Brussels, Part 1

Just got back from our weekend in Brussels.  Half the people we mentioned the trip to (who had been to Brussels) said "Oh, what a lovely city" and the other half said "Really, what about X instead?"  So apparently people either love or hate Brussels.  But we had never been there, and we are running out of places within a 2-3 hour train trip to visit.

We arrived about 4pm and just about all the sites close at 5, so we took the subway out to the Atomium (about 5 miles out of town) because it was open till 6.  The Atomium is an edifice (I really can't think of a more appropriate word) from the 1958 Brussels Worlds Fair.  It is a structure in the shape of an iron crystal (body centric cubic, for the science nerds among you), apparently to showcase the Belgian iron and steel industry of the time, both by the shape and that it was built of steel.  It's 9 spheres, each about the size of a room, with tubes connecting them.  You start by taking an elevator to the top for a 360° view, then head down and visit five of the other spheres for a bunch of exhibits.  Here is a picture of it as you approach

It apparently was in serious disrepair/shabbiness a few years ago, but it's been all shined up and made interesting to tourists.  There are other parts left over from the World's Fair, including a 1:25 scale model of the major landmarks of Europe (think Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa).  Very kitschy. It also includes a design museum that I believe is about 50s design, but it was closed by the time we got there..

The main exhibit is about the 1958 World's Fair and is mostly old, faded memorabilia from that time (record covers, books, photos).  The more interesting, temporary exhibit was about Rene Magritte, Belgium's most famous artist.  It was a series of interactive constructions that reproduced (and sort of explained, to the extent that anything by Magritte is explainable) some of his most famous paintings.

I couldn't resist the one where you got to be part of the frame

(Like my scarf?  I knit it myself).

And here is a view from one of the "atoms"

We stayed in the central part of town (near the Grand Place) in a nice, but ordinary, Hilton.  Brussels is a "weekday" sort of town, at least this time of year, so the rates were low.  For a two day trip, I think this is the best location to stay in, as you are close to all the "must see" sights.  For a longer visit, I think the St. Catherine neighborhood would be better, as it is a lovely residential neighborhood, somewhat away from the tourists.  We had dinner there Saturday night and thought it would be a much more congenial place to stay for anything other than sightseeing.

We ate well, using Rick Steve's guidebook to find restaurants.   I did my best to "eat Belgian".  The first night we shared a pot of mussels (are you legally allowed to visit Belgium without having mussels?)  -- a single pot is 2 kilos, which even allowing for the shells is a lot for two people --and I had a goat cheese salad, apparently a local specialty, as we saw it on other menus.  It was goat cheese on toast with honey and sliced apples and a bit of salad mix.  For lunch the next day I had a Belgian waffle, perfectly crisp with unsweetened chocolate poured over it.  I could eat those daily.  And for dinner I had a vol au vent (a fancy frenchified chicken pot pie with a puff pastry crust, which is apparently a Belgian dish, since it was on the regional specialties part of the menu).  I really wanted carbonnades des beouf (a flemish beer, onion and beef stew), as I have made this dish at home and wanted to see what the original tasted like, but it was going to be too heavy a dish.   I won't cover what Jay ate, as he avoided the specifically Belgian dishes -- he even wanted to go to an Italian restaurant the second night, but we couldn't get in.  No accounting for adventuresomeness.

See next post for the rest of the trip.