Brussels

Flew in to arrive mid-day for a pitch tomorrow afternoon. Ended up on the morning flight rather than evening in order to keep the costs down which has its plusses and minusses. Minus=get up early and deal with the rush hour commuters on the way to the airport. Plus=rest of team gets in around 6 pm, leaving me with a few hours to relax. Um, I mean, work really hard in my hotel room. ;-)

In all seriousness, I guess I get to do both. I took an hour out to go down and walk around and pick up a really nice bio sandwich and salad for lunch and pop my head into a few shops. I've never been to Belgium before, so this is finally a new country for me - first one in many years. (Yeah, i gotta get out and see more of Europe...). Not that I will be able to boast that I saw Belgium in the few hours I will have to explore.

I *knew* Belgium was famous for chocolate (among other food items...which are turning my head right and left as I walk down the street - waffles, fries, mussels, seafood everywhere), but I don't think I have ever seen so many chocolate shops in my life. Rather overwhelming. Of course I will take some chocolate home...but I wouldn't even know where to buy it - one chocolate from 20 different shops I guess....:-P

Meanwhile, the wall of beer/ale in another store had me pretty awed as well...

And the cathedral in the center - just had time for a snap and then I turned and headed back to the hotel. Time to work for a bit, but the team heads out for dinner together tonight, and that should be fun. The concierge recommended a French place and a Belgian place, but if I know the UK guys, we're gonna end up in a pub. ;-) Actually, everyone is recommending mussels and fries (very Belgian!), which sounds like a good plan to me.