64 Hours in Brussels

We usually go to my parents in Luxembourg in the summer and then take a short train trip to somewhere. Last year Paris, this year Brussel. I lived in Brussels for six months 11 years ago, this is the first time I've been back. It was a bit weird, I could remember all the places but it took me a while to work out how they fit together. we also stayed in a different area from where I lived, so all the distances were different.

We were in the city for 64 hours (two full days plus the afternoon of the first day and morning of  the last day), I thought I'd do a little summary of what we were up to.

We stayed in Ixelles, very near Place Flagey. We didn't specifically pick this area, my only criterion was for it to not be in the European quarter, which is where I lived before, and is purely residential (and near the EU offices, which is of no interest to me now). It worked out well though, the area around Flagey is a bit of a going out area, lots of bars and restaurants, but the house is inside an internal courtyard with a garden, very quiet, and built recently. It's a house people actually live in, which is always the best. Plus there were two cats which you had to feed, and were very friendly.

Public transport in Brussels is great, but also complicated - there's a million buses, a metro and a tram - and the boys are too small to use the public hire bikes or scooters that are everywhere, so we just walked everywhere. Best way to see a city anyway!

Sightseeing wise we did:

* the central touristy area around Grand Place and the Manneken Piss. We did this straight off the train and didn't spent a lot of time in there, but Grand Place is pretty impressive looking so I think worth having a look. I also found it strange how this tiny area is SO touristy. The city didn't feel touristy otherwise! 

* the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée (Comic Museum). This was really well done, I thought. There were different sub exhibitions. I particularly enjoyed the one that was about the different steps involved in making a book. The boys were not so interested in that but there were plenty of sculptures and interactive bits they did like.

* in the afternoon of the first full day we went to Saint Catherine and the canal. There isn't really any sights to see as such, but it's a nice area with lots of streetart. I spent quite a bit of time in St Catherine when I lived there as my knitting group was there, but I'd never gone as far as the canal. The canal has windmills all long it, and I later found out lots of speciality coffee. There's also a new contemporary art centre further south along it though we didn't go there.

* Tissus du Chien Vert. This was the reason we were at the canal. It's a massive fabric shop with the best selection. It's randomly decorated with vintage transport related things (a plane, some boats, a car, some ship figureheads). I could have spent a fortune in there, but restricted myself to some cotton for pyjamas for me and jersey for the boys.

* the Marrolles/Jeu de Balles flea market. We walked to the Palais de Justice, where there is a terrace that gives you a good view over the city, and got the lift down to the Marolles area, and walked to the flea market on Jeu des Balles. There are lots of antique and vintage clothes shops in this area, and streetart. Younger me could have spent forever here! The flea market itself was a bit more junky than I remembered, though it was after lunch and quite a lot of the stalls had already packed up. It's open 10-2 every day

* the Magritte Museum, inside the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. I found the portraits of people, placed with the surrealist objects particularly interesting.

That was kind of it for sights! On the last day we just went for brunch, which leads me nearly to where we ate/had coffee:

* Belga and Co. This was the most conveniently located speciality coffee for where we were staying. The best coffee is we had on this trip and also the best hot chocolate, which was a high standard. All hot chocolate seems to be actual chocolate melted in milk, yum

* Umamido, a ramen restaurant near the house. It was really, really good! I think there might be a few across Brussels

* Mamma Roma. This was one I went to a lot when I lived there, it was a take away of massive tray pizzas, you could indicate what size slice you wanted, they cut it with scissors and they'd weigh it and charge you accordingly. The one we went to (St. Catherine branch) wasn't like that though, it was table service. We got a combo of six slices, they do have a good selection, but TBH it was better in my memory

* Frit Flagey. I'd been going on about the double fried chips, so we got some from a chip van on Place Flagey.

* Holy Bagels. This was another one I found by looking up speciality coffee. We had the most amazing pancakes and French toasted bagels with stewed pears

* Ellis gourmet burgers. This is a Belgian chain. The burgers were pretty good though not amazing and we really just went there because of the name! Had to be done

* La Fabrique en Ville. A cafe in the middle of a park in an otherwise office blockey type of area. Really pretty setting. We had breakfast here on our last day before getting the train, pancakes and banana bread. They also do a 'brunch' which seems to mean massive blow out buffet of everything here at weekends.

And that’s it, then we got the train back to luxembourg!