Cool Moules

So after Rotters, I took the train over for a quick two days in Brussels to meet Neil from London. I have to say I thought Brussels might be ultra-boring and feel overly clean, staid and traditional and be full of EU bureaucrats. But it was a pretty hip place, saw lots of cool design and music stores, bars, restaurants, and so on. The food was FANTASTIC. Probably on par with Paris prices I guess, but probably the best food I’ve eaten all year (outside of Rome which doesn't really count as normal food).

Moules frites, Belgian waffles, chocolate - all lived up to the reputation and then some. And of course great beer, though I didn’t stray too far from the Stella/Leffe family. The nicest meal we had was at a great place near Sablon, Au Vieux Saint-Martin. Seemed to be a lot of posh locals in there and some amazing art on the walls if you get tired of staring at your frites.

Other highlights were the comic strip museum (lots of Tintin), walking around looking at some great old buildings, and a funny accidental trip to Anderlecht. We wanted to see a Belgian brewery in action (it appeared to be long shut) but instead went to the heaving food and butcher’s market near the aptly titled Boulevard de l'Abattoir, where it seemed all of Belgium’s Polish immigrants were gathered on the freezing cold sidewalk drinking Zywiec on Sunday morning. Further proof -- along with graffiti and some interesting run down buildings even in the city centre - that Brussels isn’t as scrubbed clean and boring as I feared.

A very nice place to spend a weekend (the city, not the scary butcher’s market) especially with the Eurostar zipping over there from London.