We are traveling from London to Bruges in mid-July, taking the Eurostar to Brussels and connecting to Belgian rail for the trip to Bruges. We had not planned to spend time in Brussels, but I just found out about the Comic Strip Museum there and thought my 11-year-old son might enjoy seeing that, as he's a big fan of the Tin-Tin books. Can anyone tell me whether it's feasible to see this museum on a short stop-over (a couple of hours)? We have just one night and the next day in Bruges before going on to the Netherlands, so I don't know whether it would be better to skip the comic museum and get to Bruges a bit earlier? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Difficult to say, given we don't know what time you get in. The details are here:-

http://www.comicscenter.net/en/home

But you should also have a look at this:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/200...russels.tintin

and this:-

http://www.bruxelles-tourisme.be/con...___/en/63.html

Thanks, Sheila! The Guardian article is very helpful--I had already looked at the museum web site and the "footsteps of tintin info," which is what made me think we might want to stop over in Brussels... We're taking the 10:57am Eurostar from London, arriving in Brussels at about 2pm. There is a train to Bruges at 2:30 if we want to go on immediately, or we can take a later train at 4:30pm, arriving in Bruges at 5:30pm. I'm just not sure whether we can squeeze in the Comic Museum in 2 hours, especially since we would have to store luggage, etc. It may not be worth it, but I know my son would love it. Unfortunately we've already booked the Eurostar tickets, so we can't take an earlier train, and we don't have the luxury of staying over in Brussels, as we've already booked a hotel in Bruges for the night (and are going on to the Netherlands after that for my husband's work). I appreciate any thoughts and advice!

I don't think you have a hope of doing that in 2 hours. 4 maybe.

Ok, I suppose it's good to know that it would be too ambitious... As I don't know Brussels at all, or how far the museum is from the train station, it's hard for me to judge. I was thinking that a 2-hour layover might give us a chance to take on one well-defined destination, but it's so hard to tell without knowing the area. Is there anything else you'd recommend that we could see of Brussels in a brief stop-over? Or would we make better use of our time by going on directly to Bruges?

You come into Brussels, Midi, don't you? I don't really know the area round there well. Central is no brainer- you could do the Grand Place (and the Tin Tin shop)