruges">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094948757_b7c96083ba.jpg" alt="Beer Shop in Bruges"/>
</a>

I love this store. I bought about six bottles to take back with me in Spain, a scheme that didn't quite work out as I'd planned...

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094975034_f20dce280e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bruges Panorama">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094975034_cf177b23f9.jpg" alt="Bruges Panorama"/>
</a>

Bruges has lovely canals. Can you spot the panorama photo stitching anomaly?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094991668_6544c74ac8_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bruges Canal">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094991668_1cc023ed71.jpg" alt="Bruges Canal"/>
</a>

I could spend days and days and terabytes of photographs in Bruges and not capture all of [its beauty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruges#Panoramas).

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8095021622_b4a9574d6c_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bruges Church">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8095021622_5700171932.jpg" alt="Bruges Church"/>
</a>

In one of the churches (not this one), they have a relic in the form of Christ's blood, a source of medieval wealth.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8095024068_6303aaee46_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bruges Church Door">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8095024068_d15362e732.jpg" alt="Bruges Church Door"/>
</a>

I loved the horse head and intricate iron work on this church door.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8095026776_d45958ef09_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bruges Architecture">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8095026776_701e9d5b86.jpg" alt="Bruges Architecture"/>
</a>

Almost every house had a "virgin and child" statue on it. Here you can see the church steeple reflected in the window.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8095027543_74f6b9cc63_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bruges Architecture">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8095027543_4d74a9960e_z.jpg" alt="Bruges Architecture"/>
</a>

This dog statue caught my eye.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094972325_2b3edf309f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bruges Sunny Sky">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-17-stew-and-beer-and-chocolate-in-bruges/8094972325_74460a1acc.jpg" alt="Bruges Sunny Sky"/>
</a>

What a beautiful city. It made me sad that my wife wasn't with me, because she would love it. I'm looking forward to taking her there some day.

The five of us hopped back in the car and drove back to Brussels. I had a [very special birthday dinner](/2012/10/18/birthday-dinner-at-comme-chez-soi/) awaiting me!


Stew and Beer and Chocolate in Bruges


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093227493_2304d01235_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Delirium Cafe Window">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093227493_c0e90ace3b_t.jpg" alt="Delirium Cafe Window"/>
</a>

Tired and hungry from my [multi-kilometer tourism trekking](/2012/10/15/walking-around-brussels/), it was time to taste some typical Belgian food and, more importantly, some Belgian beers. My hosts, Simon and Paola, chose [La Villette](https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=50.85033,4.347217&spn=0.00888,0.009645&sll=50.850460,4.347117&layer=c&cid=3768456275779325295&cbp=13,302.76,,0,-18.8&cbll=50.850454,4.347066&hq=La+Villette,+Rue+du+Vieux+March%C3%A9+aux+Grains,+Brussels,+Belgique&t=m&z=17&panoid=7o3CII8ITrOiGnU4_Fk3lg), a small, warm restaurant boasting Belgian Cuisine. Simon and I took the metro into the city and stopped off for a pre-dinner beer at a dark, cozy pub. It was down a small alley that had actually caught my eye earlier in the day. It was a narrow, dank, stone alley off of a main pedestrian street that led, after six meters, to two doorways: one led, jarringly, into a bright florescent lit shopping mall, and the other to a dark pub.  Before we found the pub we were looking for, however, Simon took us down another alleyway to another pub. We entered, with Simon saying a French hello to some gentlemen at the entrance. After a brief look around the dingy, uninteresting place, we decided to head back out. The gentlemen said a cheery goodbye to us only 45 seconds after welcoming us.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093209466_506cd473b4_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Dinner Menu">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093209466_5923ecf40e.jpg" alt="Dinner Menu"/>
</a>

In typical Belgian style, the menu was in three languages, French, Dutch, and English. Simon showed great restraint in not photographing the word "prauwnsstick", a bad translation of _brochette de scampis_, a French phrase even I understand.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093205713_e697ff4085_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Cheese Croquettes">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093205713_1511348d22.jpg" alt="Cheese Croquettes"/>
</a>

"Croquettes with cheese made traditionally by the monks". They were delicious, and cost 7€ each, but not incredibly distinct from _croquetas_ I am given as a free snack with a 1€ wine back in Spain.

