After a rather rushed train ride and a really heavily MSG-laced Chinese fast food mistake ... err ... meal, we're in Brussels. Tony found a great deal on a 5-star hotel, so we're living in luxurious accomodations. However, none of us have any idea what to do here, and Sumita's flu is like a pendulum, so for example right now she's in bed asleep. Tony and I did go to a quaint little French-themed bar where the bartender gave us his recommendations on the best Belgian beers, which he was right about, but not on what we could do in Brussels. So this morning we left the hotel and walked around randomly in the center of the city until we happened to see a museum of musical instruments, which was the best possible piece of luck. Although I'm not at all a museum person, I gotta say this museum simply blew me away. I even took so many pictures that the camera ran out of batteries, and of course we didn't bring the charger...

*** Pictures now uploaded to MySpace! Also here: http://www.konakkol.com/bmmi.html ***

Back to the museum. They gave us these wireless headsets that picked up music appropriate to the display you were standing in front of. So when you were in front of some old lutes they played lute music and as soon as you walked over to the old violins there was ancient violin music. A little annoying because the reception area was necessarily very small and it'd cut in and out as you walked around, but a great idea and neat technology.

I've been doing a non-scientific study of the women I've observed in the 3 European countries I've been to on this trip. In Holland, obviously, you've got mostly Dutch girls. And since I'm not even in Amsterdam, but this little city called Enschede (only the 13th largest city in the already-tiny country of Holland), most of the girls here are real born-and-raised Dutch. Apparently, there's even a dialect called "Twents" that is spoken in this district. You would expect that Dutch girls are all tall, blonde, and blue-eyed, but really the only part of that that's true is the blue-eyed part. Which is fine by me because I love blue eyes  But yeah, of course blonde is the norm. And everyone seems to be at least pleasing to the eyes, if not out-and-out hot.

Next up, Brussels. I didn't really know what to expect of Brussels. Really the only thing I knew about Belgium is that they make chocolate. So I was slightly surprised that Brussels is basically majority French girls, though being the seat of the EU there were a lot of foreiners, too. But it seemed that this part of Belgium is mainly French in composition. Dark Gaulic features, not too tall, you can just feel their French attitudes (pride? attitude? bitchiness? you take your pick) when you look at them. All of these characteristics, even the attitude, are attractive when you're looking at a girl, but perhaps not when you actually interact with them. I didn't really interact with anyone in the 2 days I was there, so that didn't really make a difference. They're still fun to look at

Finally, Vienna. I gotta say Vienna was the most surprising to me. I had come to the country thinking the since it was a German-speaking country, there are going to be a lot of German girls there (also gave me a lot of stereotypes on the food, culture, etc, all of which were marvelously, gloriously, and singularly debunked, but these are subjects for another time and another blog. back to women). Vienna is actually very close (1/2 hour) to Slovakia, which places it on the cusp of Eastern Europe. A lot of the people and culture there are Eastern European transplants (like the buddy I was staying there, who was Bosnian), and honestly in 3 days there, I think I met 2 Austrians. Everyone else was Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Dutch, Austrailian, Portuguese ... I even met a Salvadorean guy with a serious identity crisis.

Although I had a great time in Austria, I was pretty disappointed by the women. My buddy kept reminding me that a lot of the girls there are transplants, and also in Vienna, there are scads of tourists (like, erm, me ). Every once in a while, he'd point out a girl who he said was "definitely Viennese", and yes, there are definitely the hotties, but let me put it this way. After 3 days in Vienna, I got off the train in Holland and got whiplash in 10 seconds flat. Advantage: Holland.

Right before we left the museum, Tony and Sumita got into a fight and Sumita started feeling sicker (not necessarily in that order). It was decided that TOny would continue sightseeing and Sumita would take the baby to the hotel and get some rest. Since I wasn't about to abandon my sister when she wasn't feeling well AND had just gotten into a fight, I went with her back to the hotel room. As it turned out, it was a good thing I did, because I was able to entertain T4 (by playing a little trumpet, thus getting in some practice time too!) while Sumita took a much-needed tub bath.

After that, she (and T4) went to sleep. I couldn't keep on playing, so I decided to do a little sans-tourguide sightseeing of my own. I just left the hotel room, walked towards the bar we went to last night, and kept walking right by it. I ended up in a Moroccan/Arabic/international neighborhood, with lots of falafel joints, tagine restaurants, and all sorts of languages spoken on the streets (I know I heard some Spanish and German in addition to the Dutch and French, and a lot of signs were in Arabic).

