Copyright 2002 by Christian Schneider
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10.-13. January 2002 - Brussels (Belgium)
We took of by Crossair from Zurich on thursday night. When we arrived in Brussels once more our luggage was not there and was still waiting in Zurich, too bad. We went by train into the central station of Brussels and from there we walked to our hotel. This was easy without carrying the lugguage. So this was the first chance to see the Grand Place, the central market, which was very nice because of the lights.
The next morning we went on a guided city tour, which started also at the Grand Place, but know this place didn't look as nice as in the night. The Grand Place is the central place of Brussels and there are a lot of shops and restaurants, very liked by tourists.
On saturday we met a friend who lives in Antwerpen. We visited together the Geuze brewery and museum Cantillon. Unfurtunatly they did not work in the brewery, but it was still possible to go around and see the machineries. This brewery is more than 100 years old and makes beer in a traditional way. Of course I had to try some of this very special beer. Quite strange taste, but it really helps agains beeing thirsty.
Before we went in this museum, we visited the Atomium, This landmark was build in 1958 for the world exhibition. I was quite disappointed when I was near this intersting building, because it looks quite shabby. In the top ball there is a nice view all around Brussels and this makes the 30 minute trip to the outerskirts of Brussels worth it. On the way back to the center we made a visit to the Chinese Pavillion and the Japanese Tower. Two very excotic buildings. In the Chinese Pavillion is an exhibtion about Chinese porzelan, but this did't interests me too much.
On saturday we also made a short visit to the Museum of Musical Instruments which is in the Old England house. This house is in the Art Nouveau style. The Centre for Comic is in the same style built. We visited this museum on Sunday.
In the evening I usually drank one or two of this nice Belgium beers. 3 days is much to short to taste all of them; some hundreds of different beers in this small country. Some of my favorites: Leffe, Corsendonk. Of course we visited also the Manekin Pis. This small boy helped somewhen in the middle age to prevent the burning down of Brussels. More interesting is the Brasserie Manaken, just opposite of the Maneken Pis.
On sunday evening we flew back, again with Crossair.
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Literature and Links about Brussels
[1] We stayed in the Hotel Ibis
Brussels Centre Ste Catherine.
[2] Autoworld (not
visited, but looks interesting): museum about the history of cars.
[3] Comic
Strip Museum (for comix fans a must)
[4] For beer drinker: the Brewery
Museum (not visited myself) and the Geuze
Museum and Brewery: this shows a traditional way of making geuze beer.
[5] Atomium: symbol
of belgium and a nice view over Brussels.
[6] The Tourist Passport gives you discounts on differnt kind of museums
andrestaurants. It includes also 2 day tickets for public transports in
Brussel (about 7$).
[7] Museum
of Musical Instruments (MIM).
[9] More infos about beer: the
beer advocate