belgian style

I'm now in Brussels for a quick stop. I told myself this was a "recovery" stop, since it was a quick journey from London and I knew I would need some decompression and recovery after the Olympics. Changing my body clock back to a normal schedule after a few weeks of working 9pm to 9am ended up being a lot like jet lag. I think I've mostly pulled out of it at this point. Here in Brussels, I just did a little wandering around the neighborhood and into the Grande Place. It turns out that today is a national holiday (as well as across much of Europe) so there was a lot of activity yesterday much like it was a weekend. Streets and cafes were full of people taking advantage of the summer evening, and the final touches were being put on the Flower Carpet - a tradition that happens every two years in which the Grande Place is covered with a carpet-like design made of Begonias. I also was taken by surprise - though I shouldn't have - how every bar and cafe was full of lots of my favorite beers. Maybe I should have planned to be here longer!