Dinner by the priest

There's this really old square in the center of Brussels. It dates way way back. The place is packed with tourists but it has a really nice vibe. They're in the middle of blocking off the center to fill it with flowers. Some festival I think. The one thing I have to say about the Belgians is that they all know about 10 different languages. The guy running the hostel switches between almost every European tongue so quickly. I think I'll be following him and then realize that the last 4 or 5 words were in Italian to some guy, Dutch to his friend, and French to the rest of the non-English speaking Americans. It makes me feel like a total slacker. At any rate, I'm very impressed by the languages spoken here. Everybody is much more well traveled. There's this crazy church in the middle of the square.
Today after the conference, a group of us went out for dinner & drinks in the "district". I have to fully agree that the food here is awesome. The beer was good by my standards and since I don't like beer, I bet it's just great. Here's Tolstoy (Casey), Nicole, Jana and the European Judo-master. The two ladies (since we're in Europe and all) wanted to stay out later and hang out with the bartender. Casey and I, being Americans, and having asked twice if the ladies were ok with this, left them to their bartender. The European Judo-Master was totally freaked out by this. He said that we should march back into the bar and pick a fight with the bartender. I don't know if it was a protective instinct, or just that it seemed seedy, but he said that no European would let that happen. Interesting.......