Message: My wife and I are considering a trip to Belgium...very very early thoughts actually. We've some early questions that we're hoping someone could help with.<BR><BR>1. Don't laugh, but what language is spoken in Belgium?<BR><BR>2. We'd likely fly in to either Paris or London, then travel by train to Belgium. Any notes on that method of travel?<BR><BR>3. We're considering the Conrad or the new Hilton. Anyone ever stayed at either one or heard anything about either one?<BR><BR>4. What are some sights to see in Brussels?<BR><BR>5. Any web links for more info?<BR><BR>Thank you for any help!

Picking up this book in a bookstore (or ordering from amazon) would be a good start.<BR><BR>http://www.visit-bruges.com/html/eyewitness_guide.html

1 - French and Flemmish. English, of course, is also widely spoken.<BR><BR>2 - I did the Paris to Belgium trip. 90 min, pretty cool. If you go, try to get a &quot;mini-fare&quot;. It will be about 1/4 of the cost of the normal fare.<BR><BR>4 - There is a lot to see in Brussels, other posts here will answer that. However, I will say that Brussels is an excellent place to make day trips from. We went to Brugges, Paris, and Lux. City from there. Amsterdam is also 2.5hrs away.<BR><BR>Kevin<BR>

Mike,<BR>Flemish and French are the national languages, but almost everyone speaks English in Brussels. The Flemish speakers prefer English to speaking French.<BR><BR>The Conrad is a top hotel with a good location near the main shopping area. I just returned from a three night stay there - excellent service, large well appointed rooms.<BR>Here are a few things to see in Brussels.... <BR><BR>The Grand Place, of course. A beautiful square in the heart of the old town (l'Ilot Sacr&eacute with all of the guild houses surrounding it. <BR><BR>If you like Art Nouveau architecture and design.... <BR>Visit Victor Horta's house and museum on the rue Americaine. <BR>See the Comic Book Museum, housed in a superb example of Horta's work, rue des Sables<BR><BR>Museums - Modern Art Museum, Beaux Arts, Cinquantenaire Museums (One is a fabulous antique car collection, the other is the Air Museum), Costume and Lace museum, Espace M&eacute;ridien, Espace Yitzhak Rabin, Royal Museum of Africa in Tervuren.<BR><BR>If you're there on a weekend - visit the Antique Market in the Sablon on Saturday and Sunday... browse through the antique shops in the area as well. The rest of the week there is a flea market every morning in the Place du Jeu de Balle... you can find some great stuff if you're there early enough (like 6 am)<BR><BR>Enjoy the performing arts - there is ballet, theatre (much of it in English), rock concerts at Forest-National. Pick up a copy of the English language magazine The Bulletin for listings of all the above...as well as Walking tours which are also available in English.<BR><BR>PB<BR><BR>

if you are going only to belgium, i would suggest flying directly into brussels. flights there are really quite cheap. in fact, my boyfriend i went there a year and a half ago simply because it was the cheapest flight to europe we could find.<BR>you MUST go to brugge and i would suggest holland too, it's not far. i would actually recommend renting a car... the countryside is beautiful and you can go anywhere you want at the drop of a hat.<BR>depending on how long you want to be there, i would definitely recommend day trips to other cities. <BR>i loved brussels and all, but it's not as rich sight-seeing-wise as bigger cities like paris, london, rome etc. it's really a financial center of europe and not as tourist-heavy as pretty much every other majoy european city i've been to.<BR>my boyfriend and i stayed in a castle-turned-b&amp;b about 40 mins outside of brussels. it was magical and we totally loved it. but we, of course, had a rental car.<BR>any more questions you have?

About the languages, don't worry, almost everybody in Belgium speaks English.<BR><BR>Brussels: The Grand Place and all the little streets around. Don't stay to long in Brussels, there are also nice things to see on other places. Waterloo, Bruges, Ypres, Antwerp. Lots of American people also like Dinant.<BR><BR>When you fly in to Paris, the easyest way to come to Brussel is to take the Thalys train to Brussels Midi(2h).

Mike: For the most complete information about Belgium, go to the website &quot;Jack's Inimitable Travel Guide&quot; at jack-travel.com. Jack is Belgian, writes with knowledge and passion and covers cities, countryside, museums, castles, restaurants and lodging, etc. We wound up printing off the whole guide for our trip to Belgium last May. It is a wonderful resource.

Flemish is not a language. The official languages spoken in Belgium are Dutch, French and German.

To the previous poster:<BR>Flemisch is not a language, but there is a very big difference between the Dutch spoken in the Netherlands and in Flanders. That is why we call it Flemish!

Martine: there is also a big difference between Dutch spoken in Groningen and Limburg, and between English spoken in Newcastle, England and in Baton Rouge, LA, USA.

Oh no...my simple little thread is going to get banished!

No, no Mike, we are not like that. I wish you very much pleasure while preparing your trip. And if you have more questions... you are welcome.

Did you post this twice? I distinctly remember answering this post yesterday, itemizing my answers to your questions. But my post isn't here -- is it further down the list as a second post???

I did post twice...within two minutes of each other. When I did the first post, I realized the subject was one of those ambiguous ones like I dislike. It had no mention of what region or country I was asking about so I posted the second thread with Belgium in the subject line. Sorry...thought I caught it fast enough but it had already posted.

up to the top<BR>

bump

Brussels has an excellent airport, there is no reason to fly to London or Paris and then travel to Brussels. There is also a train station at the airport in case you book a hotel in Brugge or some other city. In Belgium the Flemish language is called Vlaams. English is widely spoken in the Flemish areas, much less so in the French areas.<BR><BR>Brussels is a city of commerce and there is not as much to see as, say, London or Amsterdam. It is also very expen$ive. There are many interesting places outside of Brussles such as Brugge, Ghent, Tournai, the Ardennes, etc.

I do hope Martine and Flemish agree (ik hoop dat jullie er mee eens zijn!)<BR><BR>The Kingdom of Belgium has two official languages: Flemish (which is a dialect of Dutch) and French. There is even a tendency to note German as the third official language since there is a German-speaking minority in the East of the country. Every Fleming can understand Dutch but not every Dutchman can understand a very strong Flemish dialect completely. That being said: Flemish is Dutch; it's merely a dialect and distinct accent thereof -- and there can be spelling differences but nothing incomprehensible to either speaker.

A very late reply to Eye Spy - German IS an official Belgian language, the constitution is written in German as well !

bumping to the top again!