One of the items on my "to eat" list in Spain is real _gulas_, baby eels. Fake _gulas_ are a very common food in Spain, and look like [this](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/3126598284/). They are made with that mystery seafood that they make fake crab sticks out of. The real _gulas_, which look like [this](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Angulas-2009.jpg) when raw, are _extremely_ expensive and only served at the very finest restaurants. So I was intrigued to see _anguilles_ on the menu. I had to try them.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093206601_a6e450c48a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Eels in Green Sauce">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093206601_8523bb7bc5.jpg" alt="Eels in Green Sauce"/>
</a>

I was definitely eating eels, but they were adult eels with spines, not the baby eels I'd been hoping they might be. As you might imagine, eels are mostly spine, but the little meat they did have was delicious, and the "green garlic" sauce was lovely.

After dinner, we said goodbye to Paola, who had joined Simon and myself for dinner, and said hello to Brian, who came out to down some beer with us. We headed to what must be the Beer Mecca of the world, the _Délirium Café_, the _Guinness Book_ (and they should know beer!) record holder for the establishment with the most beers available. They have well over two thousand beers to choose from, and each year they advertise that they have \[whatever the year is\] number of beers (e.g. this year they have 2012), but the real number is probably comfortably higher. I immediately recognized their logo because it's one of the most memorable beer label logos I've ever seen: a pink elephant. When Simon handed me the menu to choose one, I nearly dropped it because it was _like a freaking phonebook_!

[![Untitled](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8079210837_1ae9072dd9_z.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonlitton/8079210837/ "Untitled by simonlitton, on Flickr")

I was impressed. At a leisurely pace, we managed four rounds that night. If we did that every night, we could get through the menu in under two years. Sounds like a worthy Kickstarter project!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093212162_0e644ac9f2_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Branded Serving Trays On Ceiling At Delirium Cafe">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093212162_dd4f2ce06b.jpg" alt="Branded Serving Trays On Ceiling At Delirium Cafe"/>
</a>

The ceiling was decorated with beer trays from various brands, all unique.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093210223_6c10cd1832_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Pouring Beer">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093210223_03b31c5929.jpg" alt="Pouring Beer"/>
</a>

I noticed that having beer on tap is not given much importance in Belgium. There are many, many bars in the US with more beers on tap than the _Délirium Café_. Another thing about Belgian beer culture is that every single beer comes with it's own specially shaped branded glass. No one drinks beer directly from the bottle.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093213440_06456ca33d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Delirium Bottles Line Walls of Delirium Cafe">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093213440_b5fb4839b9.jpg" alt="Delirium Bottles Line Walls of Delirium Cafe"/>
</a>

I wonder if my wife would let me do this in my home office?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093211221_495c3d4abb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Simon and Erik drinking in Delirium Cafe">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093211221_5710b5509a.jpg" alt="Simon and Erik drinking in Delirium Cafe"/>
</a>

Simon and Erik drinking beer.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093211947_f42d907379_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Erik and Brian drinking in Delirium Cafe">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093211947_91d54a1109.jpg" alt="Erik and Brian drinking in Delirium Cafe"/>
</a>

Erik and Brian raise their glasses.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093212929_b0d362b962_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Looking good at Delirium Cafe">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093212929_4c5a060549.jpg" alt="Looking good at Delirium Cafe"/>
</a>

Drinking beer, looking good.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093222976_4466b1e10f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Hercule Poirot Beer">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093222976_b719259d19.jpg" alt="Hercule Poirot Beer"/>
</a>

Hercule Poirot stout.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093219281_abef3fce92_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Monks make the best beer">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093219281_4c92896b28.jpg" alt="Monks make the best beer"/>
</a>

Most of the Belgian beer tradition comes from Trappist monks, it seems.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093221137_1a8913b813_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Orval Beer">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093221137_f92810447d.jpg" alt="Orval Beer"/>
</a>

