Belgian Beer Fest!

Over the weekend, hubby and I went to Brussels for the Belgian Beer Festival. It was my first time to Belgium and his third time, that lucky guy. I was excited to speak French and for yummy food and cherry beer. Last time hubby brought these back and I love them:

We were prepared for a slightly different festival experience than those in Germany. Our friends told us that there is a small area that the fest takes place in, and a strange system of purchasing bottle caps that are then used to buy beer at the stands. Kind of weird that you can't just exchange money for beer, but knowing that little gem saved us time and confusion.

What we were not prepared for, however, was an insane amount of traffic once you get into Brussels city limits. We were displeased.

Sitting in traffic I took this picture since Brussels is the administrative capitol of the EU. For somewhere that is supposed to be in charge, I witnessed quite a large amount of lawlessness - absolutely terrible drivers, wacky roads - ugh. This trip isn't getting off to a great start, but at least it stopped raining, which it had been doing for the bulk of the drive.

FINALLY, we get to the Hilton. I thought this crushed velvet couch in the lobby was neat. The room was fine, although I could have done without the mold in the bathroom, and the leaky sink. 

 After checking in and dropping off our stuff, we headed to the beer fest, with a quick stop in a church....

 ... and for some lunch to grab a bite. I had a Chimay Blue to start off my grand day of Belgian beer. My meal was a delicious Croque Monsieur sandwich, hubby had Flemish beef stew that he raved about, and our friend Steve had the rabbit. Very pleasing all around. I'm now on a quest to find a good Flemish beef stew recipe.

After watching a bee land in Steve's beer glass, struggle to get out, give up and swim in the foamy remains, and seem to fall asleep, they dumped out the glass to give him a fighting chance, and we continued on our way.

(Belgian beers have a higher alcohol content then German versions, so after one beer this bee situation was highly entertaining.)

Here is the main square where the bigger portion of the festival was - all blocked off, completely chock full of people. What a silly system, especially without any food stands inside. You'd have to exit the zone and walk to the nearest fries or waffle stand (of which were plentiful, but still). In Germany, food and drink stands would be side by side, and there certainly wouldn't be any sectioned off drinking areas.

I did realize though, upon seeing these horses hanging out and kegs attached: is this where "Pony Keg" comes from?! I don't think that's really the reason, but if any of you know, please, do tell... otherwise I'm not entirely sure why there are horses here, taking up valuable room.

Before attempting more beer, we knew that water was probably a good idea so we went to a nearby grocery store. I was a little surprised to see the Food Lion logo, but here it is. It makes more sense now that I know that Delhaize, the name of this grocery store, actually owns Food Lion.

After meeting up with some more friends, we got our beer tokens and got to ordering. We didn't want to attempt the main area but they had renamed one of their side streets "Beer Street" so that's where we hung out. I got this "Cookie Beer," and yes, it tasted like a cookie. It had aromas of cinnamon, sugar and spices, and tasted like a sugar cookie. Totally girly, I know - but really good.

 I also had this dark reddish pink concoction. I think it was black cherry, or blackberry, or a combination or something - also really good, but again, girly and sweet. The third beer I had was more in keeping with a nice strong Belgian beer, but sadly by that time, a major headache was taking over. I'd been trying to get over a cold for a few days before so all the alcohol didn't help (but I didn't want to miss this).

 He's hard to see - but in the middle left - that's a Superman float for the parade.

 Next came some drunk munchies - Belgian fries, of course! They have amazingly delicious sauces here, and this one was Andoulouse - so good that we found it in the grocery store and brought some home. Yum... sort of a chipotle pepper-y sauce. I can't wait to put it on everything. (We also purchased some Samurai sauce which we didn't try but it said it was spicy on the label-  sounds good to us!)

 Since we had a nice buzz going we thought we'd at least see what this main square was all about. Alas, when we got there, we saw this big jumbo-tron explaining (only in English) that they weren't letting anyone else in at this time.

Oh well. We went back to Beer Street and met up with friends and were introduced to friends of friends, so that was cool. I really liked going somewhere where we knew some people but got to meet more, and everyone still got to do their own thing. Seems harder to do that in the U.S. for some reason. Soon we all headed out (since they close down around 9pm - don't ask me why.... this whole festival thing is a little off in Belgium). We had dinner in a park area and finally made it back to the hotel. By this time I had been rocking a headache for a few hours so I wasn't feeling the best, but I was still pleased we had made it and got to try some really great beers.

Sunday morning hubby and I had breakfast at the hotel, and in my hazy, pre-coffee stupor I told the attendant our room number in a combination of German and French. As soon as it flew out of my mouth I realized my mistake, but she figured it out. I apologized - I only wish I could have explained that my French is much better after coffee, but the words just weren't there.

It was a pretty dramatic breakfast. Very crowded and an older woman knocked into a younger one and they both went down hard, right next to the cereal. And then an epic glass shattering took place when one of the servers was cleaning up. At least the breakfast was good. Just the thing we needed to start the day.

 After this we checked out and put our stuff in the car. I thought the signage for the parking garage was cool.

To the gator level!

Next we went to the Musical Instrument Museum. Hubby has been talking about going here for weeks, so I'm glad we did. I also liked that it was a biggish museum but wasn't packed with people, allowing for a fairly pleasant experience. We got audio guides so we could walk around and step up to audio signs, and then the instrument we were next to would start playing. Really neat, but hubby was a bit disappointed that there wasn't as much history to the instruments.

These are some accordions that I was really enjoying. The tunes they played in my ear were very French.

 I think the piano floor was hubby's favorite.

 They even had a room to show how they made a piano out of all these little tiny pieces!

 So very ornate, they double in a room as art.

 Cabinet organ!

 Here's hubby next to clarinets - a familiar sight from his playing days.

 ...and next to a 1970's sound station!

 After the museum, it was time for fries and some shopping. We went to three chocolate stores, but hubby explained that this was his favorite - a dangerous place where you can scoop your own chocolate.

 After our chocolate and subsequent beer runs, we hopped back into the car to head to Val Dieu, an Abbey on the way home. Hubby and Steve had been there before and were excited to pick up some more Abbey beers. I think the Grand Cru is one of hubby's favorites.

They also said we had to get this tapas plate. It was definitely tasty as we sat out on the patio waiting for the rest of our meals. I got a cold sampler plate, hubby got the cheese croquettes (mmm, friend cheese!) and Steve got the chicken in mushroom sauce/stew.

Last shot of the Abbey, with sheep adjacent.

And so ends our Belgian weekend. I have mixed feelings about it - while the food and beer was amazing, and our souvenirs are going to be satisfying for weeks to come, Brussels was crowded, the fest area left something to be desired, and was just a little unorganized. Oh, and it was a pretty hilly city. Pair that with construction zones near and around the hotel, I wasn't too pleased. Maybe it was my stuffy nose, but I don't know if I'd do this trip again. Maybe just Val Dieu, or a smaller town and not to Brussels.

Still, I'm glad we went. When our beer runs out we'll make another trip, one country to the left.