[1]Principia Cybernetica Web

                               Things to see in Brussels

   See also:
     * [externallink.GIF] [2]Brussels in the Google web Directory
     * [externallink.GIF] [3]Region of Brussels-Capital
     * [externallink.GIF] [4]Brussels Tourist Information: lists of addresses and
       phone numbers
     * [externallink.GIF] [5]Brussels: the Rough Guide
     * [externallink.GIF] [6]Brussels City Guide (CNN)
     * [externallink.GIF] [7]Brussels in MS Expedia (with map)

   Brussels, the capital of [8]Belgium and of the [externallink.GIF] [9]European
   Union, is the second international city in the world, as measured by the number
   of headquarters of international organizations. About a third of its 1 million of
   inhabitants are foreigners, most of which are either Islamic immigrants or civil
   servants, expat business people and diplomats working for the [externallink.GIF]
   [10]European Union, NATO, or one of the many other multinational institutions or
   firms that are located there. The city is officially bilingual (all official
   announcements and street names are in French and in Dutch), but almost everybody
   understands and speaks English, and you will hear many more different languages
   when strolling through the city center.

   With its more than 1000 years of history the city offers many fascinating sights
   to visit. It boasts the most beautiful historic market square and the highest
   concentration of restaurants in the world.

   The "Petite Rue des Bouchers" (street of the butchers) in the medieval center of
   Brussels is famous for the fact that every house in the street is a restaurant.
   The street is closed for traffic (anyway it is too narrow to let cars pass), and
   this allows the restaurants to exhibit some of their products (especially
   sea-food and fish) in a rather spectacular fashion in front of the passers-by. In
   some of the wider parts of the street it is also possible to eat and drink
   outside, watching the crowd strolling between the quaint, narrow houses.

   The "Rue des Bouchers" is just a few minutes walking from the [externallink.GIF]
   [11]Grand' Place, the central market square of Brussels, which is said to be the
   most beautiful in the world. The square is dominated by the magnificent 15th
   century Town Hall, with its hundreds of little statues. The most beautiful part
   of the Town Hall, the elegant tower, has recently undergone a much needed
   renovation. The splendid 17th century buildings, with their golden inlays,
   surrounding the square, will certainly enchant you.

   Not far from that magnificent Grand'Place in the medieval center, you can also
   find the tourist attractions of [externallink.GIF] [12]Manneken Pis (a not very
   impressive but quite funny statue of a pissing boy) and the cathedral of Saint
   Michel, part of which is being renovated. Other interesting places to visit
   include the Atomium, the imposing Palais de Justice, and for the nature lovers
   the many parcs, especially the splendid Bois de la Cambre, which is not far from
   the [13]university, and the beautiful forest to which it once belonged: the Forêt
   de Soignes, with its centuries-old beech trees. The border of the forest, near
   the abbey of Rouge Cloître, is at walking distance from the Hermann-Debroux metro
   terminal.

   The [externallink.GIF] [14]Atomium, an enormous steel construction representing
   an iron atom with 9 spheres connected by corridors, is situated in the parc of
   the Heysel, north-west from the center, which can be reached directly by metro.
   Here you will also find the Bruparck amusement park, which offers among other
   things [externallink.GIF] [15]Mini-Europe, a permanent outdoor exhibition of
   small scale (1/25) precision-made replicas of Europe's most famous architectural
   sights, such as the British Houses of Parliament, the Brussels Grand' Place, the
   Palace of the Dogues in Venice, the Eifel tower, the Greek Parthenon, and many
   others.

   The "European quarter" around the Schumann metro station is also worth strolling
   through. It is possible to visit some of the buildings in this area, which house
   the European Parliament, Council of Ministers, European Commission (the
   "government" of the European Union) and its administration. Perhaps most
   impressive is the recently erected European Parliament building, towering over
   the pretty parc that also houses the Natural History museum.

   Brussels offers numerous musea. Special mention deserve the (integrated) Royal
   Musea of Ancient and Modern Art (with a special section on the well-known Belgian
   surrealist Magritte), the museum of natural history with its collection of
   dinosaur skeletons, the museum of Art and History, near the impressive
   [externallink.GIF] [16]Cinquantenaire arc, Autoworld, which boasts the largest
   collection of old and new cars in the world, and the Museum of Comic Strips in a
   beautiful Art Nouveau building.

