Adventures OUTSIDE Vienna

The weekend of the 4th, I met my cousin Elizabeth and four of her friends in Brussels for the weekend. We stayed at the incredibly embellished hotel mozart. I have to admit, it was a little gaudy, but fun all the same. My favorite decoration were the posters of Barack Obama all over the walls. I swear he was on every wall. 

We stayed a two minute walk from La Grande Place, which meant we were in the heart of the city. Brussels is a beautiful and old city. The streets are made of cobblestones, many of them un-drivable. The architecture is absolutely beautiful. There are buildings in every style, ranging from Renaissance to more a more modern style. Such a beautiful city, just like Vienna. 

On Saturday, we went and visited the Anatonium, a huge metal sculpture of an iron molecule. It was built in the 1950s to represent Belgium in a science fair. It was impressive and HUGE. We didn't climb to the top, but supposedly you can see the whole city. Instead, we made (stupidly) decided to go to Mini Europe, aka the biggest tourist trap in all of Europe. They made miniture sculptures of all of the important European landmarks and tourist attractions. We visited every country in the EU... But you could see Big Ben from the Eiffel Tower and Italy from Holland... so it wasn't quite the same :) 

Of course we  had to sample some of the wonderful Belgian cuisine: Belgian Waffles topped with ice cream fruit and chocolate sauce, which they sell on the streets. They were absolutely delicious but extremely messy. 

We celebrated the Fourth of July with a group of American boys that we met in one of the more famous bars in Brussels called Delirium. They are known for there many flavors of beer, including apple, passion fruit, and pomegranate. Don't worry, I didn't sample all of them. 

I loved Brussels, if only I had more time... 

The next weekend I journeyed to Bosnia with Ian, Alma, and Braco. It was Braco's 25th high school reunion.  It's hard to describe the weekend. Mostly it was me sitting around listening to the Memic family chatter in Bosnian. I did have some delicious meals prepared by Braco's mom and then spent evenings walking around town hearing stories from Alma and Braco's childhood. (They've been together 20 years this fall, since Alma was 17.) It was interesting listening to all of they're stories and memories. I guess it gave me a little insight into who they were, helping me understand who they are now. 

Next weekend, I'm off to Serbia...