Who the hell goes to Belgium?

I'm going for tapas later (bear with me I'll get back to the title in a bit). Now there's something about tapas I can't quite put my finger on. I mean on the face of it there is nothing bad about tapas, it's tasty, I don't mind eating with my hands and no matter what any other European country might say Spain has the best sausages and hams in the world (chorizo is the way of the future). However I kind of feel bad for going out for tapas because it seems sort of... posh. Tapas is what people in London eat. Someone asked me why I was eating tapas tonight and my only excuse was that it was half price. Well that and that I have no food to cook and there's no point buying any if I'm going to Belgium tomorrow (see I said I'd get back to that).

Yes tomorrow I am off on way to Belgium, by way of Leeds and Wild Beasts, for my Brother's stag weekend. I am missing quite a lot of stuff for this so I have had to explain to a lot of people where I was going. "I'm off to Belgium for a few days" I say. "Who the hell goes to Belgium?" they incredulously reply. I sort of link that back to my first thing about tapas. There is nothing all that wrong with Belgium, you could object to it being an artificial construct of 19th century diplomacy I suppose, but lets be honest that's a fairly abstract point to make and I think most of the 10,666,866 Belgians are fairly happy with Belgium so why shouldn't I be?

But much like tapas I can't just say: well why not go to Belgium? I come up with excuses. "Well it's my Brother's stag do" I say, "I have to go to Belgium". Or I say "Belgium is famous for it's beer and well you know how much I like beer!" I honestly have no idea why I do this. Why is there a stigma attached to Belgium? Well no more! I'm going to prove you all wrong, I am going to go to Belgium and I am going to enjoy it and I will tell you all how great it is. I will restore Belgium's position as a place that it is alright to go to, and maybe I will eat some tapas while I am there.

P.S. My Grandad lived in Belgium when he was a kid and he turned out alright.