Shady Deals

So, I finally decided to rent a car so I can explore the area a little more. There is a Hertz shop right across the street from my office, so I decided to book online and pick it up during my lunch hour. I found a wagon so I could pick up Elizabeth and Bailey next weekend, it was 350 Euro for two weeks. A little expensive, but I figured I could rent something smaller after that.

On Tuesday I walked over to what appeared to be an abandoned building with a handwritten "Hertz Car Rental" sign on the door. There was no walkway, I just walked through the mud. When I get in there, it's a completely empty warehouse with two guys sitting silently at their computers, cables all over the floor. After a few minutes of typing, he finds my reservation. After a few more minutes, he asks for my credit card and says it will be 975 Euro! After a good bit of discussion I finally figured out that the online price doesn't include the European VAT, or insurance. Insurance alone was almost 500 Euro! Needless to say, I cancelled the reservation and got a small car for a whole month for 500 Euro total. I'm going to have to rent the big one for a day to pick up Elizabeth, but now I have some transportation to get to work and around town.

The really shady part of this Hertz came as I was walking outside with one of the guys to inspect the car. My coworker came with me to find out how much it would be to rent a small automatic for a month...they quoted him 800 Euro, 300 more than my manual. Anyway, as I headed outside, the other guy motioned for my coworker to come over and told him that he could get him an automatic for a month for 500. The guy admitted that he didn't work for Hertz...but we couldn't figure out who he was or why he was sitting in the Hertz dealership. He said to meet him at the Hertz store between 1:00 and 2:00 because the other guy "can't know about this". Arek is still debating whether or not to take the "deal", but it just seems scary...but funny!

Driving out here is pretty scary. There is a rule that people from the right almost always have the right-of-way, and they take it. You can be cruising along and someone from a sidestreet will just drive in front of you, assuming you will stop. You have to be paying very close attention. If that weren't bad enough, many of the streets in town are cobblestone and narrow, some are only for bikes, some are only for buses, some are one way, and some "roads" look like sidewalks. There are cement barriers that pop out of the sidewalk, but lower for busses to drive up on them. I've almost been run over several times.

Just another day in Belgium!

Sundays in Belgium

After an already busy weekend, I decided to take it easy today. A fellow American expat who has been out here for almost a year showed me around town a little more. We walked down to the weekly open market, where hundreds of vendors pulled up their trucks to sell everything you could imagine....from food to furniture to DVDs. The whole town was empty except for these four or five streets where thousands of people gathered to shop. There were musicians and even a little old guy with a 100 year old music box to entertain the crowd. We dropped a Euro in his cup, and he gave us a huge yellow toothless smile.

After that, I came back to the hotel and have spent the rest of the day filling out more paperwork. I won't go into all the details, but the amount of hoops I have to jump through is incredible. There are tons of forms to fill out, and they all have to be done in a certain order. The worst part is that if you ask 5 people what the procedure is, you will get 5 different answers. I'm going to write a book on this when I'm done...I would have paid a fortune for something like that when I came out here.

Brussels

Today my coworker and I caught the train to Brussels. It was a short walk across town to the train station, then a short 45 minute train ride up there. On the weekends the train runs every hour and costs 9 Euro for a roundtrip ticket. It's so convenient and inexpensive I could go up there just for dinner on a Friday or Saturday night. We left at 9:00 in the morning and returned around 5:00. We didn't hit any museums or anything, it was really just a day to get out and see a little bit of the city. It was almost 60 degrees and sunny, just a perfect day to be walking around.

My overall quick impression of the city was that it's very nice, but nothing too exciting. The architecture is beautiful, but it does look a lot like many other European cities that I've seen. It has the standard shops and cafes with chairs out in the street so you can enjoy a beer and watch the crowds. The one thing I was very excited about was the abundance of waffle shops. Unlike Mons, Brussels has a waffle shop on every corner. We did of course have one for a late breakfast....it was covered in chocolate (actually I think it's a product called Nutella, very popular out here) and whipped cream. Absolutely fantasic!

Several people told me before I left that I have to see the Manneken Pis statue. Even at my job, they have told me that this is the main tourist attraction that Brussles is know for. So, after enjoying a waffle and watching people in the Grand Place (the main square in the heart of the city), we headed out to see the famous Manneken Pis. It had to be the most anti-climatic thing I've ever seen. It's a small statue, maybe 2 feet tall, of a guy peeing into a fountain. That's it. It's exactly what the name implies...and yes, Manneken Pis is the offical name of it. The thing I found more intersting was the chocolate shop next to, named Manneken Pis Chocolate. There was absolutly no one in the shop....perhaps they should have thought through that name a little more. I understand that that wanted to be the official chocolate shop of the statue, but it just sounds disgusting.

The pictures from my trip today are up on Picasa, so feel free to let me know what you think of the weird little statue after seeing it. It was a very nice day, and I look forward to exploring Brussels more during my time here.

Turning European

I made a giant step towards fitting in the Europe last night....I did laundry in the bathtub. You haven't lived until you've done your laundry in the bathtub, then hung soaking wet clothes all over your hotel room. I looked all over town for a laundromat, but the closest one is a 15 minute walk. Maybe I'm lazy, but I just don't feel like dragging my dirty clothes all over Mons to wash them.

Also, I finally found a waffle stand!!! In the multicultural tradition of Belgium, the have Flemish waffles and French waffles. If you ever come here, make sure you get the Flemish version. They don't have powdered sugar or other toppings like Americans are used to, but they are just delicious! In case you are not aware, Belgium is officially tri-lingual, and there is a serious cultural battle between the Flemish and French areas of the country. Less than 1% of the country speaks German, but it is an official language anyway.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Brussels with my coworker to help him look for an apartment. I should have some fun pictures to share on Sunday.