The big question this year was: who will show up? Indeed, right after the 9-11 events, we all called each other, and most of us thought about not going, more because of the trouble with the airlines than because of security concerns. There were of course some of us, like Bill, who said that he would swim across the Atlantic, if the airlines didn’t let him fly.

Hotel Arenberg, Brussels

Eventually everybody, except one Indiana couple, showed up at our Welcome meeting in the Arenberg Hotel, downtown Brussels, where we had our first beer together: Augustijn Abbey Ale. Since most of us had arrived one or two days earlier to digest some of the jet-lag, we had everybody together pretty early in the meeting. Some of us hadn’t eaten lunch yet, and with the Mort Subite pub being just around the corner, the majority of us went for a quick lunch. Having a Gueuze or a Faro to start a beer tour in Brussels is always a good idea.

The weather was surprisingly nice, and at 4 o’clock Johnny & Claudine took us on a guided tour through the center of Brussels for about 90 minutes. Starting our walk with a view of the beautiful cathedral, we went through the first ever build indoor shopping mall in Europe, the St. Hubertus gallery, where we now find some of the most exquisite shops of Brussels. We arrived at one of THE tourist traps in Brussels: de Rue de Boucher (Beenhouwer-straat) restaurant row. There must be about 100 restaurants in this very narrow walking street, all exhibiting their seafood fare. Around one corner, in a dead-end alley we discovered Manneken Pis’ less known sister: Jeanneke Pis, sitting and … You know.

Jeanneke Pis

We walked through the famous Toone’s Puppet-theater and pub, where the waiters were quite excited to see a group as ours arriving, but we had to disappoint and walk right through, arriving in a small but cozy courtyard. We lost Bill, but Claudine found him back at the Grote Markt among about a thousand other tourists. Before arriving at the Grote Markt, probably the nicest market square in Europe, we wandered through some of the narrow streets to arrive at the St. Nicolas church, the La Becasse pub, and the Brussels Stock Exchange.

St. Michaels Cathedral

You can spent an hour watching the beautifully decorated houses (palaces?) of the Grote Markt, and maybe many more hours watching the other tourists, while drinking a few beers on one of the terraces. We chose to do that later the same day, and decided to walk to Manneken Pis. Johnny had arranged for our VIP-bus to pick us up there.

The bus took us on a wider tour around downtown Brussels. We passed the Royal Palace, saw the US Embassy from a distance and the Belgian Federal Police, protecting the whole area around it. We saw the Zavel square (Sablon) with the many antique shops, and upscale bistros and tearooms. The statue of Godfried van Bouillon, the first Emperor of Jeruzalem during the first Crusade in the 11th century stood proudly. The office buildings of the EC, the European Community, and the huge Justice palace loomed largely. At the Cinquantenaire complex, build to honor the 50th birthday of Belgium, an organized event was happening with the small funny Smart car. Having not had a beer for a couple of hours, and having all that nice weather, the bus brought us to a very remarkable pub in a "bad" neighborhood: De Skieve Architect at the Vossenplein. This area of town is called the Marollen,, and it is inhabited by the people living at the bottom of the social ladder. Today, these are the North African Muslim immigrants. The Vossenplein is famous for its everyday flea market, and around the square are many antique shops. Mick had wandered around through Brussels that morning and had found the square, but told us that most of the things sold was ‘crap’, and no antique beer-stuff could be found.

The Skieve Architect is an art-pub build in an old fire station. They have two strong house-beers brewed by the Van Steenberge brewery: the blonde and the dark. The name of the pub points to the architect who built the Justice Palace for King Leopold II in the late 19th century. The huge bombast building dominates above the Marollen. This man was hated by those living here, as many blocks of homes were demolished to be able to build the Palace.

The architect was also limping, thus he was walking slant, which is "scheef" in Dutch, or "skief" in the Flemish dialect of Brussels. Today, the expression "skieven Architect" is used to identify a man of visible standing, that is a crook underneath.

The clock turned 7 PM and we started to feel hungry, so we drove to our Restaurant of the night: Au Stekerlapatte. Tucked away in a narrow street in the upper Marollen, you would never find it unless you knew where it is. If you go alone, take a taxi. We were back at our hotel around 9:30 PM, and most of us went out for a walk to the Grote Markt area, where at 10PM a light show in front of City Hall was displayed.

Restaurant "Au Stekerlapatte"

Menu Gueuze Boon Poached Fillet of Plaice, prepared in Gueuze. Floreffe Brown Ale Ragout of broiled Rabbit, prepared with Kriek-beer and fresh 'Krieken' (Cherries) and gold-brown potatoes. Parliament Cake and Vanilla Ice. Coffee or tea

Day II