Brussels, Tuesday

Tuesday was entirely a work day, and I had no time for myself. We took a cab to the NATO headquarters, and wait in the cold for about 30 minutes waiting for an escort – somehow our security paperwork did not get processed, and we did not have a pass.

Once inside, the conference center (where all the working group work is held) was very new, very impressive and huge. Our room was moderately sized (probably 9 x 14 meters), with a large oval table in the middle, and chairs around the outside. The table had one seat per country (actually 2 for the US, for some reason) (with official looking tags in English and French), and a microphone and headset for every seat (complete with little red lights to indicate who is speaking). This is where the delegation’s primary representative sits and talks. The seats on the outside had headsets only. There was a large windowed area that would normally hold French and English translators (the windows were labeled), but none were present nor needed, as everyone spoke wonderful English with multicolored accents.

The meeting itself was uneventful and not particularly exciting, so I will skip the details.

I got back to my room at 5:45, slept for 30 minutes, chatted a bit with home, and then went to social event number one – beer (I drank wine…) at the Royal Lion. This went until 8 pm, and then was followed by a (god, I wish I knew), four course dinner at “The Belgium Mussel” – which ran until 11:30 pm. Tasty food – champagne, something rather like shrimp scampi for an appetizer, a “fish trio” for the main course, chocolate mousse for desert, and more red wine than I will own up to. I stumbled my way back to my hotel – a rather typical French experience, all told. For some reason when I remember Paris, I remember always feeling this way after meals.