A few years back, when I was a carefree backpacker, traversing Europe with a rotating pack of ladyfriends, we stopped for two days in Brussels. Mostly because flights from there were much cheaper than Amsterdam, where we had just been. A few hours on the train between the two cities gave us just enough time to consult our dog-eared guidebooks and take a quick nap, slumped over our hulking backpacks.
No one expected Brussels to be overly exciting, so we were desperate to determine the sites. This leads me to my one thing:
A picnic on the grounds of the Atomium
Yuck, I need a new scanner.
Now, I’m sure that if I was an endeavoring individual (read in the mood to type a few letters into Google), I could figure out why someone built a giant atom on the outskirts of Brussels. The whys of the matter notwithstanding, the Atomium is awesome. Toward the end of the subway line, it’s a giant atom-shaped building plopped into a lovely residential park. My friends and I ducked into a store for some Hoegaarden (it’s possible we first ordered it because we found the name hilarious, only to have our whole souls rocked by the lemony awesomeness of this beer), bread and fresh feta cheese. We spent the afternoon lounging in the grass, people watching and learning to love Brussels.
If you have time for two things: Hit up one of the antique/flea markets in the many squares of the city. I scored some lovely vintage postcards at one right near a chocolate museum that offered free tours….in French. I missed the finer points of this tour because my French vocabulary isn’t vast, but there were samples at the end and chocolate transposes any language.
American gypsies at a chocolate factoy.
Been to Brussels? Did you pony up the 7 euro to go up in the Atomium? Because I didn't.
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