This _Orval_ was tasty.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093221757_1bfaaf4615_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Earth Phases on Outblack Bottle">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093221757_4260e06448.jpg" alt="Earth Phases on Outblack Bottle"/>
</a>

I liked Simon's _Outblack_ bottle with its Earth phases design.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093208247_a8df16f41a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Shark Pants">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093208247_63c1702ddc.jpg" alt="Shark Pants"/>
</a>

_Shark Pants_ takes the prize for most bizarre label design, though, with a gorilla wearing a shark for a trouser leg.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093233038_8aa4ff2e87_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="My drinking buddies">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093233038_6d14796697.jpg" alt="My drinking buddies"/>
</a>

My drinking buddies.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093233964_51568a92ef_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Brian tries the Delicious Floor">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093233964_8d6cd6b651.jpg" alt="Brian tries the Delicious Floor"/>
</a>

On the way to get a taxi at 3:00 AM, we discovered this Chinese restaurant that translated its name to _Delicious Floor_, which is somewhat funny when you're sober, but downright hilarious when you're not.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093230577_d98fe097cf_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Serial Killer or Brussels Blogger?">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093230577_450011f58d.jpg" alt="Serial Killer or Brussels Blogger?"/>
</a>

Serial killer, or [Brussels food blogger](http://simonlitton.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/the-cook/)?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093227493_2304d01235_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Delirium Cafe Window">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-16-drinking-beer-in-brussels/8093227493_c0e90ace3b_z.jpg" alt="Delirium Cafe Window"/>
</a>

Good friends and delicious beer. If that's not worth traveling to Brussels for, I don't know what is.


Drinking Beer in Brussels


<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090843035_9a29150986_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image post-thumb" title="Cinquantenaire Arches">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090843035_e16377cfa9_t.jpg" alt="Cinquantenaire Arches"/>
</a>

On the evening of Wednesday, October 10, my plane landed in Charleroi airport. That's Brussels' version of the out of town airport that the budget airlines fly to; London, Rome, Stockholm, and Paris have similar airports. I walked past customs and out into the arrivals area and began searching for my ride, an internet friend named Brian. After about three minutes of walking up and down the very small area outside a cafe, I saw Brian entering the doors. We shook hands and headed to his car, which had been parked for such a small amount of time that the parking machine didn't charge him a euro dime.  After about a fifty minute drive, we arrived to the Brussels suburb where I would be staying with my blog friend, [Simon](http://simonlitton.wordpress.com/). Brian is an American working for NATO who drives a Subaru _Outback_ he brought with him from the US. The _Outback_'s overly-marketed high ground clearance feature came in handy in a moment of disorientation in which we were driving down some grassy tram tracks. Once safely on asphalt again, I glanced at my phone to check Simon's address, only to find a tongue-in-cheek SMS from him saying, "Keep an eye on \[Brian\]. He drives crazy." Eventually we found Simon's house, and I rang the doorbell. That was when I met someone I'd been friends with for six years for the first time.

[![Untitled](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8079210981_45cfc6ddb2.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonlitton/8079210981/ "Untitled by simonlitton, on Flickr")

It was a bit surreal to be in someone's house for the first time, the layout of which I knew nothing about, that was covered in art and books that I knew the backstory to.

I briefly got to meet Simon and Paola's three beautiful pajama-clad children, whom I have been reading about for years (their British accents are even more adorable than I'd imagined), before they were sent off to bed. Simon, Paola and I had a lovely dinner of pasta and white wine and discussed our careers, a topic that rarely comes up in internet friendships. Afterwards, Brian's wife, Cloe came over to help us sample Paola's mother's homemade Italian liqueurs. Between the sweet alcohol and the good company, it was a marvelously relaxing evening.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8091456807_cf23237cfb_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Italian Liqueurs">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8091456807_deb845c199.jpg" alt="Italian Liqueurs"/>
</a>

Now _that's_ a liqueur selection!

The following morning, October 11, I was given a brief sketch of how to get to the closest Metro station, a house key (from someone who'd just met me in person the night before, mind you), a tourist booklet for Brussels, and left home alone while Simon and Paola went off to work. I served myself a bowl of _Cheerios_ – I miss _General Mills_ products in Spain! – and headed out into the brisk Belgian morning in search for a pedestrian adventure!

