Tuesday 25 July 2006
TC & I travelled on the 7.43 am Eurostar to Brussels after I collected TC from home in a taxi at 6.40am. We had breakfast at Bagel Factory in the station. On the Eurostar TC mulled over the potential problems of checking in given the similarity of our surnames, rather like the incompetent detectives from Tintin, Thomson & Thompson. On arrival in Brussels we took a taxi to the Hotel Metropole and checked in without any of the pre-envisaged problems. It was a grand fm-de-siecle hotel, sumptuously decorated in the Art Nouveau style with mirrors, painted glass and marble in abundance. Our rooms were very large and comfortable: we had got a good Eurostar deal and would probably not otherwise have stayed in such opulent surroundings.

We walked down to the Grand Place and admired the picturesque buildings. We enquired about visiting the Hotel de Ville and discovered that we could only do so on a guided tour later in the afternoon. We walked up towards the Palais Royal passing the Old England Shop on the way. This is an Art Noveau building constructed from glass and steel with distinctive twisted metal turrets - it now houses a Museum of Instruments. We continued up the hill through the Place Royal arriving at the Palais Royale, which is only open for six weeks of the year. It contained a number of elegant state rooms and an absurdly over-the-top Throne Room which put me more in mind of Ferrero-Roche than one of Europe's ruling families. There were some exhibitions in some of the rooms, some of which were science based for children. In one room there was a modern art exhibit in which a ceiling panel and a chandelier had been entirely covered with thousands of wing cases of the Jewel Beetle, shimmering with a deep pearlescent green; it was like something out of science-fiction.

We left and retraced our steps through the Place Royal, visiting the Eglise St-Jacques-sur-Coudenberg. It was large and had a plainly decorated classical interior. We walked down the hill to the Church of Notre Dame au Sablon, a really beautiful gothic building with impressive tall stained glass windows. It was the first place we had been which really captured us.

We walked back down towards the Grand Place via the Manneken Pis, the famous statue of a small boy unabashedly relieving himself. Typically it was surrounded by a huge gaggle of Japanese tourists who were excitedly taking hundreds of pictures. Heading back into the Grand Place we got a table at the most famous cafe, Le Roi d'Espagne, where we had a late lunch washed down with local beer. After lunch we returned to the Hotel de Ville and bought our tickets for the English guided tour which began at 3.15pm. There were about 30 of us taken around by a fairly prim lady who had been deeply suspicious of TC when he had insisted she had not given him the correct change. The tour itself lasted a little over half an hour and consisted of a fairly uninteresting parade around five or six large rooms on the first floor, including the Mayoral Council Chamber. We were unable to visit the tower as somebody had once thrown themselves from the top, presumably after going on the tour.
We recovered afterwards in another cafe in the main square before striking off in search of the Cathedral. On the way we went through the Galeries St-Hubert, a famous nineteenth century glass covered shopping arcade. We reached the impressive Cathedrale de Saints Michel et Gudule, which has an imposing twin towered facade. The interior was dominated by a huge and striking organ case on the left hand side of the nave. It called to mind the organ in Chartres which resembles a giant bat clinging to the side of the cathedral. This one however was much more modern, with angular light-coloured wood framing the gleaming pipes.
We left and walked back to the hotel by a more direct route, passing the shops of the Rue Neuve, and after a short siesta reconvened at the famous Terrace Bar outside the hotel for refreshment. We walked back towards the vicinity of the Grand Place looking for a restaurant, eventually settling on Aux Armes de Bruxelles which we found in a T-shaped street which leads off the Grand Place. We were given a table outside in the bustling street where we were able to enjoy the colourful atmosphere. I had Duck Pate, Steack-frites and pear sorbet. TC opted for a half-lobster with salad and mayonnaise followed by Sole Meuniere with a lovely white wine, and finished with iced profiteroles and a glass of Sauternes. It was a super meal, and TC seemed equally satisfied.

After dinner we walked back into the square and caught the end of the Son-et-lumiere show. Fortunately this 10-minute spectacular was shown again half an hour later so we were able to enjoy it from our ring-side seats outside one of the bars. The entire facade of the Hotel de Ville was lit with a sequence of coloured lights while tannoys blared out classical music. The whole show was carefully synchronized so that when it reached its climax with the finale from Saint-Saens' 3rd Symphony, the whole building sparkled with light for each of the big organ chords. It was very impressive and great fun to watch.
As we ambled back towards the Hotel, we chanced upon a fabulous group of ten young French jazz musicians who were jamming in the street. They were all wearing bunny ears, apart from the sousaphone player who had stuck his on the top of his bell. There was a good crowd gathered to watch and briefly there was a really good atmosphere. But alas the local police arrived, much to everybody's dismay, so when they were stopped we gave them our support with strong applause.

