Spring in Europe, the time when Brussels sprouts!

The Grand Place, Brussels.

I couldn't help it.

Apart from the "interesting" experience with Ryanair (in a mid-western way, as in "Hmm, your new jell-o casserole is very interesting), our time in brussels was terrific. Truly terrific. It was green. It was cool. There are parts of Brussels that really remind me of Boston, and that gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside as we took the metro around the city. The Belgian version of the "T" even goes both above and below ground, just like the beloved green line of my youth.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, Brussels. While thousands and thousands of people were stranded in lovely locales, like the Frankfurt airport departure lounge, we spent our volcano-imposed vacation in the lovely home of our friends Carmen and Gilbert, and their daughter Elisa. We spent our days exploring different parts of the historical district of Brussels, and our evenings relaxing with friends. We were thankful for our particular plight every single day.

For people who have never been to Brussels, there are a few really important talking points:

• It is the capital of Belgium, and has about 1 million inhabitants.
• It has two official languages: French, and Flemish (the Belgian version of Dutch).
• It is the capital of the European Union and so is filled with gov't functionaries.
• Brussels is famous for three products: Chocolate, lace, and beer.
• We tested notable varieties of two of the above (guess which ones?).

Ben and Chaia discovered very quickly that if you wander into a chocolate store (these are countless in Brussels), sooner or later someone that works there will offer you some of their products. We followed our kids into dozens of chocolate shops.

There is a big difference between drinking beer, and "drinkin' beer" (as my Kansas City family would say). In Brussels I did some of the former. This is not your sit-on-the-couch, drink-beer because-it's-there kind of experience. This is true high quality beer tasting, and Belgium produces some world-class beers. I tried a beer called "Tripel Karmeleit" (Ben called it "Chicken Caramelized") that was truly exceptional. I also tried a beer called (for real) "Delirium Tremens."

It's amazing. Someone, somewhere, called it "the best beer in the world." That, of course, is silly, as beer tastes are broad. It is, though, one of the best I have ever tasted.

Unfortunately the beer stores do not give out free samples. I tried wandering around for a while, just to make sure though.