After my awesome night at the Delirium bar in Brussels, where they claim to have 2004 available beers (this number is terribly over inflated, but they still have more than you can imagine) it was back to the hotel. Luckily I'd met an awesome couple from San Francisco who were also enjoying the fruits of belgian farmers and laborers in fermented form. They were staying in a hotel close to my own and so we three set off back toward our respective hotels. Along the way I saw some guys running around actin' a fool, but it was 3 AM, so I decided to join in. These guys were from DRC (not republic of the congo which is the home of at least one of cologne's lesbians) but the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I wondered what they were doing in Belgium, given Belgium's less than spectacular recent history with that region of the world, but nonetheless, they were running around like idiots, and at least half a dozen brilliantly good, highly alcoholic beers, and a pari of new friends later, I decided that it was a good idea for me to also join in the fun! So I made a joke about the one guy who tripped and allowed his pursuers to catch him. I think I said something to the effect of "He's not ethiopian, he's slow." Although it's possible I said "he's retarded." They thought that was funny. Maybe it's because I called the guy who could clearly kick my ass retarded, or maybe because they were all drunk too, or maybe because I'm retarded. Any way you look at it, fun is sure to happen next!

So they saw a nice american girl who was clearly not afraid of them and they flirted with her a bit, she smacked their asses and made more jokes about them, although in english, so I'm not sure they were understood. We 8 walked and talked for a bit and then alas we all parted ways. The Congolese to the right, the couple to the left, and myself straight ahead. I got to the hotel around 3:30 AM and there was a guy standing outside saying "it's blocked." He was saying this in French, and my french is extremely limited, so I asked him what was happening. His English is extremely limited and he told he "it's no possible. Blocked." He was the hotel night attendant and had managed to lock himself out. I asked where he was from and he said algeria, so I had to fumble badly through arabic and french to procure what had happened. In the meantime a couple from Spain came along, and while they claim to speak english, I think they only understand english. Basically their english is about twice as good as the normal chicagoan's spanish. They were, of course, really upset by the situation. I had to hear about how in Spain this situation would have been rectified quickly, etc.
It was not very fun.

Basically what had happened was that the night attendant was careless, took out some garbage and the sliding doors shut behind him. Of course, from the hours of 10PM-6AM those doors lock automatically. This dude is a total newb. Anyway, I got tired of hearing him trying to call people in the middle of the night and the spaniards (rightly) complaining. I was not really in the mood for conversation as I wanted water and sleep. I couldn't get water, as everything was closed, and I had no bathroom access, so the best I could do was sleep. So I found a nice little spot between two cars parked in the closest parking lot, put my jacket down on the concrete and drifted off to "paradise." I slept about an hour, which is how long I was told it would take for someone to show up. Of course, having dealt with middle easterners and arabs a lot during my life, I knew that was just a number given to us to placate us and assuage us. And so it was, 5:30 in the morning, still locked out. The sun was already coming up and so I took a gander at the nice quiet streets of brussels near my hotel. Finally at 5:55AM I got into the hotel, someone inside had awoken and came downstairs and so we four were let in. I got to bed at 6. Woke up at noon. I got no apology and compensation at all, just an explanation in french that the night attendant had locked himself out. Lame. But, for what it's worth, the hotel was cheap, in a great location, and I'd probably stay there again, but would be a bit more cautious when returning.