Is Brussels like Washington DC?
 

Will be making my first trip ever to Europe in the next days and was wondering why Brussels is the capital of Europe. Other cities like Paris, London and Moscow are much larger in terms of population. Why was Brussels choosen as the European capital? Is it really worth going there?

Why was Brussels chosen? Good question. <BR>It's small, central, suffered little damage during the war (and thus had sufficient housing), carried none of the political stigma of many other European nations. Almost equidistant between the big players -- Germany, France, and Britain. Has a large pool of multilingual, well-educated persons. Any other ideas? I always found it an easy city in which to do business, with good transportation, fine food, excellent (though limited) hotel space. Surely, it must have one of the most uncomfortable climates -- damp, chilling to the bone, gloomy for weeks at a time.Other than the Grande Place and a couple museums, I found little else of interest. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it a 5.

Since when is this the Capitol?

It's the seat of the EU.

The main attraction I have been told about that town is a very large C16th statue which is actually weeing!

We took the Sabina "weekend special" over Thanksgiving to Brussels following the advice of many posters who had enjoyed this in the past. We really had a great time. The grand square is lovely & at that time the shops in the Grand Sabon (spelling!) were open late, decorated for the holidays, and serving mulled wine, etc. to brousers. It makes a great base for a day's trip to Bruge, which at this time of year is relatively uncrowded. "worth going there"? Depends on your base of operations and sidetrips already planned. For our weekend it was great & I'd go again. By the way, many thanks to all the suggestions and urgings posted here about that weekend package, etc.

if you like Art Nouveau architecture, Brussels is one of the centers. Just buy a book when you get there and you can devote a day to checking it out. Bruges of course, is closeby, and the food is great. I'd go for the architecture, spend a day or two, and move on.

Like Washington D.C., Brussels has many political or quasi-political bodies, great restaurants and is deadly dull.

Brussels is not the capital of Europe but the main administration centre of the European Union. Belgium was considered a more neutral city to take the tital of "capital" of the EU. <BR>If say berlin had been chosen then Paris would be complaining and then London because it wants influence and then you would have a typical European so called diplomatic row. But I doubt it is anything like Washington DC with regard to crime and culture.