I cannot go another minute in life withot publicly announcing that Taco Hunt '15 has officially come to an end. We found the glorious species in Amsterdam and I cannot lie when I say they were amazing and beautiful and everything you could ever ask for in a taco. They were made just for us by Lucas, the wonderful young gentleman from Spain. So thank you, Lucas, for bringing such fulfillment to two weary travelers. 

Those little guys right there are what dreams are made of. 

I hope that some of you will be able to sleep a little more sound now knowing that the hunt has ended. For now. Alright- city business and catching-up-ness. We have been in Amsterdam for a few days and in Brussels for a few days now as well. 

Amsterdam- after a very long day of traveling, we made it in Wednesday evening and had an amazing dinner while we waited for the owner of our apartment to find us. It was a little hit or miss for a while, but we finally found each other and all was well. I have to say that Amsterdam was pretty awesome. I loved the canals and the vibrance of the city and the people were some of the nicest we have encountered anywhere. You do have to look out for bikes though, we had many near death encounters with bikers. I think the bikes travel faster than vehicles. No lie. They're like some special supersonic Flash bikes only ridden in Amsterdam. Also, I think there is a height requirement in order to live in Asmterdam. No lie. I feel confident in saying that the average height was 5'9. Lucky for me, that's just my height. 

Of course Amsterdam is home to Heineken beer, so we toured the original brewery. It's called the "Heineken Experience" and it was just that- an experience. So you go through the original brewery and see all those things which was fun, but then you enter all these other rooms with techno music and black lights and giant light brights and foosball and video games and music videos. It's like rooms and rooms of ongoing raves. The one time I needed my glow sticks..

When you get to end it's the tasting room, which of course was another party by itself. I may or may not have told the ticket guy that my birthday is coming up and got extra drinks out of it. Life's a party, rock your body. 

So Heineken was super fun. 

After we left the brewery there was a canal tour portion to the experience. We were excited because canals are fun. 

We had some phenomenal Dutch pancakes-

There's bananas inside the actual pancake itself. So on point. 

Then I climbed on some letters-

and we watched a break dancing show in front of said letters

All attempts to visit the Anne Frank House were shot down because they were sold out, which I'll get over. Just gives a reason for me to return. Aside from our various activities in Amsterdam, we actually did some learning. We learned that before they had numbers for addresses, people would draw the roof of their building on the mail and that's how the mail man/woman would know where to deliver the mail too. For some reason I'm on the fence as to whether this is true or not, but we will go with it. 

We also learned that the buildings were built with a slight forward tilt so when people moved in and out, it was a pinch easier to hoist things up and down the building. BECAUSE- the buildings there are super skinny BECAUSE people used to pay property tax based on the width of their home. I knew that before we got there though- House Hunters International: educating the world on property taxes one country at a time. 

So that was Amsterdam and it was wonderful. We got all up, in and around that place and had some of the best food of the trip. The Dutch know how to eat. For real though. 

Friday we headed to Brussels and have been here since. Again, more amazing food thus far and of course-beer. You all know that I am living inside of a dream right now and I never want to leave. Yesterday we took a craft beer tour all around the city and it took about 4 hours but it was so wonderful. We learned so much. One of the best parts of the trip- hands down. I can't even explain how much fun it was. We went to the oldest bar in Belgium and then one of the oldest breweries. This brewery does natural fermentation which means they don't add yeast. It attracts the natural yeast in the air and then ferments for three years in barrels. The result is called Lambic. Then things are added to the lambic to make other beers. It was absolutely fascinating. 

That's our beer bro, Cedric. He was great and check out that stache. We met a couple that's from California but lives in Germany now and ended up having dinner with them and then going out after that, so Saturday was a good day all around for Brussels. You get a thumbs up, Saturday. 

Oh, I almost forgot- there were waffles of course. Lots of waffles.

and fries, but for some reason no picture was taken of the fries. I have a few theories on why, but that's neither here nor there. 

This morning we went to the Marché de Midi, which is the largest market I have been to anywhere in the world. It was absolutely huge. It was everything from food to clothes to electronics- anything you might need. EXCEPT banana socks. Trust me, I looked. Not a one to be found. 

I did find this amazing Brat with andalouse sauce and sautéed onions, so. I guess that eases the pain of no banana socks. 

Right now we are headed to Bruges for the day because it's Sunday Funday and we do what we want. I intended for this to be a short post with mostly pictures because the last few have been absolutely ridiculous in length and I am aware of that. Stop hating me right this second. This one was manageable, right?

Alright- go and do and be all you persons. I'm going to continue to live this dream right in the middle of all of my favorite beers and the rich history of brewing. Dreams- All. Of. Dreams.