i asked at reception if there were any good restaurant nearby the hotel i'm staying in. the receptionist said what sort, and i said "i dunno, mcdonalds or something".

she looked me in the eyes and said accusingly "are you american ?".

anyway, i ended up going to a nice restaurant as you can see from the food i got.

it seems it's the custom in Belgian for late comers to restaurants to say hello to people who are already in the restaurant eating.

but it seems it's NOT the custom to shout goodbye to people as they leave from your table.

look at this fantastic biscuit box and the lovely profitable-tolls.