Why walking is better

In my first email, I gave a list of things I had missed about living in Brussels. One of the items on the list was finding that I could walk most places. On Sunday, after spending the afternoon downtown (we took advantage of Megan's last Sunday here to do the touristy hop-on, hop-off bus tour of Brussels) I decided I wanted to try walking home from downtown (it's about 5-6 miles away). I probably walked four of the miles, taking the bus during a stretch in the middle, and found that I could experience some aspects of Brussels only by walking through it. Like the smells from the restaurants and patisseries (bakeries). Only if I was walking past them could I smell the delicious aroma settling near the Thai restaurant on the route or the fresh bread baking a few blocks down. Or the sound of the music playing from the houses or apartment buildings and reaching my ears down below. Or the nice grocer who greeted me as I walked past. Or the sweet old man standing on his porch who returned my wave with a broad smile. *Sigh. My feet may have been a little sore when I returned home, but I had never felt more refreshed.