Travel Log Day 7 (Thursday)

This morning we had (another) Belgian waffle and coffee for breakfast. Not only do I love these waffles, Ben does too.

We walked to the train station and caught a train to Louven, home of the Stella Artois brewery. We had not arranged for a tour in advance so trying to get in for a tour being unannounced seemed unlikely at first. But we were able to tag along with a school (!) group. The downside, the tour was conducted in Flemish. However, the tour guide, Jacques was really accommodating and gave us an abridged version of the tour in English. He was so cool! The process was interesting and fun to see. The brewery has been in existence since 1366! The tour concluded in the on-site pub where the Stella Artois beer flowed freely….even for the school kids! They all looked so young but we asked Jacques and he said they were all 17. Legal drinking age here is 16. We sat around the bar and chatted with Jacques who continued to be an excellent host and Stella Artois ambassador.

We finally decided to head back to the train station and return to Brussels. On the way we stopped off for some pommes frites (French fries) and waited for our train.

After all the beers and fresh air, Ben and I took naps at the hotel then got up for dinner. We met up with Edwin again and had a nice dinner at Chez Leon. We all had various forms of mussel dishes (the local specialty). Ben liked playing with mussel shells and had his own dinner of chicken and apples.

Once dinner was finished I took Ben back to the hotel to settle him in for the night. Pat kindly offered to stay in with Ben so Kent and I could go out with Edwin. We had a drink in our hotel lobby with Edwin and Ed. I had a really nice white Belgian beer then Kent, Edwin and I were off! We went to one of Edwin’s local haunt’s called Ralph’s. We met several of Edwin’s friends, mostly ladies! They were all really nice and interesting to chat with. After Ralph’s we walked back to Edwin’s very nice apartment in the heart of an upscale shopping district, I noticed Gucci and Versace on the walk to his place. After a bottle of wine and a review of Kent’s and Edwin’s high school yearbook, Kent and I decided to call it a night---at 2:30 am! I haven’t been up that late socializing in a very long time! It was a fun evening. When we returned to the hotel Ben was sound asleep and Pat was still up reading. We felt bad that she was still awake since we were out so late!