Blazing in Beligum

We arrived in Belgium today and the heat has hit us! It must have been a record high today, when we checked the temp at 8 pm, it was 93. Everyone we asked said this was the hottest day in years. And although the nice little hotel we have here is in a great location, we have the only room without a window that can open.

Aside from the heat, Antwerp is a very cool city. Becky did an amazing job getting us here on the metro. The directions from our hotel's website said take the 2, 3, or 15 metro. That is it, does not give you the stop to get off at or anything. After a minor detour, and some nice Belgian locals we made it to the hostel. Becky navegated for us, and I would guess that we would be in the middle of the pack onthe amazing race.

After briefly escaping the heat in our hotel we walked around Antwerp for a couple of hours. We found and sampled some delicious Belgian chocolate, drank some Belgian beer( I will write more about the beer later), and toured the city. While enjoying a beer at a nice bar we experienced learned 2 interesting things: there is a large Dutch population in Antwerp( Holland won the game against Brazil during this time), and there is a huge underground waking tunnel in Antwerp. The tunnel is pretty old I would say, but very cool, literally. It was like a refridgerator inside the tunnel which was very nice on a hot day like today. The tunnel was 572 meters long and it goes under a river. One thing we found entertaining about the tunnel was the sign posted by all the escalators going down, which showed that you have to carry your dog while riding the escalator. We snapped some pictures, but I don't know how to put them in using the iPhone.

After walking through the tunnel we began my mission for Belgium, a sampling if many beers. I first tried a dark Leffe beer at a nice little cafe, and then found a great bar with over 140 Belgian beers. This place was great, and the bar tender was very helpful in selecting a beer. First she reccommended a beer for the hit weather. It was a sweet and sour beer, almost like a wine that Becky and I both enjoyed. After that beer I asked for something a bit more hoppy, and she gave me a very rare double ipa( an iipa). Probably the hoppest beer I have ever drank in my life but also an excellent selection. After those 2 strong beers we decided to begin walking again, and then settled at a cafe by our hotel. Here I am currently drinking a primus pilsner, which totally reminds me of the band.

Tomorrow we will take a long train ride to Paris. The lady at the train station told us we couldn't leave Antwerp for months if we took a direct train, so we are making 2 stops in France on our way to Paris. It will be a long train ride, but it will also give us a great view of the French country. Again please excuse the spelling and typing, I made this post on the iPhone.