Sue And Graham's Excellent Adventure: Couch Cruising in Hamburg and Full Bellies in Brussels

Hamburg

We decided to make use of an offer for a free place to stay in Hamburg. One of Sue’s Seattle friend’s in-laws had invited us to stay in their Hamburg home while they were on vacation, without even having met us, what nice people! The weather was less than ideal when we arrived but it turned out we really needed some down time away from the trials of wondering European streets (boo hoo) So we made use of the comfy couch, big screen tv and an actual home kitchen to pretend like it was a lazy rainy weekend back in Seattle. Thanks again to Tania and Oliver for lending us their home to recharge in.

The remnants of a bombed out church from WWII, it now has a few memorial statues dedicated to peace.

Being Germany’s largest port, and the second largest in Europe, there was water everywhere you looked from the harbor to the canals running between warehouses.

Brussels

Continuing the rapid pace of our European tour we spent two nights in the capital of Belgium. The compact city center lent itself well to our wandering ways and we set to explore the things Belgium is best known for: Beer, waffles, Chocolate (among other health foods) cars and comics.

Grand Place in the center of Brussels.

The EU’s headquarters are located in Brussels. Can you name the country for each flag? (We couldn’t, but came close)

The Manneken Pis fountain, very popular.

Of course not long after arriving in Brussels, Sue dragged us into an alluring chocolate shop, very dangerous and expensive places.

Mmmm, more danger

In Belgium the comic book or “graphic novels” are upheld as a true art form, with their own high end shops and museums. One of the more famous (and beloved) Belgium comics is The Adventures of Tin Tin, (the series is being made into animated movies by Spielberg and Peter Jackson)