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090568956_34f60c3785_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Litton Ottonello">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090568956_5ceb36079b.jpg" alt="Litton Ottonello"/>
</a>

Their neighborhood is full of three story townhouses, and is only blocks from a town center full of shops and restaurants. It seems like a pretty lovely place to live.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090568567_47f6836f54_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Autumn Sun">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090568567_365649a68b.jpg" alt="Autumn Sun"/>
</a>

Golden hour was quickly passing, and I wanted to hurry into the city to get photographs with oblique sunlight.

The metro was clean and uncrowded enough and after twenty minutes or so, I was at the _Parc_ exit where I planned to get off.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090574067_60056ff53a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Park Pond Duck">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090574067_c6a27452e1.jpg" alt="Park Pond Duck"/>
</a>

The only humans in the park were either a few bench dwellers wrapped in blankets who had spent the night there, or hurried commuters who had decided to walk through the park on their way to work.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090585928_be567f61ce_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Brussels Park Panorama">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090585928_e714469b3a.jpg" alt="Brussels Park Panorama"/>
</a>

These benches seemed very interested in what this gazebo had to say.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090593522_fe762955af_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Park Fence">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090593522_5246e9667c.jpg" alt="Park Fence"/>
</a>

At the end of the park, I turned, somewhat intentionally, southwest.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090598152_6d8b26a082_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Church of Our Lady of Sablon">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090598152_256ee2ddde.jpg" alt="Church of Our Lady of Sablon"/>
</a>

I would soon discover that the town is full of gorgeous churches and stately buildings. This one is _Our Lady at the Zavel_, which I am told by Wikipedia is an example of [Brabantine Gothic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabantine_Gothic) architecture.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090617870_e25b875f6d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Rental Bikes">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090617870_6175cf66f0.jpg" alt="Rental Bikes"/>
</a>

There were many rental bicycles available. I wasn't tempted.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090626418_8d57c3b183_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Palace of Justice Monument and Atomium">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090626418_986ee6488a.jpg" alt="Palace of Justice Monument and Atomium"/>
</a>

Eventually I made it all the way to the Palace of Justice, from which I had a great panoramic view across the city. Here you see a monument to fallen soldiers with the iconic Atomium in the background.

At this point, I reoriented myself to head towards the _Grand Place_, but intentionally took small side streets and alleys to get there. My efforts were rewarded.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090642514_eaafb052aa_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Brussels Street Art">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090642514_509b00fdf9.jpg" alt="Brussels Street Art"/>
</a>

I seemed to be in the art district, as there were many art shops and museums around. The street art was beautiful.

Every Brussels tourist is told of the two main things that must not be missed. The first is the _Grand Place_, a square in the center of town with ornate buildings. The second is the [_Mannekin Pis_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannekin_Pis), a tiny fountain statue with little intrinsic value of its own. Tourists are told to first find the _Grand Place_, and then follow the side street a hundred or so meters to find the statue.

As I was meandering through the narrow streets, I began to smell chocolate, and the up ahead, I saw a swarm of Japanese tourists. Somehow I had come across the most famous statue in all of Belgium by complete luck.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090651408_02a2d02336_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Mannekin Pis">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090651408_8ec6e753fa.jpg" alt="Mannekin Pis"/>
</a>

The statue is rarely undecorated, and the day I was there he had a sticker over his face reading "Light for the world" in French. Okay, whatever. He was an uninteresting little pisser.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090651161_d9f739b763_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Beer Shops">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090651161_e907f45f03.jpg" alt="Beer Shops"/>
</a>

I was much more interested in the elaborate shop displays.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8091479582_47f50261ef_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Jeanneke Pis">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8091479582_8ec19c075c.jpg" alt="Jeanneke Pis"/>
</a>

Call me biased as the father of a little girl, but Jeanneke Pis was much cooler than Mannekin Pis.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090654169_81102a15d3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Waffles">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090654169_1c021f8079.jpg" alt="Waffles"/>
</a>

Would you like some waffle with your whipped cream?

