Our first full day in Brussels! The guide warned us, and I can attest, Brussels is a decidedly more seedy city than Brugge. Very big city, grimy, full of people from all over, including folks who want to con you from your money or go through your pockets. But the well prepared traveler is not fazed by this, and I am that.

We slept late, since I'm still having trouble adjusting to the time zone. I fall asleep around 10 or 11, but by 3 AM I'm wide awake, and it takes another couple of hours for me to fall back to sleep. Still, it's nice to sleep in, and we had a relatively relaxed schedule on this day anyway.

First order of business was breakfast (or, by the time we were out and about, brunch). We opted for convenience and went with the cafe in the hotel. Ouch, was it overpriced! But no matter, we made our way southeast to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. Opting to see the permanent collection of ancient and modern art, we didn't realize what a full day it was to become. The ancient collection took us over two hours, and the last bit of it we rushed through so we could see the modern collection before the museum closed. Still, they've got a fine collection here.

I've never really been a fan of ancient (pre-19th century) paintings. So much portraiture, so many people with china-doll complexions wearing ruffled collars and looking dead, or having oddly large heads for their bodies. I've certainly grown an appreciation of fine arts in my lifetime, but just not that. When it comes to the fine arts, I like my music ancient, and my paintings modern or contemporary. Though there were some *wonderful* statues in the ancient collection that simply amazed me. A life-sized discus thrower, who you felt at any minute would stand up and say "Ha! Fooled you!" Such fine details in the arms, hands, muscles... Just amazing. And I could get so close! Close enough to touch it, though you're not allowed to, so I was a good boy.

The modern collection had some great stuff I was thoroughly enjoying. Once we hit the 20th century collection, I was in my groove, appreciating the pieces without knowing what they were, since my French or Dutch aren't near good enough to decipher the cards.

They just opened a Magritte wing, though we didn't get those on our tickets. Just as well, it was quite near closing time by the time we finished. I did, however, discover that Pac Man was invented in 1947. See my Flickr feed for details.

After the museum, we were going to visit the Musical Instrument museum, but it was just about to close, so we put that on the list for tomorrow. Instead, we hopped a bus back to our section of town, had a quick snack (and a beer, natch), then adjourned to the room to plan the evening.

We settled on visiting a recommended bar, A La Mort Subite, a few blocks from the hotel. A wonderful beer selection, including many fine lambics (especially geuzes) are featured. I stuck to the abbey ales, while Tisha sated her sour tongue on the Mort Subite (of course). After a couple of brews, we made the hike to La Bier Circus, a quaint little dinner spot with a fantastic beer selection. Hey, remember, we came to Belgium for the beer!

I had a wonderful Flemish Red (slightly sour, well balanced) named Ichtegem's Grand Cru, a delightful Tripel named Adelardus, and I finished off the evening with a 2004 Chimay Grande Reserve. You could still see the dust on the bottle. And... wow. Just wow. So fantastic, so complex.

I need to buy a bunch of this and cellar it for 5 years -- it's totally worth it.

Tomorrow, it's the Musical Instruments museum, the Cantillon brewery, and shopping for beer and chocolate! Yum!

Pics here.