Brussels

A few years ago, a friend told me not to bother visiting Brussels, because he thought it was totally boring. More recently, my aunt (the only aunt I can relate to) went on at length about how beautiful she found it here, and how it has quickly become her favourite city in Europe. So when I discovered that all the trains from Luxembourg to London went through either Paris or Brussels, I decided to stop here for a night and make up my own mind.

I tend to side with the friend who found it boring.

Maybe it's the persistent drizzly rain today, or that I have no idea where to go or what to do here, but in a couple hours of wandering the city, I found nothing much to become enthusiastic about. Sure, there are some lovely buildings and such, but if you've seen one European city's Old Town, you've pretty much seen them all. And I've seen plenty.

One thing I can say for Brussels: the place is lousy with beer. Good beer, too. Strong beer. The seriousness with which Belgians brew their beer has not been overstated.

In fact, the Leffe blonde I'm drinking now has such a high alcohol content that I may not be able to have more than one or two... that is, not without falling down drunk or eating more than the simple bacon sandwich I ordered for dinner. Luckily I'm consuming it in my hotel (which is crawling with obnoxious pharmaceutical conference folks which I'm about to run screaming from anyway), so I don't have far to stumble into bed.

I have an afternoon train tomorrow, so I may give fair Bruxelles another chance in the morning. If the weather clears up, I may even change my opinion.

Until then... it's me and my beer... and my free hotel wifi.