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090671290_aeb5933832_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Grand Place">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090671290_992b1213dc.jpg" alt="Grand Place"/>
</a>

Finally I reached the _Grand Place_. It was a lot smaller than I'd expected, nothing like Madrid's _Plaza Mayor_ or London's Trafalgar Square. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but the ornate buildings also did little for me. I'd still recommend it to anyone who can [get a late deal](http://www.thomson.co.uk/late-deals/late-deals.html) to Brussels to check it out, but I certainly wasn't wowed.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090673482_a8201e9a8f_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Brussels Statues">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090673482_3076511a71.jpg" alt="Brussels Statues"/>
</a>

Eleven o'clock and still more exploring to do! I continued to walk around aimlessly, without consulting any maps.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090703516_1cb6cf310b_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Galeries Royales St. Hubert">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090703516_9dc466f105.jpg" alt="Galeries Royales St. Hubert"/>
</a>

Somehow I discovered the _Galeries Royales St. Hubert_, one of the sites I remembered from watching [The Expatriate](http://simonlitton.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/the-expatriate/), an action movie set in Antwerp and Brussels, a few days before. It was full of school children.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090710331_6ef8cf8836_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Beer at Le Rubens">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090710331_e1ac6b1e3f.jpg" alt="Beer at Le Rubens"/>
</a>

By 11:30, I decided it was time for a beer. This place looked reasonable.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090710600_43607af6db_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Beer at Le Rubens">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090710600_88b0af499a.jpg" alt="Beer at Le Rubens"/>
</a>

The view was pleasant as well. I had a _Keizer Karel / Charles Quint_ Ruby Red. Even the beer names are in both French and Dutch.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090725565_b5e2646e2e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Brussels Restaurant Row">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090725565_332b01af4d.jpg" alt="Brussels Restaurant Row"/>
</a>

Continuing my ambulatory adventure, I came across the main restaurant street. It was pretty clearly a tourist trap, but I decided it would make an okay place to find my first Belgian meal. Each restaurant had a waiter standing outside trying to woo passersby. It was fun to watch them try different languages on me, like cold readers fishing for a non-verbal response.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090745059_d8ab224213_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Le Bourgeois">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090745059_0f29be68f7.jpg" alt="Le Bourgeois"/>
</a>

Eventually I settled upon this place, called _Le Bourgeois_. My Brussels tourism iPhone app dictated that I must eat mussels and Belgian fries, and this place had a deal that included those two items with a small beer for 10€, so I took a seat.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090750085_129a4a94bf_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Bowl of Steamed Mussels">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090750085_f48244916e.jpg" alt="Bowl of Steamed Mussels"/>
</a>

My plate of steamed mussels. They were nothing special, but acceptable molluscan nourishment.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090754249_f09694c471_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Belgian Fries">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090754249_64f5f6c28a.jpg" alt="Belgian Fries"/>
</a>

Fried potatoes are pretty common everywhere, but I must say that the Belgians do them right. They were so good that the idea of dipping them in sauce never crossed my mind.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090787524_a963a0fa8e_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="La Rotunde, Brussels">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090787524_f8062e7b15.jpg" alt="La Rotunde, Brussels"/>
</a>

This rather unforgettable corner plays a role in the opening scene of _The Expatriate_.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090802815_3ecfedf4aa_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Creepy European Commission Statues">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090802815_461c3dae7c.jpg" alt="Creepy European Commission Statues"/>
</a>

Creepy statues in front of the European Commission.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090828718_5213b56330_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="On the spot electric rental car">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090828718_d4640c7175.jpg" alt="On the spot electric rental car"/>
</a>

Just like the bicycles, apparently you can pay a fee and drive this electric car away. Neat! Surely this has got to be the future of urban driving…

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090828901_1302583089_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Schuman">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090828901_be5cbb5860.jpg" alt="Schuman"/>
</a>

Some bloke named Schuman.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090836662_9a7b468e49_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Lovely Brussels Park">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090836662_6a67f1d91e.jpg" alt="Lovely Brussels Park"/>
</a>

