I think I get it now.

Today I want to start by saying, my first impression here was not a good one, but today we found out the reason the city is such a filthy sty is because there has been a garbage strike for the last three weeks. I couldn't understand why people liked it so much here. So, now as the trash slowle disappears it certainly has made a difference. We found this out while we were on our boat excursion for the trip, taking the hop on hop off museum boat. First stop for the day was the Rembrandt house. This is a recreation of the home as he lived in it using sketches and auction records from when he was evicted. I was most impressed that they still had auction records from the 1630's. It was worth the price of admission just to see some of the cabinetry. As you would imagine it is also full of lesser paintings and studies. After that we meandered around and then stopped a cafe with seating on a bridge and I got a Grolsch, which was fine but apparently Dutch beer isn't any better from the source. Our guide on the boat was not particularly kind to the home town Heineken as we passed by either. We then continued to stroll through the area until it was time to catch the next leg of our boat ride, around to the Anne Frank Museum. We had mixed feelings about going here and introducing such a soul crushing downer into our vacation but realized we owed it to ourselves to do it. It is every bit as devastating as I had imagined. I will not dwell on it here. After leaving we were both in need of a drink. We decided we would make our way back toward The Dam and if nothing caught our eye we would end up back at WF. On the way we ducked into an alley and stumbled upon In da Wildeman. A bar I had on my to do list for its selection of beer. The place was mostly empty, which was great because it gave us time to chat with the lovely bar maid about what we should have. The Mrs. decided to be brave and ordered a Mort Subite Cherry and I went for a Belgian called Floreffe Rousse. It was sweet and malty and very tasty. The cherry was sweet and sweet. Deciding to hang out a bit among the ancient bottles and alcoholics I asked our hostess about food options and we decided on a trappist cheese with crackers and a cheese and chutney pie. The cheese was amazing and the pie was good, but it was more like a baked Brie with chutney on the side. For a second round I had 't Volen which was bready with a hint of fruit. From there we moved on to WF for some Jenever action. I had a taste of the Rogge, which is a rye jenever. It was very harsh. So, I went back for some more Superior. While there we had a great conversation with the bartender and a coule of the regulars as we watched him pour a mixed drink in a jenever glass that was 1 1/2 out of the collection of flavored liquors and bitters. We informed them of the amazing world of bitters that lay out side their borders and watched their eyes light up. The bartender pointed us in the direction of a good bar for beer and with a couple of souvenirs we were on our way. Now pointed toward the Luxembourg cafe we dodged the people in The Dam and made our way up to the Leidesplein. Finding the cafe we swung in for a sit some people watching mostly so I could finally get an Amstel Gold. It was fine, basically, mass produced 8% abv beer. It did not suffer from the bitterness evident in the Heineken and Grolsch. Moving on for some dinner we found a nice little place called De Saloon. It was definitely more of a local place. For dinner I had a fillet with fried onions on top and The Mrs. opted for the burger with bacon egg and cheese. I think it about killed her. The steak was a typical brasserie steak, cooked adequately but not tough. My beer with dinner was a LaChouffe. A classic Belgian that we can get in the states but really suited my fancy last night and the freshness was definitely evident. This bodes well for Brussels. Speaking of which I am actually finishing this post as I sit there. Hopefully I can get caught up tomorrow but i'm having battery issues again so, see you soon.