Tuesday
In Brussels
On my first trip to Brussels, I flew in from Newark and made my way to the train station in the basement, where I bought a ticket to Rotterdam Centraal. I was charged some astronomical number that caused me to nearly have a heart attack—this was before the Euro was a physical currency—it was merely a theoretical currency. Fortunately they listed the fare in Euros—roughly 21€--something I did know about and something that relaxed me.
Last time I was in Brussels I knew very little about the city; and, quite frankly, I am ashamed to admit that I still do not know a lot about the city. This trip is dominated by meetings—starting tomorrow morning at 11—so I won’t be looking around the city too much. I will make it through the Grand Place and wander by the Manneken Pis—the enduring symbol of Belgium and, I think inappropriately, object used to promote drinking Coke.
After getting lost trying to find my hotel (I took what should have been a 10-15 minute walk and turned it into an hour long excursion to nowhere), I grabbed a quick shower and then headed out for dinner. My hotel is essentially in the middle of the gay district and in my brief walk I saw a dozen gay bars, book shops, and leather shops before finding Fanny Thai, my stop for dinner. I picked the restaurant because of the three Thai restaurants in a row, it was the only one that was busy. My selection criteria worked. The four course set menu I chose was awesome and filled with incredible flavors. Like after my trip to Armenia, I am wondering why I tend to settle for bland German cuisine so often. There really is very little exciting about bratwurst in comparison to the ginger, basil and other flavors I couldn’t identify at dinner.
It’s 9:30 and I am already back at my hotel for the evening. It’s been a long day and I feel like crashing already.
Wednesday
Brussels
WHY GO NOW As the Capital of Europe for the 25 countries that make up the European Union, Brussels shows all the signs of world-class urbanity: great restaurants, smart hotels and terrific shopping. As the capital of Belgium, it also upholds the country's reputation for decadent chocolate, robust beer, sinuous Art Nouveau architecture and centuries-old traditions like the Ommegang Pageant, a spectacular annual reenactment of Emperor Charles V's entry into the city in 1549.
Best of all, the city doesn't take itself too seriously. It has a museum devoted to the comic strip (as well as enormous cartoon characters painted on the sides of buildings) and a much-beloved centuries-old bronze statue of a boy urinating in the center of town — the Manneken Pis. (A few blocks away is a new equal-opportunity girl fountain, the Jeanneke Pis.) In February, Brussels reopened another quirky landmark: the Atomium, a 335-foot-tall model of an iron crystal molecule, a quaint relic from the city's 1958 World's Fair.
And if that weren't enough, The Guardian of London last year declared that Brussels "now leads the way on the European party scene."
WHERE TO STAY Since Brussels can be seen as a sprawling collection of villages, it makes sense to stay near the Grand Place, the medieval central square. About a minute's walk away on Rue du Marché aux Herbes, three chain hotels sit side-by-side in nearly identical faux-Flemish buildings, with rates starting at roughly 100 euros a night, or $123, at $1.23 to the euro: the Ibis at No. 100 (32-2-514-4040, www.ibishotel.com), the Best Western at No. 110 (32-2-504-9400, bestwestern.com) and the Novotel at No. 120 (32-2-514-3333, www.novotel.com).
Perched on the rise directly behind them is Le Meridien (3 Carrefour de l'Europe, 32-2-548-4211, www.starwoodhotels.com/lemeridien.com), a more luxurious option. Its restaurant serves one of Brussels' most popular Sunday brunches. Standard rooms start at 195 euros; weekend rates at 165 euros, with breakfast. Nearby, the area's venerable Hotel Amigo (1 rue Amigo, 32-2-547-4747, www.hotelamigo.com) has newly renovated rooms featuring works by Belgian artists; doubles from 580 euros. The intimate Le Dixseptième (25 rue Madeleine 32-2-502-1717, www.ledixseptieme.be) was built, as the name suggests, in the 17th century; rooms start at 200 euros. As at most Brussels hotels, rates are deeply discounted on weekends and in the summer.
In the shopping-friendly Louise district, the Conrad Brussels (71 Avenue Louise, 32-2-542-4242, www.conradhotels.com) is housed in a stately 19th-century mansion. Doubles (billed as the city's largest) start at 229 euros; entry to the Aspria gym, spa and 55-foot-long pool is 25 euros extra.
The nearby Manos Premier (102 Chaussée de Charleroi, 32-2-537-9682, www.manoshotel.com) is a boutique gem set in an ivy-covered town house with a lovely garden and an exotic (think Ali Baba) spa. The rack rate for a double is 200 euros and includes breakfast. Look for the 185-euro special for Fridays or Saturdays (double room, double occupancy), which includes aperitif and dinner.