This might be my favorite photo of the day, which is strange, since it's not unique to Brussels in particular. Just lucky lighting.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090852693_6d73de088d_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Guy Climbing on Museum">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090852693_1cbb298ecd.jpg" alt="Guy Climbing on Museum"/>
</a>

This dude was climbing the side of this museum. I thought it was pretty strange, but there's another guy visible doing the same thing in Google Street View, so perhaps it's a popular climber workout spot. Either that, or he's a cat burglar with diamonds in that belt bag.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090863832_9efab8f8da_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Jubel Park Fountain, Brussels">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090863832_6f6b8da66f.jpg" alt="Jubel Park Fountain, Brussels"/>
</a>

Rainbow in the Jubel Park fountain.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090879744_37172ace3a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Jubel Park Fountain, Brussels">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-15-walking-around-brussels/8090879744_e18cf9710a.jpg" alt="Jubel Park Fountain, Brussels"/>
</a>

I had briefly considered walking all the way back to Simon's suburb, following the line of metro stations, but this is where it got to be too much in the time I had, so I hopped on the metro and headed home. I had to take a shower to go out for dinner and drinks that night with the lads.


Walking Around Brussels


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-09-noras-first-bicycle-ride/8071799787_9940e2dd2c_t.jpg" alt="Nora on a bicycle" class="post-thumb"/>Today I had to go pick up Nora after school because my wife had to work an extra hour in the afternoon. Unsure what the standard procedure was, I followed the other mothers' lead and walked over to the school playground and gave Nora her sandwich (all Spanish kids eat a sandwich between lunch and dinner). She snarfed it down and played with some of her classmates, particularly with the two girls whom she has known for a few years from daycare.  On a side note, watching the older children careen around the playground and tackle one another – on asphalt! – and climb to precarious spots on the playground equipment through my parental eyes was torture. Soccer balls were whizzing around at child head height at only slightly subsonic velocities. How there weren't seven broken necks and ten concussions is a mystery to me.

Eventually the girls left and we went over to play with the boys from her class. I noticed that all three of them had brought bicycles with them, two of them with training wheels and one without, and they were riding around. Of course we've been planning on buying Nora a bicycle at some point, but 3.5 seems way too young for a bicycle.

She has a little plastic tricycle, the kind with the handle on the back for a parent to push/steer from behind, that she's never even come close to mastering. She's never grokked the pedals, and I'm not sure her steering has ever been statistically different from that of Stevie Wonder. The few times we've taken it out on the sidewalk, both of us ended up frustrated.

One of the smaller boys was surprisingly good with his little bicycle, despite the fact that his legs weren't long enough for his feet to stay on the pedals for a full rotation. He had solved this engineering problem by developing a pumping motion where he pushes one pedal from 25% down to 75% down, and then uses the other foot to pedal backwards 90Â° and then repeated. I was amazed by how much speed he could build with such a relatively inefficient method of propulsion.

But then came the really amazing thing. Another of Nora's classmates, who is just a week older than Nora, got up on the bicycle without training wheels and sped off. He was downright _graceful_ on that velocipede! I was astounded.

Nora sat by herself playing with a toy car she'd nicked from one of the cyclists, seemingly uninterested in their two-wheeled locomotion. At one point, I noticed that one of the bikes without training wheels was free, and I asked Nora if she wanted to give it a shot. So with me holding the seat to keep her balanced, I pushed her around the playground, with her doing a pretty decent job of steering thanks to my incessant "Look forward! Not down! Look forward!" coaching. When my back could take no more, I told her to get down.

She asked, "Now what bicycle can I ride?" We chose the smallest one with training wheels and she clearly had some trouble getting any power to the pedals. The parents saw us struggling and determined that the third bike was best for Nora, with a higher seat and training wheels. The owner of the bicycle was not on board with the idea of someone else riding his bicycle, but Nora and I stood patiently while his mother threatened to take him home and then eventually pried it from his sobbing fingers and then presented it to Nora.