Wednesday 26 July 2006
We had a late breakfast on the terrace outside the hotel before checking out and leaving our bags with the concierge. We bought our JUMP tickets and travelled up to Heisel (the site of the infamous stadium), at one point being quite confused as the train changed direction at one of the stations enroute. We walked to the Atomium which has been recently renovated and cleaned; in the bright sunlight the reflective metal spheres were almost too dazzling to look at. We took the escalators and stairs up to the lower and middle spheres, most of which contained bizarre and abstract exhibits of the sort commonly found in Euroland. To reach the highest sphere we had to descend to ground level for the lift. Quite a queue had formed but after a brief wait we were rewarded with a good 360o view of Brussels and a drink in the restaurant.

We descended and went to Bruparck, a small fun park with a multiplex cinema, adventure playgrounds and numerous fast food restaurants. The highlight of the park is Mini-Europe which contains scale models of important buildings and monuments from EU member states. England was represented by the Palace of Westminster, Dover Castle (which almost everybody thought was Windsor) and the Royal Crescent in Bath. Other major landmarks included the leaning tower of Pisa, the Eiffel Tower, Santiago di Compostella and Sacre Coeur, Paris. Some countries were woefully short-changed, such as Luxembourg, represented only by a road bridge. Each country's area had a button which could be pressed in order to hear the relevant national anthem. It was also possible to turn a handle which made the Dutch windmills revolve, and another button caused ominous puffs of smoke to emit from Mount Vesuvius.

We were going to head to the Basilique Nationale du Sacre-Coeur but TC had spotted another Church from the top of the Atomium which looked interesting, so I agreed to navigate us there first. It involved us going quite out of our way, and when we approached the Church, Notre Dame de Laeken, it turned out to be covered in scaffolding and looking very closed indeed. Just as TC was trying the door a lady with keys appeared out of nowhere and let us in. It was an extraordinary place, very tall, but faded, with a real air of neglect and an overpowering musty odour. The raised apse at the back contained a tatty exhibition devoted to Cardinal Cardijn, who was elevated to Cardinal the day after his consecration as Bishop at the age of 82, two years before he died in 1967. From the thrust of the exhibition it seemed that he had been a tireless promoter of workers' rights, but it seemed that nothing had happened in the church since - it was rather like a shrine to the man, frozen in time, forgotten under layers of dust ever since.

The detour was probably not really worth it, so we pressed on and arrived at the long parkway which leads up to the Basilique Nationale du Sacre-Coeur. The basilica itself sits on a hill in the middle of a roundabout, so we crossed the busy road and walked up to it. It seemed very closed, a sense of foreboding and deja vu crept in, and sure enough, the main front doors were closed. However, we were able to enter through a side door which took us through a cafe and up into the basilica itself. It was absolutely breath-taking, a vast interior space with the expanse amplified by galleries, bridges, tribunes, balconies and giant soaring staircases. It actually made TC feel giddy looking around it, searching for a reference point to latch onto. But the size served only to emphasize its emptiness - it felt like an enormous void, oversized, abandoned and neglected. We climbed to the Gallery and walked around to the lift which takes visitors up four floors to the dome. At the top we enjoyed the panoramic view entirely alone. In fact there were hardly any people about at all. We descended via the stairs, vainly trying doors on the way in the hope of reaching forbidden areas, and walked back around the gallery to the stairs. We had a drink in the cafe and headed back to the hotel.
Back at the Hotel we had a drink at the Terrace Bar, collected our luggage and set off to do some tourist shopping. We revisited the Monneken and bought the inevitable souvenirs. TC also visited a Tintin shop and for some bizarre reason bought a large model of the red and white rocket from Destination Moon along with figurines of Tintin, Captain Haddock and Snowy in their astronaut outfits.

We returned to the restaurant area we had visited the night before and chose a place opposite Aux Armes, called Le Bourgeois. TC opted for almost exactly the same menu as the night before, choosing Belle-vue Lobster and grilled fish. I had Melon and Ham followed by Veal cordon bleu. The food was good but not quite in the same league as the night before. The waiter asked if we wanted water 'avec ou sans musique?' I had never heard carbonation put that way before...

We adjourned dinner early and headed back to the Grand Place one last time for a final opportunity to sample the regional brews before we headed to the metro. In fact we ended up on an underground tram which was certainly a first for me. Once on the Eurostar, I amused myself building pyramids out of my empty beer cans, of which there were several. We arrived at Waterloo at 10pm and managed to get taxis home without too much delay.

Magnificent, romanita!

What an evocative report you've shared with us. Your experiences remind me of my own visit to Brussels many years ago. Thanks for bringing up the memories.

I always felt that Brussels was an under-appreciated city. I am so glad that you too discovered it.