WHERE TO EAT Brussels used to boast more Michelin stars per capita than any other city. But in December, Michelin's not-so-little red book demoted nine local chefs and elevated only one restaurant, Le Pain et Le Vin, to a single star. A three-course "market menu" at Le Pain (812a Chaussée d'Alsemberg, 32-2-374-4962, www.painvin.be) is 52 euros. Comme Chez Soi (23 Place Rouppe, 32-2-218-0220, www.commechezsoi.be) retained its three stars thanks to intriguing dishes like roast Iberian pork in white beer with potato, leek and cardamom mousseline (35 euros). Book well in advance; the cozy (some say cramped) dining room fills quickly.
In the trendy Louise/Ixelles area, you'll find Marie (40 rue Alphonse de Witte, 32-2-644-3031), one of those happy little bistros where the lighting is soft, the jazz sweet and the food pleasantly inventive. The fish carpaccio starter (16.50 euros) comes with a hint of curry, and saddle of lamb (60 euros for two) is enlivened by roasted lemons.
At L'Idiot du Village (19 rue Notre-Seigneur, 32-2-502-5582), the kitchen turns out a savvy 15-euro lunch of warm grilled chicken on a tomato tart, followed by a rich beef Burgundy. Twenty- and 30-somethings pack the Franco-Japanese Chez Oki (62 rue Lesbroussart, 32-2-644-4576) for such ultimate fusion dishes as seared foie gras on sushi rice (15 euros).
Another discovery: Eat-Cetera (115 Chaussée de Charleroi, 32-2-537-7600, www.eat-cetera.be), where the innovative four-course menu costs 30 euros and changes monthly; recent dishes included porcini soup with gingerbread croutons and chèvre, and roast duck with lavender honey.
Mussels in Brussels? Locals recommend only one establishment on the touristy Rue des Bouchers: the traditional Aux Armes de Bruxelles at No. 13 (32-2-511-55-98, www.armebrux.be). The menu lists eight preparations, including raw (11 euros). In the sea of restaurants near the Place Ste. Catherine, the popular Pré Salé (20 Vlaamsesteenweg, 32-2-513-6545) prices its mussels according to market — 1.2 kilos of moules maison (mussels with rosé, wine and cream) were recently going for 21.50 euros, fries included. For oyster-eating, Champagne-drinking, and beautiful-people-watching, try Lola (33 Place du Grand Sablon, 32-2-514-2460), with a dozen oysters starting at 18 euros.
WHAT TO DO DURING THE DAY Start with the Grand Place, with its Gothic Hotel de Ville, neo-Gothic Maison du Roi, Flemish Renaissance guildhalls and chocolatiers, like Godiva. If you go between Aug. 15 and 18, the square will be carpeted in begonias as part of the Tapis de Fleurs biennial celebration. Then walk up the hill to Belgium's royal museums: the Museum of Ancient Art and the Museum of Modern Art (Place Royale, 32-2-508-3211, www.fine-arts
-museum.be). They are linked, so you can follow the helpful "circuit" signs from Hieronymus Bosch to René Magritte. Nearby is the Musical Instrument Museum (2 rue Montagne de la Cour, 32-2-545-0130, www.mim.fgov.be), housed in a wondrous multistoried Art Nouveau treasure, formerly the Old England department store.
The Belgian Center for Comic Strip Art (20 rue des Sables, 32-2-219-1980, www.cbbd.be) is as famous for its Tintin exhibit as its Art Nouveau structure, created by the famous Belgian architect Victor Horta (1861-1947). Horta's own house, with an adjoining studio, is also a museum (25 rue Américaine, 32-2-543-0490, www.hortamuseum.be).
WHERE TO SHOP For contemporary housewares and furniture, go to Flamant (36 Place du Grand Sablon, 32-2-514-4707), a store that is divided into homey rooms, one with a working fireplace, and kitted out entirely with stuff for sale. Grand Sablon, the high-end antiques center, is also home to some of Belgium's best chocolatiers.
Just follow the Japanese tourists to Pierre Marcolini at No. 39 (32-2-514-1200) or Wittamer at No. 6 (32-2-512-3742). If you prefer your calories in a cookie, amble over to nearby Dandoy (31 rue au Beurre, 32-2-511-0326), where there will be samples to try before you buy.
For specialty items, head to the glass-covered arcade of the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert (opened in 1847). There are shops selling exquisite lace (Manufacture Belge de Dentelles at No. 6-8, 32-2-511-1477), luxury leather goods (Delvaux at No. 31, 32-2-512-7198), designer jewelry (Ciel Mes Bijoux at No. 16, 32-2-514-7198) and, of course, chocolate (Neuhaus at Nos. 25-17, 32-2-512-6359).
For the hottest in Belgian fashion, check out the boutiques on rue Antoine Dansaert, especially Stijl at No. 74 (32-2-512-0313), home to edgy designers like Ann Demeulemeester (for women) and Raf Simons (men).
