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Where can you find some of the world's best chocolate?

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Cool jazz.

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And one of the most beautiful central squares in the world.

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It's all in Brussels, Belgium's capital city,

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oozing with international flavor, hip shops, European cafes,

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and historic architecture.

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We're diving in with a local guide and a top chocolatier

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to discover some of the not-to-miss sites and experiences

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in Brussels, including the Grand Place.

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Brussels annual jazz weekend, an addictive chocolate workshop.

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You can call it orgasmic chocolate. It's hazelnut cream 

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with Piemonte hazelnuts.

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And more, on this episode of The Travels with Darley Podcast,

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taking you traveling with the locals

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to experience great food, culture, history, architecture,

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and what makes places just so darn interesting.

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A great way to get an introduction to Brussels

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is by taking a walking tour.

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Long time resident and local tour guide, Sasha Seggai,

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meets me in Brussels, Upper Town, where

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the Royal Palace and many government buildings are situated.

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He's walking me to one of the biggest attractions

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for travelers in Brussels.

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Hey, you really seem to be different.

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The Upper Town and the Lower Town,

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the Upper Town is where the official institutions are

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and also museums.

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The Lower Town is with many bars and narrow streets,

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people working.

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Since Brussels is existing, you can say, it is like this.

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We walk into the Lower Town to admire the Grand Place,

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the main square, and gathering place in Brussels.

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It's teeming with tourists, with many like me getting

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a bit dizzy.

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My head swivels round and round admiring

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the opulent Baroque Guildhalls and edifices.

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Sasha, this really is a beautiful square.

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So we need to thank the French for this beautiful square,

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although the French did not build it,

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but the French did destroy everything here.

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It was a long time ago.

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It was in 1695.

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And if you look on the façades, prints us over there,

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you can see it took only two years to rebuild

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the house over there, many houses, where

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we build in a very short time.

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It was a sunken, you remember, maybe, Louis de Foure Thien.

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Louis XIV, he's sent this Marshall

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the Mata-Shal de Villeau, what a Brussels.

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And march on the Villeau, he did come with his cannons.

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And he put his cannons on the hill not so far from here.

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And he took City Hall Tower, and he missed his target,

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with all the raspers destroyed.

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You know, it were the guilds who did

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we build the square, the corporations.

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They wanted to show that they still were important.

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They wanted to show their prestigious, but actually,

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they actually did lose a lot of money.

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Because in those days, it was already the free market economy

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that was developing.

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And so the guilds, they didn't have much to say anymore.

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One of the houses is still the guild house today, you can say.

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And that's the house where the Belgian beer brewer

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was still meet each other.

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It's written on the façades, right?

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So it's the house with a golden statue on the top.

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In Belgium, we never want to have the same façades our neighbors.

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We are very individualistic.

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It's also easy to find your home back in Belgium

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if you drink with me.

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There is a lot of beer here.

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Yeah, definitely.

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And that's always, almost all the time,

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you see many people here.

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Although you see many, many tourists,

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the local people also like to come just to the square,

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to feel like this is really something exceptional

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to have here in Brussels.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Sasha departs to lead a tour, but before he goes,

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he tells me some places I should check out

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that are close to the Grand Place, which I can now

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recommend also to you.

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I read through Rue des Bouchers, Brussels Restaurant

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Row, to check out Chez Leon

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It's been welcoming locals and travelers

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alike for over 100 years.

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The restaurant's specialty is mussels and frites.

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If you're walking in this area, you

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might also want to stop to see the Manneken Pis Fountain.

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You kind of have to.

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A statue of a boy urinating.

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It's a symbol of Brussels, and depending

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on the time of year, may be adorned with a costume.

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After lots of city walking, I'm having an afternoon treat,

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getting an introduction to the diversity of Belgian chocolate

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with Laurent Gerbaud, a top chocolatier.

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In his workshop in Cafe in Brussels,

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Gerbaud invites the public to learn about and help

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make a variety of chocolates during chocolate workshops.

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One of his personal specialties, his chocolate,

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accented with spices, dried fruits, and nuts,

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to combine salty and sweet flavors.

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It smells so good in here.

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And it looks so good.

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There's so much chocolate.

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Yeah, I always try to mix just two ingredients.

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One chocolate, one fruit, or one chocolate, one spice.

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I hate fusion cuisine in the chocolate.

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It's a total mess because you have two.

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You're a purist.

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No, it's just that if there are too many ingredients,

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in the chocolate, you don't taste the chocolate anymore.

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I like to make it very simple and addictive.

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So you have one, you need another one.

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Well, I will definitely have more than one, you know.

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What should we try first?

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The blend of the house.

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We call them aromatic cacao.

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So this one is made from cocoa beans from Madagascar,

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Ecuador and Peru.

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So it's Trinitario and Cacao National Genotypes.

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They're very, very, very fruity, very powerful,

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very long lasting taste.

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And once you're used to this, it's like going from cheap,

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-tasting vinegar to very expensive wine

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with a fantastic taste.

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So this is more or less the comparison you could do.

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So my only purpose is to get you addicted to my taste.

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And then you never go any other places.

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So you're going to spoil me with amazing, expensive chocolate.

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Yes.

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And I'll be calling and getting more chocolate.

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I'm sorry for you.

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I'm so sorry.

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I like it.

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All right.

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Mmm, that's some good chocolate.

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It has a really, really rich flavor.

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Yeah, and there's nothing added.

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It's really pure cacao.

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Mm-hmm.

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Very good.

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I'm going to be more of this one.

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All right.

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What should we try next?

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It's a Persian cranberry.

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And you must first take off one berry.

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You chew it.

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And with the saliva, you will rehydrate it.

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So it's only that time that you have the taste.

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And then you take the chocolate.

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It's a little tart, a little sweet.

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It's really good.

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Hello.

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The last one to try, you can call it orgasmic chocolate.

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Anis and nut cream with piment and anis and nut.

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Mmm.

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It's a hazelnut explosion.

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Yes.

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And it's very long lasting.

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Also, it's like one minute, two minutes.

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Mmm, that's my favorite.

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Great.

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So far.

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But I have to explore.

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Yeah, we go to the shop.

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Yeah.

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The shop is dangerous territory, but a great place

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to buy gift items for friends back home.

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Gerbaud is one of just a few chocolate tears that

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offer hands-on experiences with chocolate in Brussels.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Brussels is a musical city.

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And you can find jazz pretty much year-round

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with bigger events and festivals in the winter and in the spring,

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like Brussels Jazz Weekend, one of the capital's biggest

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open-air festivals.

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There's music throughout the city, including lots of free events

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and performances, like the one I'm experiencing back in the

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ground-plus.

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It's magical when you can combine awesome food with architecture,

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culture, and history in one vacation.

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In my time in Brussels, though it was a work trip filming

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for my TV series Travels with Darley and taping for this

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podcast, it sure was a lot of fun.

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Thanks for joining me on another adventure with locals as

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the guide on the Travels with Darley Podcast,

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taking you around the world and back again home.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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(Music)