In Belgium needing to use the bathroom

Well here is an update about the last 24 hours. We had a good meeting in Amsterdam. Before I left, I was talking with my dad and he said that you need to be careful because everyone is intrested in US politics and they do not like George Bush so be on your toes. I said sure then and went on my way. Well in our 1st meeting the 1st two questions were 1) How is the economy and 2) who are you voting for? Well there goes that plan. I dodge the question as best I can and he seemed to be happy with my answer so that was another bullet dodged.
So once we are done with the meting, we take the train from Amsterdam airport to Lille, France. That means we have to go through Belgium. Even better we have to change trains in Belgium. So we get off the train and I need to use the bathroom. After much searching we find a bathroom but it costs money to use the bathroom. What kind of crap is that? Is that insane? Had I really had to go I probably would have found a corner or something because I am not paying for something I cannot prevent. That is unreal. It is like paying for every breath. Well I could hold it and went on the next train which made everything very nice. Also, in speaking with people sometimes when you pay to use the bathroom, they give you only a certain amount of toilet paper. Now that is down right insane. Holy cow.
So we were on the high speed train and from Amsterdam to Belgium it was not very fast but from Belgium to France it was very fast. I would say it is the fastest that I have ever been on land. I think they said it was about 200 K an hour. Wow. So we arrive in Lille and life is good.
Lille is a really cool town. It is very nice and very pretty. The city center is huge. It is unreal how big it is. So we had a good time there and it was awesome. It must not have been too damaged during the war because there are so many nice old buildings there. As you could guess when we went out for dinner I forgot my camera so that is a total bummer. So no photos of the town.
At dinner it was awesome, we were sitting in the American section. I say this because there was a guy who was I think right of the plane talking with the most stereotypical Frenchman. The Frenchman had no expression on his face and looked like someone was reading the phone book to him. Well our waiter was amazing. He was this little Frenchman how had like a 3 Musketeers facial hair thing going on and looked right out of central casting. It was awesome. I had some lamb because they said it was very good here. Because Lille is below sea-level the grass is salty and it makes the lamb extra tasty. Alcide was the name of the place and it is worth your time if you are Lille. Do not order the Steak Tartar because it looks like a huge plate of ground beef, I do not know how they eat it (and I like beef). I look forward to you all and as always MORE TO COME.

Peace out,
Kirk