07 May: Double Effect
Mrs. F and I took the fast Thalys train from Paris to Brussels (which took less than an hour and a half) to visit one of my Best Men from our wedding last fall, DGA, and his family (wife Amy and kidlings Stefan, Maddy, and Matthew). The last time I went to Brussels, I was under the sway of a horrible flu which migrated into pneumonia by the time I was done with the trip (really fun for the flight back to Seattle), so I missed trying much Belgian beer. No worries this time--lots of great artisnal beers as well as specialties from the majors (such as the Hoegaarden Grand Cru, which is a bit more lager-ish than the cardomom-spiced white beer that most folks associate with the brewery).

Coming from Paris, Brussels isn't that much to look at. It's farily typicaly of the low countries (Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg) in that it has lots of 3/4-story brick homes with rounded orange roofe tiles. But, as the central seat of European government, it's also very reminiscent of the cookie-cutter blocks of cement government buildings found in Washington DC, with a smattering of some more regal temples of governance (including the old Belgian parliament and the King's home).

But our main focus was hanging out with friends and relaxing... with a few Belgian beers. I also had the opportunity to witness Stefan's school soccer team participate in the MiniFoot tournament, which pits 5-a-side teams from the local elementary schools in a World Cup-esque tournament, with round robin and elimination rounds. I'm happy to say that Stefan's second grade team won the tourney for the second year running, and that Stefan scored a number of goals and ably set up a couple for his strike partner Landry (whose father recently played for professional team Charleoi). They also had a very stingy defense led by the valiant center-back Louis (look for him in a Belgian national team jersey in about 12 years as a midfield general), his backline partner Bora (who's also great at moving up the field and distributing the ball to the strikers) and goalkeeper Gilles (who might not have let in any goals--unfortunately, I wasn't keeping stats). (That's Bora, Louis, and Stefan celebrating their win.)

After the game, I convinced Dave to help me accomplish one of my goals for our time on the continent: to have a Double Effect (the perfect celebration for th double-winning Stefan). This is a sandwich from fast-food restaurant Quick, and I'd been enticed by the large advertisements in the windows for this sandwich, which is composed of two burgers (or chicken patties) on one long bun underneath but crowned with a different bun top and condiments--giving you the Double Effect in one sandwich!!!! Amazing. I'd been bugging Mrs. F about this mercilessly during our time in Paris ("Look... the Double Effect!!"), and she was quite happy to have me get this out of my system. I had the chicken, and it was doused with a bit too much mayo. But each of the patties had a different crispy texture, and it was worth it.

Sunday, we finished our trip with a ritual visit to the Mannequin Pee--the Pee Boy statue near the Grand Place (the main square of Brussels). Somehow, this tiny statue (it must only bee about three or four feet high) has captured the love and imagination of Brusselites, and the streets surrounding the Pee Boy are filled with stores hawking Pee Boy wears, from flags to replica statues to tiny likenesses with a corkscrew (coming out of you-know-where). We bought the corkscrew... very classy.