We headed to Brussels from Strasbourg and, as we did on the trip to Strasbourg, tried to find an interesting location to stop for lunch.  That time it was Hagnau Germany on the shore of Lake Constance.  This time it was Luxembourg City Luxembourg which ups this to a six country trip.

Brussels has some amazing buildings, especially those surrounding  the Grand Place, some of which date to at least the 15th century.  There are probably too many shots of them in this post.  It has a zillion chocolate shops, their waffles and lots of beer.  Now none of these things do we normally consume and we didn’t here either.  We had some very nice meals including Bocconi, Kasbah and a family Italian place called Gabbiani Reali.  We even stumbled upon a Turkish patisserie called gulluoglu where we were introduced to a pastry called borek and had the best cappuccinos of the trip.  And we stayed at the lovely Hotel Amigo which is just one block off of the Grand Place, so a great location.

But in the end, Brussels did not click with us.  Not a bad time but not motivated to return.  Whether is was the over the top aggressiveness of the restauranteurs in the Rue des Bouchers, that it seemed dirtier than other cities, was definitely much stinkier in numerous spots (we just kept getting hit by an unpleasant smell), their archeological ruin site only being open one morning a month, some unkempt gardens or their focus on the  their little urinating statue, the Manneken Pis, we just didn’t fall in love with Brussels.