My original plans for Brussels were:  Get Starbucks, check into my hotel, go to the Atomium, come back and have a nice quiet night in my room to recover  from Groezrock.  Then I could fully start the vacation portion of this trip well rested.

Yesterday, I had taken my camera out to use it for the first time this trip.  I discover that the LCD screen on my camera was cracked.  Are you kidding me?   We can probably assume this happened during the flight of death with the SCREAMING kid.   Oh, did you miss that rant?  Here you go.

But I will take the blame for this one.  It is the second time I have done this.  The last time was just in September.  So this seems to be new recurring problem in my life.  Hello idiot, buy a camera case.  So I now have to buy a new camera.  Oh how I did not want to do this at all.   I don’t like buying anything without insane amounts of research.  I don’t like spending money on new things when I can fix the old things for under ten bucks. I don’t even want a new camera at all.  I LOVE my camera. This was going to be a very painful purchase.

So anyway, I woke up in Geel, packed my stuff and made my way to Brussels Centrale.   Then I attempt to go to my hotel, which is an eight minute walk according to Google.  Well remember, I clearly do not know how to read a map.  So an hour later, I end up in a cab that is completely ripping me off but I no longer care.  10 euro.  The best part is that once I get here, I notice two things.  One:  I was in this exact spot last year, lost.  Two: The casino that I was looking for last year (and never found) is across the street from my hotel.  Half a block away, I see the spot where I had given up trying.

So now I have “LEARN HOW TO READ A MAP YOU MORON” underneath “BUY A CAMERA CASE YOU IDIOT” on my list of things to do.

I check in.  I asked the woman at reception where I could go and get a camera.   Oh.  Everything is closed on Sundays.  You don’t say.  I decide to go out for a bit.  I am no longer going to the Atomium because I do not want to do this without a camera.  It is not like I am never going to be back.  I will likely be in Belgium at least once a year, every year until I die.  Since I am never going to die, I will have plenty of chances in the future.

I manage to find a shop that is open and charges me way too much for a crappy camera.  Much like the taxi, I am more than happy to overpay for it.  I go back to my room and play with it.  It starts causing me grief right off the bat.  It keeps telling me to format memory cards.  I have five, including the brand new one I bought with the camera JUST IN CASE something went wrong with my American purchased cards.  It keeps asking me to format them.  I keep telling it to go for it.  It keeps ignoring me and telling me to format them.  I feel like I am talking to one of the many idiots at my job who make me want to travel forever so that I do not ever again have to  know a life where they exist.

I finally get everything sorted out and I am done for now.  I am going to bed.  At 4:00 in the afternoon, on my vacation that I waited so long to be on.  Yes, yes I am.  You can’t stop me.  I’d like to see you try.

I woke up around 7:00 pm and really wanted to stay in bed until morning.  I have not had any real sleep since arriving here and I arrived exhausted.  I force myself to get up and at the very least  go find the tram station so I am not running around like a maniac tomorrow morning looking for it.

I am back in bed around 10.  Tomorrow is now the new official start of my vacation.  I will take Thalys to Paris.

You might note that despite having bought a new camera during this post, I don’t have any pictures to post.  Well you are wrong.  See?  Two obligatory casino pictures coming your way.