She hopped on and, with a brief lesson about how the pedals have to be pushed both _forward_ and down, she actually got the hang of pedaling and even managed to steer around obstacles while doing it! She even got in a bell ring! I was amazed! I had no idea that riding a bicycle was within her capabilities.

Notice how warm the weather was today: short sleeves and a miniskirt in October!

<iframe width="505" height="314" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G4cs32kZg9s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Now we have to buy one for sure!


Nora's First Bicycle Ride


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-08-meeting-internet-people/8068227232_e5becc7396_t.jpg" alt="Facebook Friends Breakdown" class="post-thumb"/>This week, I am traveling to Brussels to meet some very good friends of mine, with whom I communicate on a daily basis, but whom I have never actually met in person. This is a very, very strange phenomenon which has only been possible since the rise of the internet. Maybe before the internet, you could have a pen pal that you get to know intimately before meeting, but that's not the same as feeling part of a social group dynamic like I do.  Some people have a policy of not friending anyone on Facebook whom they have never met in person. I can somewhat understand the motivation behind such decisions. However, some of my best friendships are with [people I've never met](/2008/03/15/friends-ive-never-met/). Sometimes I am surprised by how much I care about them. Two of my online-only friends separated from their wives recently, and it really affected me; I was unhappy and found myself thinking about them a lot. Another fell in love, and I was absolutely thrilled. I've watched my friends' children grow up and I care deeply for them. This idea of feeling a sense of love and community with people whom I have never touched and, in many cases, never even heard their voices, is extremely _weird_. But I assure you, it is very, very real.

In fact, I bet some of you reading this right now follow this blog, but have never commented (and thus I don't even know you exist), feel like I am your friend, and you care for my daughter. Bizarre, huh?

This week, I will be meeting six friends I have never met. Eight, if you don't count a 15 minute chat in an airport lobby, plus five kids I've watched grow up via the internet. It got me thinking about the relationships I have on Facebook… How many have I met? How many do I expect to never see again? How many have I not seen in over a decade?

So I decided to whip up a spreadsheet. Of my 229 Facebook friends that are actual humans (not businesses or duplicate accounts), I see 17 on a weekly basis, and 38 on a more-or-less yearly basis. Those are friends for whom an effort is made for us to meet on my annual trips to the US or to southern Spain. The vast majority, 97 of them, are old friends, coworkers, or classmates whom I have not seen in over a decade. Facebook has brought me closer to some of them, but others are just kept for gossipy nosing into their lives and for comparing how their lives are going compared to mine (you know you do that, too!). There are 84 people whom I would not be at all surprised if I never see them again. That sounds mean, but we just don't mean enough to each other to make an effort to travel to meet up. Oh well.

And finally, 7 of my Facebook friends are people I have only ever met once. Most of those were internet friends, like [Erin](/2012/03/19/meeting-la-tortuga-viajera/) and [Theresa](/2011/03/14/lunch-with-mother-theresa/), where an effort was made to get together. Every time it has been a pleasant experience, so I have high hopes and not many worries about whether or not my Belgium friends will enjoy my company. I'd be lying, however, if I said I wasn't a little nervous. For many of them, we've never seen each other's mannerisms or heard each other's voices except for brief clips from videos of our children. Even though we all have the technology available, we've never spoken on the phone or done a video chat. It seems to be an unspoken rule. I wonder why?

Naturally, I made a pie chart.

## Facebook Friends By Proximity Frequency

![Facebook Friends Breakdown](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-08-meeting-internet-people/8068227232_e5becc7396.jpg "Facebook Friends Breakdown")

By this coming weekend, the purple slice will be down to 18% as six people move to the "Met Once" green slice. Of course they are all disappointed that my wife and daughter cannot go with me, but on the bright side, that provides motivation for them to come visit us.


