Brussels

Brussels is definitely not all about Belgian chocolates and waffles, I have discovered.

A vibrant little chocklit shop at the Grand Place

It is a city with diverse places of interests – museums, monuments, markets, gothic buildings, parks and palaces. There is endless variety of architecture you will encounter as you stroll around the streets; some are amazing, some are unattractive, some old, some very modern but never uninteresting.

There is just so much to see that spending merely the weekend in Brussels does not do it justice. I believe this city has not been getting as much attention as its European counterparts – Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Vienna, et al. A few of our friends pooh-poohed Brussels saying that there is nothing much to see and spending longer than two days would result in ‘pulling our hair out’, due to sheer boredom. I can vouch that that ignorant statement is farther away from the truth.

This was what we saw on Saturday:

Grand Place

The Grand Place is a beautiful square with elaborate baroque and gothic guild houses, including the striking Town Hall.

Mannekin Pis
This is a famous bronze sculpture of a little boy peeing in a fountain - weird Flemish humour? (Sorry, no pic!)

Galeries St Hubert

This is apparently the first shopping arcade in Europe. This glass-roofed arcade in the centre of town houses many cafes, eateries, high-end shops and theatres.

Palais de Justice

The Royal Palace

The Atomium

The Atomium represents an iron molecule’s nine atoms – magnified 165 billion times and it was built for the World Fair.

On Sunday:

The Royal Army and Military Museum
The museum displays real tanks, jets and planes that are now inoperative and offers an insight in armament and military technology. This was IK’s personal favourite.

Parc du Cinquantenaire

The park is dominated by the triple arch in the middle of the park. The Royal Museum of Art and History, the Royal Army and Military History Museum and Autoworld are all located near the arch.

Mini Europe

A perfect family destination; it is an outdoor exhibition of doll-sized replicas of Europe's most famous architectural sights, such as the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and the Parliament, leaning tower of Pisa and the Greek Parthenon.

Regrettably, there were a lot of places we had to give a miss due to time constraint, such as the Fine Arts Museum, the Chocolate Factory, the EU offices (we merely zoomed by the buildings) and Autoworld.

One thing I must mention is the very affordable and economical metro fares, unlike the exorbitantly priced London underground. Oh, and the Belgian waffles are scrummy too!