Brussels, Belgium

Nemo 33. Looking up from the bottom.
So we went to Amsterdam that day and headed to the Van Gogh museum, where we admired much of his artwork and it was amazing. I have always liked van gogh, and it was really neat to see many of the paintings i have seen and heard about in person.

After the museum, we went to the Tuschinski Theatre to watch Pirates three, and it was fantastic! Now it may seem odd that we went to a movie in Amsterdam, but this theatre was spectacular. It was built in the times of silent movies, so the architecture was really neat, and they have love seats (you know, those little couches for 2 people) in the theatre. Brandon and I booked one of them, and the benefits of sitting in one of these love seats is that you get served food and a bottle of wine during the movie. It was really cool.

Then we headed to the infamous "sexmuseum" and yes folks, it is exactly as it sounds. It is indeed a museum dedicated to sex and the history of sex, and sex artwork. It was entertaining and scary at the same time. Trust me, there are some scary things in there.

Then we went back to our base camp in Leiden.

Yesterday, we headed to Brussels, Belgium, but due to some sleeping in and some missing trains, we didn't actually get there until 4:30pm. First thing we did was catch a Taxi to Nemo 33, that 113ft swimming pool, and it was actually pretty darn cool. First they make you freedive for 10 minutes, then you can grab gear, gear up, and go diving in there for about 40-45 minutes. So we obviously went down to the bottom and sat there for a while then came up and went into their little simulated cavern environment, and there, they have these little air pockets where you can pop up in and talk, while still being under pressure so it doesn't mess up any off gassing or anything. Anyway, so that was pretty cool. Then we went out for dinner close to Grand Place, and my amazing French skills were called upon because our server couldn't speak english. I actually ended up speaking a lot of french when we were in Brussels. Anyway, by the time we finished dinner, it was 9:30pm and we hadn't seen any of Brussels yet. We were planning on a 10pm train back to Leiden. Instead, we found a hotel near Grand Place and spent the night. So this morning, we woke up and there was a little market outside our hotel, which we looked at, and we wandered around for a while. We ventured in to the Musee du Chocolat (or, Chocolate Museum), and we hopped on a tour bus. Then we left on a 3:30pm train. Oh, we also came across Mannekin Pis, a little statue of a young boy, peeing. Look him up for the story.

And now we are back in Leiden. And I am all inspired to take French again.

Tomorrow, we are going to Den Haag, I think, but plans change, like spending an extra day in Belgium randomly. :D