Brussels

So here come my Brussels impressions. Please check out during the following days; I'll write this post bit by bit... Completed! 14th Sept.

Wednesday, 5th September
I left my flat in the morning going to the station in Siegen by train. It soon turns out that I better should have taken the bus. The free car park which had been completely empty last time was crammed with cars. Mmh, maybe because last time I parked my car there was a holiday? Anyway I had to find a place to park my car soon because otherwise I would have missed the train. Therefore, I ended up in the multi-story car park. A bit expensive but well... the first bit of my travel had been managed and I could start to relax. Only the journey to Cologne took me ages. From there went a fast train to Brussels (please don't tell my colleagues at work I went in a TGV which is made my our competition;-).

I arrived in Brussels at Gare du Midi from where I continued to a metro station close to Camilla's workplace. Camilla is a good friend of mine who studied with me at Staffordshire University. I said hi to her, left my bag at her office and started my first tour in Brussels. It was through the modern "European" quarter. I wouldn't go as far as calling it ugly but all the modern buildings make it appear quite cold. Anyway, I found it quite interesting to have a look at the places I had only known from the news.

The picture on the left shows a piece of the Berlin Wall in front of one of the buildings of the European parliament. The one below I took at Place du Luxembourg. In the back you see the parliament buildings and the Gare du Luxembourg. The station has been moved below ground now.



Thursday, 6th September
That day I did my big tour through the city of Brussels. I started at the Belgian Parliament, crossed the Brussels Park...


...and went to the Belgian Royal Palace...


...and the Place Royale...


From there I passed the Museum of Musical Instruments (MIM), one of the most beautiful Jugendstil buildings in Brussels...


...before I went through Albertine Park and the lower part of the city...


At Place d'Espagne I went halfway through the Royal Galleries and then turned to Rue de Bouchers which is a street with one restaurant next to the other...


Dana told me that they are quite expensive but a lot of tourists go there anyway.

I continued my tour to Theatre de la Monnaie. The name made me think of "Mel Brook's crazy history of the world" (Le Claude de Monnaie...). Then I went along Rue Neuve a bit which is a big shopping street and which didn't really fascinate me. I also entered the Passage du Nord because it was raining a bit but fortunately it stopped soon.

So I could go to the Place des Martyrs which is quite a cold square...


My next stops were Place de Brouckere,...


Saint-Jean Baptiste au Beguinage...


and Sainte Catherine...


Close to that church there is the former fish market and there even used to be a harbor. What is left of that are many fish restaurants...


The Stock Exchange is quite an impressing building...


...and Dana told me later that it is a famous place to meet for people who don't know Brussels very well.

Because everybody knows about Manneken Pis in Brussels I even went there but I don't understand why it is so famous. A 30cm statue of a peeing boy?! Never mind: the tourists love it...


The real highlight of the day was Grand Place with all its ancient buildings (guildhouse, townhall...)...


...and the Cathedral...


After that tour I wanted to go to the Museum of Musical Instruments because I was really curious about it but I had to find out that I was already too late and that they closed at 5pm.

I went to Brussels Park close by to sit down and relax a bit including thinking about what to do with the rest of the day. In the park I met an Australian guy who asked me if I was Australian because of my Kangaroos. Well, what he actually asked was "You're Strain?" and I didn't understand the first time. So I guess that already answered his question.

I decided to do the little rest of my printed-out tour which meant going to Place Louise by metro. Then I went along Avenue Louise, turned round to go the the Palace of Justice which I found a very impressing building, too. Unfortunately everything in Brussels seems to be under construction...


From the Palace you can take a lift down to Quartier des Marolles...


where you can find shops over shops with antique stuff.

Friday, 7th September
I already wrote that the day before I couldn't go to the Museum of Musical Instruments any more. So that day became my "Museum Day" because I went to 2 museums the same day. Something I usually would try to avoid...

In the morning I went to the Museum of Musical Instruments (MIM) and this time they let me in. Even as a student although I couldn't show any student card. It must be because I was dressed so student-like. BTW, that's a thing I observed in Brussels that most people are dressed very neatly. In the museum you get a set of earphones but a very sophisticated one. You don't have to look for the numbers on the vitrines and then enter it and wait until the thingy begins to play. It automatically starts to play music of the instrument you get close to. No explanations, only music!

I liked the ground floor very much because that's where they explain a lot about how instruments work, which different ways there are to produce a sound and how it can be altered. For example, both pianos, violins and guitars are string instruments but it makes a difference if you play the string with a hammer, a bow or your hand. And the material is very important, too (glass/nylon strings etc.). On a computer you can try everything out which I found just great! (I take into account that maybe not everybody will share my enthusiasm...;-)

After lunch I went to the Arc de Triomphe in Cinquantenaire Park by metro...


Around the arch there are 3 different museums: a military museum, a museum of history and arts as well as Autoworld. I couldn't decide weather to go to the military or history museum so I decided to watch the cars in Autoworld...


At 4pm I met with Dana at the arch and she took me to the city again in her own little car (not without some complaints about the Brussels way of driving). She took me to some places I otherwise would have missed like Manneken Pis' female equivalent...


...or a building which almost does not exist, except for the facade. It's really amazing what effort they make to support the facade. I didn't really understand why they do it but Camilla told me later it is quite historical and they didn't get the permission to tear it down. On the following pic you can see part of it although I tood the pic because of the cartoon...


Later we went to Place du Luxembourg where everybody working in Brussels seems to meet after work on Friday. That's where we met Camilla, her work colleagues, some of her friends, her work colleagues' friends, Dana's former work colleague etc.


Dana left relatively early ("I don't like not being drunk.") and after a very long decision process the rest of the little group went towards Grand Place to a Cuban bar and later to a place where they have beer glasses like these...


...and everybody danced on the tables at some point.


Saturday, 8th September
Maybe you can imagine that we didn't get up too early on Saturday. But there was still enough time to enjoy the rest of the day.

Camilla and I first went to the Basilica which is a bit outside the city centre. It's quite an impressive building although I couldn't get rid of the feeling that there is a bit too much of everything...

There was also a Leonardo-Da-Vinci exhibition but we didn't go because the best part was still to come:

The Atomium...


Outside there was a band playing...


You can go up to the top sphere of the Atomium with an elevator. The view could have been better but it was nice anyway...


There is also a restaurant where you can spend a fortune on a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.

To see the other spheres, you have to go down again with the elevator and then take the escalator to one of the lower spheres. You only can visit 4 of them and there is a little exhipition about the history of the Atomium, there are some crazy pieces of arts, a snackbar and a place for children to play. It's worth seeing!


We went back with the tram which was a nice change because you can see a lot more if you go above ground. On our return we visited Camilla's best friend, the local pizza man, had a pizza picknick in the park and then went to a café to meet some of the people we had gone out with the night before. This time it was a quiet night but very nice.

Sunday, 9th September
There is not much to say about Sunday: breakfast, packing, going to the station,leaving Brussels...

...taking with me some great memories!