European Trek continues

EDITOR'S NOTE: Matthew J. McGowan is the new Lifestyle reporter for the Odessa American. Matt is a recent graduate of Texas Tech and is traveling Europe (a graduation gift!) for the next few weeks. Check his blog at oaoa.com (click on Blogs) to read about his travels. Matt will give readers a chance to vote on where he should go next in the coming days. Reprints of his blog will run daily in the OA.

Not much to report today.

Spent the morning in the Grand Place Square, which was essentially the reason I came to Brussels. It was beautiful, like everything else in Europe's major cities. The town's old city hall left me in awe. It was truly a beautiful place.

My leg is still killing me, so I went to a hospital and bought a knee brace, which seems to have done the trick. It still hurts, but the brace makes it much more tolerable.

Brussels reminds me of Paris. Most of the folks here speak French, and English, for that matter - the latter being different from Paris. But I have begun to wonder if most Parisians do, in fact, speak English, but refuse to do so. I'm beginning to think this is the case.

The Dutch, on the other hand, are a wonderful people. Their hospitality is phenomenal and very comforting after spending a few days in Paris. Again, nothing against France, but the country does seem a bit short-fused when it comes to visitors.

The beer in Belgium - well what can I say? - belongs somewhere at the top of my favorite things in the world.

Brussels feels more modern than Paris, aesthetically speaking. Here, there are skyscrapers and your typical New York or Dallas skyline.

Of course, down on the streets, it's the typical European madcap frenzy of scooters and miniature cars, bustling through narrow streets. I love how people can just park in the middle of a busy boulevard, two wheels on the median, run into a nearby building for a few minutes and return to their car, speeding away again as if they never stopped.

The streets here are intense, but besides the traffic, it's the same ol' lazy sway of European life in January.

I spent a few hours in a little bar down the street from my hostel, sipping on a Jupile beer and writing in my journal. It was a pleasant afternoon, but I'm ready to leave Belgium.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to hop on a train to Amsterdam.

All is well. I think I'm beginning to get the hang of this Eurotrip thing. I feel much more at ease in subways and ordering food.

I'll be sure to check in again tomorrow and tell a little about the Netherlands.