Christmas

This was my first Christmas alone. When I was in Burkina, I was among Peace Corps friends in Ouaga one year and then Nikki and my Baraboule family the next, so even though I wasn't with family, I wouldn't say I was alone. This year, however, it was just me.

I ended up in Brussels. The reason is that I was on my way from Stockholm and it was either that or Hamburg, and I felt that it would be more fun to try to use my rapidly rusting French skills than to be in Germany. Also, I wanted to use some of my stash of Marriott points from all my U.S. travel, and it looked like there was a nice luxury Marriott in the heart of Brussels that would be the perfect place to hole up for the 'quiet family affair' that all my Helsinki friends had warned me to expect from a european Christmas.

When I arrived on Christmas Eve at about 6pm, however, Brussels was not quiet at all. There was a festival going on! There was vin chaud everywhere. There were hot waffles everywhere. There were churros everywhere (of course there were mexican treats in Brussels at Christmas). There were people everywhere. There was a laser show on the side of one of the beautiful gothic buildings. There was a large nativity scene in the Grand Place with plastic people and animals and a couple live sheep.

I ended up spending four nights in Brussels. It was great. I ate a lot of street food and walked around a lot and just generally enjoyed the friendliness of strangers (something Helsinki does not offer). I saw performances, both Christmas-related and not. I saw the EU offices, the NATO offices, beautiful parks and many beautiful buildings. I saw a carousel with crazy animals on it (no ponies for Belgian kids -- they get to ride on a pterodactyl!). I saw Brokeback Mountain on Christmas Eve (no It's a Wonderful Life for the Dutch viewers, apparently -- but I was grateful for the pretty-man-on-pretty-man action).

The other thing I should mention is the mini bar in my hotel room. It has a little tag on it that read 'Always There For You! Your Mini Bar...Creating Historical Moments'. I was impressed at the non-subtle promotion of alcoholism.