Euro Christmas Trip 2010 (part 4)

All vacations must come to an end, and this one was winding down. We set the alarm for early-o'clock so we could drive back to Brussels for New Years Eve. First things first, we picked up some pain au chocolat. Seven of them actually.

We left Christine's "dealer" and started back to Brussels with a stop in Blaugies along the way to find some of their beer. Me and Blaguies just weren't to be. They were closed, just like they were closed two years ago when we went. Next we went to Beer Mania in Brussels to pick up some more take home beer and then head to our hotel. We booked a room at the Marriott in downtown Brussels using Christine's Marriott points. We were living large on the "executive" level and we had a sweet room looking out onto the Brussels Stock Exchange.

We did a little shopping at the Christmas market and then managed to run into our friends from Naples while we were both getting food. We had planned to meet in another hour at a bar, so it was funny to just run into them early. We all went out for a couple drinks at the Delirium Cafe. They have a massive beer list so we took the opportunity to try some new beers. The place was packed, and was filling in more and more as the evening went on. I could have sat there all night and drink, but we had some packing to do. We still needed "dinner" though, so we made a stop at Friteland. Mmmm. frites. A couple police came in and they looked ready for business: shin guards and zip-ties. Later they'd have helmets too.

I actually planned ahead for packing beer this time and I brought a bunch of bubble wrap and tape. It quickly became evident that all our beer and gifts were going to be difficult to pack (safely) in our bags alone. Thankfully the fine people at the Marriott front desk found us a couple boxes to use. I'll have to remember that for next time and maybe bring a couple broken down boxes. With Christine's status on United, we could take a total of 5 pieces of luggage so we had 2 suitcases, a duffel bag, and two boxes.

Having stuffed just about everything into our luggage, we went back to Delirium to meet Garrett and Sue for one more beer. It was getting close to midnight and the crowd had gotten even crazier. We actually just stood outside with our beers. Instead of heading into the belly of the New Years beast, we all retreated to our hotel where we could watch the mayhem from above and drink some of our own beer. (It's a clear sign we're getting older.) And mayhem there was. The highlight was when one of the Christmas market booths caught on fire.


How much beer did we cram into the bags?


- 23 Westvleteren 12
- 2 Rodenbach cans
- 4 Rodenbach Grand Cru
- 3 Kapittel Prio
- 1 Kapittel Triple
- 1 Dupont Saison Biologique
- 1 Mea Culpa
- 1 Drie Fonteinen Oude Kriek
- 1 Blaugie Biere Darbyste
- 1 Hoegaarden Le Fruit Defendu