Brussels, A nice place to spend a weekend…

…but you wouldn’t want to live there. Back at the turn of the century, Brussels was a strong centre for Art Noveau design and architecture, and later Art Deco. Sadly in modern times they seem to have little respect for their heritage – in the 60’s they demolished two of the best examples of Art Noveau architecuture by Victor Horta – the ‘Maison du Peuple’ and ‘Hotel Eetvelde’. Thankfully, his personal house survives as the ‘Horta Museum’. Wandering around the city you find a such a wide variety of styles that you
soon find that little really stands out, until you come across the hidden gems such as the Horta House, or the not so hidden gems like the outrageously huge Ministry of Justice and the impressive Grand Place.

The thing that Brussels is probably most famous for is being the center of the European Commission – in fact since most of the politicians are on holiday this time of year, the city was rather empty of people. Which meant there was all the more room in the bars for sampling Brussels other point of fame – its beers. In sharp contrast with Britain where all beers are served in pretty much the same standard pint glass, the Belgiums like to hightlight the differences between the beers. Nearly every beer appeared to have its own ‘ideal’ glass & suggested manner of serving from which bar staff were none to happy at diverging. When requesting a ‘slice of lemon’ with a glass of Ciney Blonde, we were rather abruptly refused – ‘NO. You don’t have lemon with that’ . Of well, so much for the customer is always right.