Brussels for the day - sprouts and all

Introduction

The first leg of our European trip started in Brussels (Belgium). We arrived late at night with the intention of having a full day's sight seeing around the city. We stayed just outside the centre of town a short bus/tram/metro ride away from the centre of town.

Brussels is easy to get around and convenient from a transport perspective generally. We started our day at a leisurely pace and headed to the central square. We managed to cover two area the centre of town and the atomium.

Brussels Town Centre

The mails square is where most of the key buildings and façades are to be seem. A number of other landmarks spoke off the mail square and are generally walking distance in proximity.

Galeries St Hubert's

Brussels Town Hall

Town and Main Square

Other attractions in the area are the Chocolate museum, we had a bunch of chocolate aficionado's who who wanted to go and go they did. Strangely that came out sick of the smell of chocolate and in ended up indulging my self in the perpetual chocolate tap and biscuits.

Mannequin Pis

The other attraction in the are is the Mannequin Pis, if you ask me it's pissing your time away going to this attractions. The kid is the size of a baby having a pis - I didn't see the fascination with this especially not the legions of selfie sticks busy with people taking pictures in its proximity. Take the kid to a toilet please! Just for your viewing pleasure I've add a picture of the desperate young chap.

Maison Dandoy

So you don't really want to eat Brussels's sprouts when you're in Brussels but you do want to go to one of the mail Belgium Waffle places while you're are there. The key place to go is the Maison Dandoy. Fortunately this place is right between the Grand Palace and the Mannequin Pis - so you wont have pissed your visit to the mannequin away if you stop by this place. Downstairs is a shop but they serve phenomenal Belgian Waffles there. Unfortunately we had a bunch of sick kids who were put off the chocolate but that didn't stop me stuffing my face. Hopefully they will read this in the years to come and remember to go back.

Atomium

Our visit to the Atomium was really a three hour queuing experience with a 25 mins view across the city. There is really not that much to see so unless you have bags of time on your hands you can skip this. The Atomium park is a lovely attraction and on a clear day you'll get great pictures of this marvellous building.

Have some chocolate

Definitely the place to have chocolate and if the museum doesnt get you so pop into one of the shops in the main square and indulge.

Chips matey (Fritland)

The other thing to make sure you try is the local chippy - in Belgium the chip is a big deal and you have to visit Fritland. We visited their shop behind the main square and every other local mush have had a frites fetish that very hour as I had to queue for my portion of chips. But queue I did and I joined the locals for hots chips on a cold day. It did wonders to dispel the sickly sweet chocolate overdose.

Conclusion

There are a probably a few other things you can manage to squeeze into your day. But a great place to visit especially in the summer when you can relax in the cafe culture around the centre of town.

Here is my short photo blog of 3 minutes in Brussels from Flickr.