Marci and I had a lovely anniversary trip to Brussels. The weather was maybe not so lovely, mostly cool and rainy, but it was still passable enough that we could enjoy the city. And of course, it was nice that we could just enjoy each other.

It was wonderful to just stroll down the cobbled streets and see what we could see along the way. To us, the visit didn't have the same sense of urgency that Rome or Paris would have, where it's like "We've got to see the Sistene Chapel," or, "We've got to see the Eiffel Tower" or whatever. We could see a section of Brussels' most celebrated landmark -- the Grand Place -- from our hotel room, so we didn't have to be in any terrible rush to see a bunch of other tourist attractions. We just took the city as it came to us, and there's really something to be said for that. In case you'd like to see some of the pictures from our adventures in Brussels, you can access a more complete collection in the Family Pictures section of the website...

Of everything that happened during our 28 hours in Brussels, however, I'm afraid that one of the most significant and most memorable experiences happened in our last two minutes -- when my backpack was stolen, just as the train to Amsterdam was about to arrive. One guy asked us a question about where to catch the next train to Midi Station, and while we were engaged with him an accomplice picked up the backpack and walked away with it. We noticed it within 10 seconds of the incident, but it was already too late. Grrr.

With the loss of my backpack, we lost our train tickets, our passports, my Dutch driver's license, my set of keys, and some other relatively minor personal affects -- so I can't imagine it will be all that great of a haul for the thieves, who are usually looking for cash or electronics... But it's a big hassle for us. Ah well. There's not much that can be done about it now.  It could have been a lot worse... And the train conductors and police officers were helpful in the face of our loss... And we got to spend a special weekend in Brussels... So we can count our blessings.