Saturday, December 8, 2012

Day 25: Celebrity Spotting

We woke first thing Monday morning (3rd December) to a tiny bit of snow. Unfortunately, half an hour later, it stopped, disappeared, and then proceeded to rain for the rest of the day. This was somewhat unfortunate because today was the day we planned to go to Brussels.

 Snow!

We did end up going but we left a little bit later than we originally planned. This kinda worked out ok because while we were wandering through the Christmas Markets (yes finally we found some that were 'open'), I heard a really strong Aussie accent say, "hey babe, that's what I need, one of those penguin things." I found this hilarious because not only was the accent so strong and screamed tourist, but the penguin thing was in reference to the things they have at ice skating rinks to help kids, or in this case, Australians. Oh did I mention there was a giant outdoor ice-skating rink set up at the markets? Anyway, I was laughing and Seh didn't hear the accent originally so she hung back a bit to overhear and the next thing I hear is Seh squeal my name and tell me it was Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. I turned around as Nicole and one of their daughters walked straight past me and then I looked straight at Keith who was trying to cheer up their youngest. He then walked past and caught up to Nicole. We did consider talking to them and asking for a photo but felt it was inappropriate because they had the girls with them and seemed to be having some difficulty with keeping them happy because they left soon after we saw them. They were so easily incognito because the cold means large coats and beanies, etc, so it was really only because I heard Keith's accent that we noticed them at all. Anyway, our celebrity spotting didn't quite end there.

 Brussels Christmas Markets

 Brussels is ready for Christmas :)

The main reason we were in Brussels was because we had concert tickets to see Matt Corby that night. The venue was at The Botanique which I believe has 4 different rooms for shows. There is also a bar and mini restaurant so we grabbed a very yummy dinner (with an impressive vegetarian selection) there before the show started and Matt walked past our table. It was lucky we planned to go in as soon as the doors opened because the show had sold out and the room really was very small. Everyone was packed in there but we managed to get a good little spot that we were happy with. I was really impressed with the show. Matt has come a long way since his days on Australian Idol and his voice is amazing. It's very mature and strong and can reach some amazing notes. There was no support band and he only played for an hour but for 11 Euros, I'm not complaining in the slightest. Quality over quantity won out for sure.

Matt Corby

 Matt and the band

The day also involved eating Belgium waffles with chocolate sauce, checking out an English language bookstore (you will be shocked to learn I didn't buy anything!), and doing a walk-by of the hostel we stayed in five years ago.

Waffles

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