Belgium

EKinNYC · #1 (**permalink**) 07-11-2006, 01:48 PM

i am planning on visiting belgium (namely brussels) to visit a friend. has anyone been there recently? what is there to see, to do? i know there are no clubs, just bars, and its pretty dead on the weekends. i'm going for a week, 2 days in amsterdam the rest in brussels.

tdoyle · #2 (**permalink**) 07-11-2006, 02:05 PM

I spent a night there with my wife about 6 years ago. It was a Sunday night stopover on our wany between London and Heidelberg. Le Grand Place is pretty cool...lots of shops and interesting architecture to see...not a drinker so I couldn't even begin to say anything about nightlife/bars (isn't that the same thing?). Beautiful city...but probably not much to do besides eat, shop and limited sightseeing.

Don't forget to go see the fountain of a kid taking a whizz.

http://www.trabel.com/brussel/brussel-manneken.htm

EKinNYC · #3 (**permalink**) 07-11-2006, 02:50 PM

thanks. from searching around, im beginning to piece it all together... so far i want to go see the grand palace, the pissing kid, the cirque-something park. i know the city has beautiful architecture, and this is primarily a sightseeing tour (well, some debauchery in amsterdam

). is it safe there? how do they react to americans?

mrdeucie · #4 (**permalink**) 07-11-2006, 07:16 PM

I have a colleague at work who is from Belgium. He would tell you to visit Ghent and not Brugge.

240_alty · #5 (**permalink**) 07-11-2006, 08:40 PM

One of my friends who is planning on opening a brewpub spent a full year in Belgium learning their brewing techniques....If you are any kind of a beer fan, I'd look into visiting some of the brewries and local microbrewries; you will be in beer heaven

EKinNYC · #6 (**permalink**) 07-11-2006, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 240_alty

One of my friends who is planning on opening a brewpub spent a full year in Belgium learning their brewing techniques....If you are any kind of a beer fan, I'd look into visiting some of the brewries and local microbrewries; you will be in beer heaven

i will most definitely do that. my parents were there a couple of years ago, and my dad said the beer is excellent... especially with some fresh mussels. so far, the plan is to arrive on saturday, take a tour of the city, then sunday depart to amsterdam

. once i return to brussels, i will do some beer sampling

240_alty · #7 (**permalink**) 07-11-2006, 11:27 PM

and by sampling, i hope you mean binge

EKinNYC · #8 (**permalink**) 07-12-2006, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 240_alty

and by sampling, i hope you mean binge

thats a given

mrdeucie · #9 (**permalink**) 07-12-2006, 01:51 PM

Most Belgian beers are diesel though. I think most are at least 7% alcohol, with the exception of Hoegaarden and Stella Artois.