Meeting Internet People


<img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-02-four-noras-from-6-months-to-3-5-years/8047745778_f024edc755_t.jpg" alt="Nora, at 2.5 and 3.5 years old" class="post-thumb"/>I love it when creative photography ideas come to fruition. When Nora was six months old, pretty much as soon as she could maintain a propped up sitting position in time for me to snap a photograph, I created a composite photograph of [four of her](/2009/09/17/four-noras/) sitting on our ugly green sofa. Then, a year later, I [followed up](/2010/09/17/two-noras/) with a shot of her six month old self with her eighteen month old self, which clearly left two spots on the sofa for older versions. Last year, I [filled in the third spot](/2011/09/05/three-noras/) with a 2.5 year old Nora. The time has now come (I set a calendar reminder) to continue the September tradition and add the fourth Nora to the sofa.  <a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-02-four-noras-from-6-months-to-3-5-years/8029317357_99672576c3_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Four Noras: From 6 months to 3.5 years">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-02-four-noras-from-6-months-to-3-5-years/8029317357_dc23cd5599.jpg" alt="Four Noras: From 6 months to 3.5 years"/>
</a>

It's worth [viewing larger](http://www.flickr.com/photos/erikrasmussen/8029317357/lightbox/).

Clearly she's grown a **_lot_** in the past year. And, for some reason, this is the first year I actually got her in focus. My past self was so inept.

Here's the close-up from last year and this year.

<a href="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-02-four-noras-from-6-months-to-3-5-years/8047745778_45ffeb113a_o_d.jpg" target="_blank" class="flickr-image" title="Nora, at 2.5 and 3.5 years old">
  <img src="https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-02-four-noras-from-6-months-to-3-5-years/8047745778_f024edc755.jpg" alt="Nora, at 2.5 and 3.5 years old"/>
</a>

That's the same kid, alright!

Perhaps next year she'll have to start standing behind the couch? I'm not sure. We'll see...


Four Noras - From 6 months to 3.5 years


![Department of Homeland Security](https://d1js6qm6cshi0v.cloudfront.net/oldblog/2012-10-01-do-not-pay-more-than-14-for-your-esta-application/200px-US_Department_of_Homeland_Security_Seal.svg.png)In preparation for our upcoming trip to the United States, I was double checking that everything is in order. After [last year's ESTA debacle](/2011/06/29/%C2%BFcomo-esta/), I want to be 100% sure we have my wife's immigration approval number before leaving for the airport. So I did an internet search for ESTA to search for her approval number. What I found is a system of websites designed to scam unknowing foreign travelers out of their money.  Someone has set up the following websites (possibly more) to trick foreign travelers.

www.esta.us  
www.estanumber.com  
www.esta-america.org

They all eventually send you to an application page, which I won't link to here, where you enter all the information that is needed for the official Department of Homeland Security ESTA application. Then, at the bottom, it says:

> By pressing the "Place Order" button below I acknowledge that I am utilizing a private company to submit the ESTA Travel Authorization on my behalf for USD $79.00 which includes the mandatory US Government Application fee.

The "mandatory US Government Application fee", as they tell you on their FAQ page, is $14. They charge a $65 "processing fee" to take the information you entered in their form and enter it in the [real Department of Homeland Security's application](https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/), and then email you the PDF that the real DHS's site provides after you complete the application. That's _all_ they do! At least they claim to have a 30-day "refund policy", presumably to appease the people that catch them at their game.

It's unclear if they can somehow turn around and get the $14 back from DHS or invalidate the ESTA number that was issued. I suspect that they cannot, and thus you could apply for the ESTA number with them, get the application approval from DHS, and then get your $79 back, screwing them out of $14, but I don't trust them to honor their refund policy enough to try it.

Even so, I bet they make a LOT of money from foreigners that don't know any better.

Please, people. Only use [the official Department of Homeland Security's ESTA application](https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/). It's not as pretty, and is a stupid hoop to jump through, but it only costs 14 USD.

The irony is that the ESTA application asks you:

> Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an offense or crime involving moral turpitude or a violation related to a controlled substance; or have been arrested or convicted for two or more offenses for which the aggregate sentence to confinement was five years or more; or have been a controlled substance trafficker; or are you seeking entry to engage in criminal or immoral activities?

Of course what they're doing is perfectly legal – I wouldn't even be surprised if there were a connection to the original legislators who created this ridiculous ESTA requirement – and they should not be shut down, but I think that, if they were filling out their own application form, they would need to check the box for moral turpitude.


17 posts from October, 2012