Multiple Uses for a Hairdryer

Since we lost a day to United’s mechanical problems we decided to try and get going at a reasonable hour this morning even though we were both pretty dang tired. As we were preparing to head down to breakfast we lost power in our room. All of the lights and electronics went off randomly. I had to admit this wasn’t all bad because it meant I wouldn’t have to wait for mom to do anything with a blow drier or curling iron.

By 9:40 am we were out of the hotel and on our way to Atomium. Atomium is a structure that was built in 1958 for the World Fair held in Brussels. Now it is considered one of the most popular tourist sites in Brussels and according to its website the “symbol of Europe’s Capital.” I primarily wanted to go there to try and get a picture with a hoop in front of it. I managed to find two hoops, one of which also happened to have a girl trying, emphasis on trying, to throw the javelin behind it. This court was inside an old school European park filled with random track and field event areas, including a jav runway, long jump pit, pole vault pit, shot put rings and a discus cage. It also happened to be located on “Javelot Straat” which was awesome.

Getting a picture with Atomium was number one on my to-do list for Brussels. After completing this task mom and I headed for Ghent. Our purpose for going to Ghent was to visit the Ghent Flower Show, which is a GIANT flower expo held once every five years. Needless to say I wasn’t super excited about this but I knew mom would love it, so I decided to take one for the team.
Five and half hours after entering the expo hall we finally left. The exhibited was actually really cool. Three hours probably would have been perfect for me but the additional two and half weren’t too painful, aside from the fact that I was pretty hungry. Food prices in Europe are traditionally ridiculous and the Ghent Expo center was no exception. A meal in the restaurant cost 40 Euros a head for a tiny plate of something scary looking. I had noticed on the way in that there was an Ikea not far from the parking lot. I suggested we get a plate of Swedish Meatballs from its cafeteria for dinner. Up to this point, our meatballs, salads and sodas, all for only 11 Euros, was by far the best meal of the trip.

After dinner we went back to downtown Brussels to see a few more of the sites. All of the buildings and museums were closed because of the time but it was still fun to get a bit of a feeling for the city. If I’m being honest, I really didn’t care for Brussels that much. It felt like a dirty city, with a ton of young people standing around smoking their lives away. I didn’t find the service people particularly friendly or charming either. Which reminds me of one other funny thing.

Almost all of the bathrooms we have encountered require an entrance fee. I’m not sure if the money goes directly to the person who watches over the bathroom and keeps it “clean” or what. However, it clearly does NOT go to sanitation training. Mom and I went to a restroom at the Ghent Expo. The entrance fee was .40 Euros per person. I was out of Euro change, so I gave the woman at the table a 5 Euro bill. She gave me two, two Euro coins and two 10 cent coins for my change. She then proceeded to grab a rag off of her table and enter the restrooms with us. She waited for a woman to exit a stall. She then entered the stall wiped down the seat with the rag and motioned for the next women in line to enter. Another woman left a different stall, she went in wiped down the seat with the same rag, and motioned for the next woman in line to enter. She then went to the sink and wiped down some excess water with the SAME rag with which she had just cleaned two toilet seats. Next she returned to her table in the hallway, set down the rag next to her cash drawer and proceeded to make change for the next customer. At this point I legitimately considered throwing away the 4.2 Euros she had given me for change for fear of contracting the CVS or some other disease. Thinking about it now still causes me a bit of gag reflex.

On our way back to the hotel mom decided she was a bit hungry. We had leftover pizza from the previous night and I thought we should eat it since we would be flying to Munich the next morning and couldn’t really take it with us. Mom agreed reluctantly because she’s not a fan of cold pizza and our room didn’t have a microwave. After a bit of pause in the conversation mom said, “I know what I’ll do. I’ll use my hairdryer on the pizza.” I was like, “What?” She said, “Yes. I’ll just hold my hairdryer over it. It will warm up the cheese.” I thought this was hilarious. And low and behold, as soon as we returned to the room, she took the pizza out of the refrigerator, took it into the bathroom and started hairdrying it. Evidently the hairdryer on the wall wasn’t “hot” enough, so she took out the adapter, took out her hairdryer and begin “heating” the pizza again. It was amazing. It really did work quite well and I have a hilarious picture to commemorate the experience.

It’s now 10:30ish and I’m exhausted. Day four of Euro 2010 is in the books. Tomorrow morning we are off to the airport to fly to Munich. I’ll try and post again tomorrow evening.

Katy