Woke up in Brussels and had whole day of exploring a completely new city (and country) ahead of me.

I barely knew anything about Brussels, so I just jumped into head first. After a quick visit to the Saint Michael’s Cathedral, I found myself in the very centre (and most touristy part) of Brussels. It’s just north of the Grand Place/Grote Markt and consists of several small streets and alleys. It is full of restaurants and cafés with waiters trying to persuade you to come inside. Very very touristy. However, I did find one small dead-end alley that led to Delirium Café but I’ll come back to that. I just walked around the city taking in all the impressions. This is actually what I mainly do on this trip. Walk around and look. It’s interesting and free.

I was amazed by the ornamentation of the facades. It’s just such a big difference to what I am used to back in Denmark. Feeling like taking a break, I found a coffee place that look like they knew what they were talking about. And they sure did. I had a BIG cup of single estate unwashed coffee. Yuuuum – so fruity! Without really noticing, I had spent more than 3 hours at that place and it was time to move on. The day was spent on seeing the tourist sights; Manneken Pis, the Beurs, different buildings, the Grand Place etc. Sightseeing really takes its toll on you, so I was in need of a magic elixir. Went back to Delirium Café and ordered a glass of the magic potion: Delirium Nocturnum. Wow – what a beer!

Although hostels can be very nice places to stay and to meet new people, I really enjoy staying with locals. Until now, I had only stayed with people I knew, but this evening I had been invited to stay at my friend’s big sister’s place. You really experience life of that city or country, when you stay with locals and I can strongly recommend it. I have tried to contact people on Couchsurfing.org but as I decide where and when to go on more or less a day to day basis, it is quite difficult to get a place to stay through this service. The next day I felt it was time to move on. A couple of sights, a Belgian waffle and some fries later, I set course for the highway out of Brussels towards Cologne (Köln). This showed to be harder than I had thought. It is not easy to find a suitable spot to hitch a ride from Brussels, but luckily a friendly woman gave me a ride to the on-ramp. Soon I had a ride from Brussels to a place just outside Liège. From here I got a ride with a guy that didn’t speak English, but a bit of sign language, German and French later I was in Eupen. It was getting really chilly and windy now. It seemed as if I was in the middle of nowhere (which I actually was!) and nobody stopped. I was standing by the on-ramp towards Aachen (30 km from where I was) with a sign that said “Aachen”, yet nobody stopped. Just as I was convincing myself to take down my sign and put on my jacket a young guy stopped. Saved! A short ride later, I was a Aachen train station boarding the train to Cologne.

In Cologne, I found a hostel in the city centre and as I entered, I heard yelling and loud speaking. I thought somebody was drunk and/or having a party/fight, but the guy in the reception informed me that they were recording a scene for a film. Interesting. I checked in, bought some groceries and made new friends in the kitchen. Amir (from Pakistan), who has a great passion and vision: A cultural change among the youth in Pakistan. He wants to liberate them. It was amazing to listen to this guy speak about his history, experiences and vision for the future. Then I met Sam (from England), who flew to Pakistan with his bike and cycled to Europe via China, Uzbekistan, other -stans, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey etc. Yet another fascinating story! Last, but not least, I met Stephanie, Stephanie and Aaron (from China) who all quit their jobs to travel around Europe. Although this can be quite common in Europe and the US, it is quite rare in China.

Next up: A day in Cologne, carpooling to Münich with two German girls and a David Hasselhoff cd, and camping in the woods!