   The most characteristic feature of Brussels is perhaps the rather anarchistically
   distributed architecture, sometimes splendid, sometimes ugly, but never boring,
   with medieval houses next to futuristic constructions, and with different houses
   of different heights, widths and styles, fraternally the one next to the other in
   any street. The endless variety and surprise you encounter when strolling through
   the diverse quarters will make you understand why Brussels was a fertile ground
   for the Surrealist movement (see [17]Belgian Art).

   The most well-known style is the [externallink.GIF] [18]Art Nouveau, represented
   especially by the famous architect [externallink.GIF] [19]Victor Horta. The city
   can be roughly divided into the "High Town" (the south-east part), which is the
   richest with many splendid villa's and parcs, and the "Low Town" (the zone around
   the canal), where the buildings are often in a rather bad shape, but which
   contains the oldest and most picturesque parts of town. The best way to
   appreciate all this is just to walk or drive around in any quarter of the town.

   If you are staying in Brussels and have some time, it is worthwhile to make
   excursions to see some of the other famous sights in Belgium, such as the
   impressive Flemish Art cities, especially Bruges, but also Ghent, Antwerp and
   Leuven, or the forested region of the Ardennes, which begins upstream of the
   charming city of Namur, dominated by its citadel on a rock. All of these can be
   reached in about an hour by car or by train from the center of Brussels.
     ____________________________________________________________________________

   [20]Copyright© 2001 Principia Cybernetica - [21]Referencing this page

   Author
   F. [22]Heylighen,

   Date
   Mar 16, 2001 (modified)
   June 1991 (created)

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     * [29]Reciprocal Link, Comment by Diego F. Barajas
     * [30]i want to take the information about it , Comment by zaheer abbas
     * [31]i want to take the information about it , Comment by zaheer abbas
     * [32]i want to take the information about it , Comment by zaheer abbas
     * [33]i want to take the information about it , Refutation by zaheer abbas
     * [34]oh, Comment by Jessica Ashton

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References

   1. LYNXIMGMAP:http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/BRUSSEL.html#PCP-header
   2. http://directory.google.com/Top/Regional/Europe/Belgium/Localities/Brussels/
   3. http://www.bruxelles.irisnet.be/en/view_en/view_en.htm
   4. http://www.interpac.be/G7/brussels/brussels.html
   5. http://travel.roughguides.com/content/13513/index.htm
   6. http://europe.cnn.com/TRAVEL/CITY.GUIDES/WTR/internat.profiles/ip.brussels.html
   7. http://www.expedia.com/wg/Europe/Belgium/P1381.asp
   8. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/BELGCUL.html
   9. http://eubasics.allmansland.com/general.html/
  10. http://europa.eu.int/index.htm
  11. http://www.belganet.be/~belganet/belgium/brussels/gplace.htm
  12. http://www.belganet.be/~belganet/belgium/brussels/manpis.htm
  13. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/VUBULB.html
  14. http://www.belganet.be/~belganet/belgium/brussels/atomium.htm
  15. http://www.minieurope.com/
  16. http://www.belganet.be/~belganet/belgium/brussels/jubel.htm
  17. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/BelgCul2.html#art
  18. http://www.arno.irisnet.be/brussels/default.htm
  19. http://www.cbrgroup.com/horta/frfs.htm
  20. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/COPYR.html
  21. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/REFERPCP.html
  22. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html
  23. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/DEFAULT.html
  24. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/NAVIG.html
  25. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/VUBULB.html
  26. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/VUBULB.html
  27. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/BELGCUL.html
  28. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/MAKANNOT.html
  29. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Annotations/BRUSSEL.0.html
  30. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Annotations/BRUSSEL.1.html
  31. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Annotations/BRUSSEL.2.html
  32. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Annotations/BRUSSEL.3.html
  33. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Annotations/BRUSSEL.4.html
  34. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Annotations/BRUSSEL.5.html
  35. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/hypercard.acgi$annotform?

[USEMAP]
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/BRUSSEL.html#PCP-header
   1. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/DEFAULT.html
   2. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HOWWEB.html
   3. http://pcp.lanl.gov/BRUSSEL.html
   4. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/BRUSSEL.html
   5. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/SERVER.html
   6. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/hypercard.acgi$randomlink?searchstring=.html
   7. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/RECENT.html
   8. http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/TOC.html#BRUSSEL
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