Back at the hotel, Sumitony was SPM, and couldn't make up their collective minds on what to do (Sumita was definitely staying in, but was urging Tony & I to go out, which neither of us wanted to do). We watched some TV (thumbs way down) including the March of the Penguins in the original French (natch), and then with Sumitony both in bed, I decided to strike out again. So I left, ostensibly to find something to drink, and discovered the Brussels equivalent of Fifth Ave.

Bright lights, big city all the way. All the typical stores you see on Fifth Ave, lots of people (keep in mind it's 11pm now, albeit on a Saturday night), signs in English, an international crowd, the whole deal. Kind of fascinating that Brussels has a Fifth Ave (but why the hell wouldn't it?), but of course disgustingly touristy and why-the-hell-did-I-come-to-Belgium-to-see-this, too. So I veered off onto a side street and discovered this awesome block, pedestrian traffic only, with a whole bunch of restaurants (still touristy, menus in English, etc). I went right back into wanderlust mode and took some random turns and ended up in a total dead zone. I passed a strip club, with its requisite bouncers hanging around and cops making ther rounds, but other than that, dead. Maybe 15 minutes later, I suddenly hit a party zone. Lots of bars, and all the stores were open. I could finally buy a drink! I walked into a "Night Store" (which I assume means that it's open at night, what we'd call a bodega in NYC) and picked up an 8-pack of Maes beir. Before you get all excited, they're 250 mL bottles. But at 7.50 Euros, it's still a pretty Tony-friendly deal. Also, my conclusion after drinking 4 of them is that Maes is the Belgian Budweiser (puke).

So right after that I somehow ended up in a West African neighborhood. Still lots of action and bars and stuff, but mostly sub-Saharan Africans. And lots of men holding hands. Not sure if this is just typical French/African behaviour, but it did strike me as a little weird.

Now I'm back in the hotel. I'm so glad my hippocampus functions well :)

is a 12'x11' bare concrete room in Enshede, Holland.

Seriously. I just pulled out the horn to blow a bit last night, and even with a mute in, it made me sound like I was in Carnegie Hall. No joke. Now I wish I'd brought my laptop and audio interface and a kickass mic to record myself. In fact, since this magic reverb room happens to be in the apartment that my sister is renting, I may go home and send her some audio files and have her set up a speaker in one corner of the room and a mic at the opposite corner, record it, and send it back to me. Or just make another trip back. Like she said, a $400 round trip ticket is cheaper than renting out Carnegie Hall

Sometimes it concerns me that I don't ever need anything to occupy my time. Now, for example. I'm at the gate 3 hours early just sitting here. I'm thinking about how I should've brought my cellphone, which I left at home because I figured I wouldn't be able to use it overseas anyways, or my laptop, which I deemed too bulky to carry just on the off chance that I'd want to write some music or play a track off of it ... or even that I should go buy a trashy novel or book of sudokus or something. But in reality, I'm perfectly content to sit here, occupied by my own thoughts. (Sure, I'm blogging now, but for example as I wrote the first sentence I paused, got lost in my thoughts for 10 minutes, then realized I should motivate myself to finish this.)

I've always been this way. One of Mom's favorite stories is how I used to keep myself entertained for hours with nothing but a piece of string. These days I don't even need the string. But is this a sign of mental laziness? Perhaps simple-mindedness (in the "I am stupid" sense)? This is my concern. I definitely feel that I've become stupider and mentally lazier since quitting grad school, but that's a subject for another blog...

But see, here's a weird paradox. When I'm at a party or a show or something, I like to be overstimulated. One of my favorite parties in NYC is Rubulad (which I believe is actually going on right now), a monthly underground party in a huge 3-floor loft space with DJs, bands, drugs, decadence, everyone dresses up (and down) in outrageous costumes and gear, so there's lots of visual, aural, even aural stimulation. But, the reason I like it so much is because I can stand there and just soak it all up, I don't have to actually DO anything, like dance or talk to people or anything. So I guess it does make sense.

I went and created a MySpace page for this new project ... Please visit us, listen to our tunzez, and add us as a friend!!

http://www.myspace.com/thiswayoutnyc