Hi Everyone,
In July I am heading to Europe and will be landing in Brussels at 8AM. I am planning on spending the day and that first night there and will head to Amsterdam in the morning. I know I will have some jet lag that day. Any ideas on what to do with the limited time I have there. I am planning on walking around the Grand Place and seeing the Manekin Pis statue but after that I am not sure what to do. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Also, near the Grand Place is the national Art Museum, which is world class. If I were in you shoes, I would definitely checkout Brussels, but as soon as your done with the attractions, I would head to Amsterdam, and not stay overnight. All you have to do is hop on one of the regular inter-city trains to Amsterdam; no advance reservations are necessary and fares are about 30 euros- there's at least one train an hour. Amsterdam is just over 2.5 hours away, so you can take a nap on the train on the way to AMS.
Rick Steves' walks through the lower and upper town are nice. If you only have time for one I would do the lower town walk.
I enjoyed looking at the Manneken Pis costumes in the city museum.
If you are at all interested in architecture, walk to the upper town to look at the Old English building - it a wonderful Art Nouveau building. The museum inside (musical instruments) is okay, but the building is definitely worth the walk.
If you are interested in comics, you can get a brochure from the tourist office or comic book museum (skip this as it is all in French or Dutch, however it is inside another beautiful Art Nouveau building) outling a comic walk through town. There are some 30+ murals and statues through out the city of comic book characters. (You can also find it online at http://www.brusselscomics.com/en/route_bd.cfm)
There are a couple art museums in town, but I don't remember any of them being particularly memorable.
And don't forget to try some of the wonderful chocolate located around the square: Godiva, Gallers, Leonidas, Nuehaus...
Delirium Cafe/Bar is a wonderful place to spend the evening -they have around 2000 beers on the menu. It is a great place to try something new; we had a lovely banana beer and an entire range of Christmas beers it would have been next to impossible to get in the states.
You may encounter a very contraversial issue frequently debated on this website: where to get some chocolate in Brussels! My vote goes to Moeder Babelutte, for their amazing pralines. There's a shop conveniently located along the way to Mannekin Pis from the Grote Markt (Grand Place in French).
No controversy from me - I like to get chocolate from all of them!
Buy some chocolates somewhere, find a cafe in the Grand Place, order a framboise, and relax.
Definitely head to the Grand Place and get some Galler chocolate...
As you walk from the Grand Place to Mannekin Pis, on Rue de l'Etuve, on the left, just before the statue, there's a small waffle shop. They make GREAT waffles. Buy one and watch the tourists take 10,000 snapshots of the little tinkler as you enjoy your waffle. They have a take-away counter by the sidewalk, with a sample of each variety on the counter. Also, if you're into military stuff, the Army Museum, listed in Rick's book, is very good, with a nice display of tanks, amongst other things.
Thanks for all the feedback. I am looking forward to our day in Brussels!
"there's a small waffle shop. They make GREAT waffles." They burned mine when I was there (grumble, grumble...).
