Grand Place, Grand Beer

I've got a beer-centric post today.  But I think that those of you who care less about the beer and more about the scenery will also enjoy reading.  The Belgian Brewers, which is one of the world's oldest professional associations, hosts a beer festival once a year in Brussels.  There were over 50 Belgian breweries at the festival, which made for a fun day trying lots of new beer.  

We actually took the train to Brussels for the first time along with our friends Simon and Laura.  I met Laura through one of my groups, but they also happen to live on our street. Simon and Laura are from the UK and they share a love of good Belgian beer.  

The festival was held in the heart of the city on the Grand Place, a truly magnificent square which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  The architecture on the square is gorgeous, and the buildings were reconstructed in the late 17th and early 18th centuries (after being bombed by the French).  

Parade of the brewers.

Parade of the old beer carts.

Artistic shot of the hops.

The main attraction of the day, of course, was the tasting.  Here's a shot of the card where we kept track of all of the beers we tried (small portions mind you, not full glasses :).

His handwriting may not be the easiest to decipher.  You'll notice along the left-hand side of the page that Todd wrote a T or M for Todd or Megan.  The furthest right column was the number of crowncorks (fun word, eh?) it cost per glass. And the other column is the rating we gave the beer.  It was crazy just how different each of these beers tasted.  And although not all of them were my favorite, it was interesting to try such a large variety.

Later in the day we moved from the Grand Place to a smaller square by the Bourse (stock exchange).  There was a 50-meter bar set up there with another set of beers to sample.

We had a great time sampling and conversing and hanging out in a beautiful place.  

Last week we had a blast from the past moment. My friend Megan from high school and her husband Matt were vacationing in the Netherlands and stopped in Eindhoven for the evening last Thursday.  We took them to one of our favorite restaurants and did a short walking tour of Eindhoven.  It was great to catch up for a few hours since we hadn't seen each other in many years!  

We also enjoyed a lovely BBQ at our friends Sam and Bart's place on Friday with a group of fun people. The night ended with my first time playing the game Cards Against Humanity.  That will be a must buy once we get back to the US.  All in all, it was a great weekend spent with great people!