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Brussels tourism info required

14:52 / 26.09.03

Okay, I'm off to Brussels for work in a couple of weeks. I'll be working for most of the time but I should have Wednesday evening to myself. So, err, what's happening in Brussels of a Wednesday night? Anyone know any veggie restaurants, or am I on my usual travel diet of chips and beer?

15:05 / 26.09.03

If you like larger - get Maes.
If you like bitter - get dark Leffe.

Maes is okay, quite tasty and cheap cos it's local. I went for a wedding in Belgium recently and met a brewer who was trying to explain to us that Stella Artois was made in Artois BELGIUM not France, despite the fact we kept saying "yes, we know, don't worry".

They also have some great fruit beers and if your getting chips try Samurai Sauce which is a little fiery but delicious.

Watch out for the odd drink they have of 1/4 coke - 3/4 beer. Horrid.

Whisky Priestess

17:42 / 26.09.03

get chips with mayonnaise on from anywhere. Heaven!

Go to the flea markets on Sunday mornings in one of the big squares.

Go to the Grand Place and see the Manneken Pis. Have some mussels and beer in a nice restaurant.

Go to the Atomium and tell me what it's like!

And go to one of the big cinemas (Kinepolis is great) - they have huge comfy seats and are like giant cities of the future.

18:35 / 26.09.03

Atomium is really fun, if you like crazy futuristic retro science museums.

Um, Museum of Modern Art. It's really, really top, has lots of great stuff in it.

20:12 / 26.09.03

The Atomium sounds good.
Unfortunately I won't be there for the flea markets, it's a bit of a flying visit, but I'll make sure I see the Manneken Pis. And drink beer (I love Leffe Brun! I forgot about that. I used to drink too much of it in NZ) and eat chips. This is looking pretty good.
I wonder if the Museum of Modern Art is open in the evening?

20:28 / 26.09.03

Decades since I've been there and all I remember are the Flemish masters to lose yourself in at the Musée des Beaux Arts (and recite some Auden to yourself) and, I'm ashamed to say, the Manneken-Pis with all the tourists snapping photies.

Plus my ex, Phil, lives there in Goodgodsomething Street but I fell out with him in 1979 and he's a bit of a gerbil anyway.

Be careful of strange men in bookshops too, trying to interest you in Geek Love.

09:37 / 27.09.03

I hang around in bookshops hoping for exactly that, Mr Xoc. Then when they do turn up, they turn out to be gay.

20:13 / 28.09.03

Duvel is good to drink. Apparently there is a little known madchen piss as well. Might be worth checking her out. The little boy is right in the centre...and not really all that special. Strange tourist attraction.

Red Cross Iodized Salt

20:50 / 28.09.03

There is a lot to do in Brussels, but it can be tricky to find some of the more interesting stuff. I haven't been there in almost four years, but there used to be some great bars / restaurants in and around the Bourse / St. Géry area (Pablo's Disco Bar, Mappa Mundo, Beursschouwburg and K Bar were all good places to hang out with decent music and crowds).

If you want to go out on the piss, the various Irish bars dotted around the Schuman area (where most of the EU buildings are located) will be full of drunken British, Irish and Scandinavian interns pawing each other and dancing on tables.

The only restaurants I can remember are decidedly non-veggie. You will be able to live off the frites and beer if needs be, but I seem to remember Bazarr (which is a bar / restaurant) near where the Sunday market is being popular with non-meat-eating friends.

Pick up a copy of The Bulletin - a weekly English language magazine for expats - for full listings of what'll be on in the week you go there. It usually has a pretty good take on what's worth doing.

04:58 / 29.09.03

could anyone explain to Ariadne how to get to that amazingly beautiful medieval square with the street of frites places off of it?

I only know that I got lost, wandered about and stumbled on this place near the gay district.

great vegetarian (optionally) pockets they serve there. someone must know if they have ever gone to Brussels.

Brussels also has a swank comics museum which I never visited. and a district full of state art museums. one with the best collection of symbolist art ever on the top floor and paintings by Dali and Magritte in the lower floors. I wish I could remember the name of the place. I could post with that information tomorrow.

05:01 / 29.09.03

okay, Xoc mentioned the name of the big museum. oh... I forgot that they had Bosch and Bruegel.

07:16 / 29.09.03

If it's Geek Love you're after, go and see the comic museum with big lifesize models of Tintin and everything. I stayed for two nights on a press junket many moons ago (in Brussels, not the comic museum). All I can remember is the aforementioned (by Whisky) chips and mayo, pouring all sorts of beer down my neck in the various bars which line the old town square, and having a fight with the editor of a newspaper from Blackpool.

07:49 / 29.09.03

A fight? A fisticuffs sort of fight? You're very brave (or drunk) to take on someone from Blackpool.

07:56 / 29.09.03

Nah, wishy-washy coastal types. No match for a Wiganer with a full head of steam. And it started off as a debate about journalistic ethics and ended up with me grabbing him by the lapels and hauling him across a table to make my point.

But don't let that put you off Brussels. I probably won't be there that week.