WHERE TO GO AT NIGHT Despite its life-sized toy horse and souvenir T-shirts, the Roi d'Espagne cafe (1 Grand Place, 32-2-513-0807, www.roydespagne.be) hasn't been completely taken over by tourists. After a Leffe Brune ale (3.90 euros), the classically minded can take in a concert at Bozar (23 rue Ravenstein, 32-2-507-8444, www.bozar.be) or an opera at La Monnaie (Place de la Monnaie, 32-2-229-1200, www.lamonnaie.be), a neo-Classical jewel dating from 1819.
Or just hit the bars. On a recent night near the Place St. Géry, an artsy crowd listened to international folk music at Zebra (31 Place St. Géry, 32-2-513-5116), trendy types wisely disregarded the Abba music at Mappa Mundo (1-6 rue du Pont de la Carpe, 32-2-513-5116) and just about everyone else packed into the tiny Archiduc (6 rue Antoine Dansaert, 32-2-512-0652) for live jazz. And this was Sunday. Hip locals settle into the sofas at the Living Room (50 Chaussée de Charleroi, 32-2-539-2111, www.lelivingroom.be), an upscale restaurant and bar in the Louise district, with uppity guys guarding the door.
Not far from the Manneken Pis, the Rue du Marché au Charbon is the center of the city's gay life. Le Belgica (at No. 32, 32-2-511-2600, www.lebelgica.be) is a kitschy tavern regarded by locals as an institution. Tels Quels (No 81, 32-2-512-3234, www.telsquels.be) is both a gay information center and friendly bar. (Also check www.gaymap.info/bruxelles.)
YES, FREE The European Parliament offers weekday tours of its handsome glass headquarters in the mostly residential European Quarter (43 rue Wiertz, 32-2-284-3457, www.europarl.eu.int; tours start at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.). A 45-minute audio guide (free, and available in 19 languages) tries to explain what the parliament does during its annual 12-day sessions in Brussels.
YOUR FIRST TIME OR YOUR 10TH Whether it's an old Nebraska license plate or a vintage Yves St. Laurent jacket, the flea market at the Place du Jeu de Balle, down the hill from the Palais de Justice in the gentrifying Marolles district, just might have it. The market is open daily, from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., but Sundays are the biggest and best.
WHERE TO STAY WIRED Brussels is blessed with neighborhood convenience stores that double as cyber cafes. In the night-life district, Belgium Internet (at the intersection of Rue du Marché du Charbon and Rue du Midi) has five terminals for 1.50 euros an hour.
HOW TO GET THERE American and Delta have daily nonstops from Kennedy Airport, starting as low as $592 in late April (American on Expedia.com). Continental also has direct flights from Newark. And Brussels is just one and a half hours from Paris by train (about 115 euros, round trip, on the Thalys).
GETTING AROUND With its many spread-out neighborhoods, Brussels is a confusing city for visitors, and the mass transit maps don't help much. Nevertheless, a 4-euro all-day pass can get you almost anywhere, either by subway, tram or bus. Taxis are plentiful but not cheap (1.23 euros a kilometer, after the 2.40 euro pick-up charge).
A beer lover's guide to Brussels
Forget tours of French vineyards: discerning drinkers are heading to Belgium in search of fine beers - and this week sees the publication of a guide to help them. Author Tim Webb explains where to find the best brews in Brussels
The Germans may be top at brewing pure, obsessively honed lagers and smaller British breweries may have cornered the market in hand-drawn 'real' draught ales, but only the Belgians can claim to make beers like no other, in a diversity of styles that outstrips the rest of the world.
In south-west Flanders, brewers age brown ales in oak tuns for up to two years before bottling. Across the northern Ardennes into Limburg, farmhouse brewers sell their robust concoctions in large corked bottles, for sharing at the table.
The lambic brewers and blenders of Brussels and Payottenland ferment their uniquely cidery beers with naturally occurring airborne yeast. And the monks who oversee beer-making at the six Trappist abbeys create pungent, hop-laden pale ales and rich, dark, contemplative barley wines.
Belgium does originality like no other brewing nation. But despite growing success with exports, there is no better place to go sampling than the country's own unique blend of cafes, brasseries and 'tea-rooms'.
Brussels is a ragbag of grand architecture and messy streets, so to get the best from the city you need to know where to go.
Brussels' famous Grand' Place is the only Unesco World Heritage site to host an annual beer festival (the first weekend of September). But tourist traps are rarely home to great cafes and this is no exception. Photograph it and move on.
Opposite the Manneken Pis, the much-gawped-at statue of a pot-bellied boy piddling, is the Poechenellekelder (5 Rue du Chêne - closed Monday), and it is Bruxellois to its breeches. The wall adornments and collectibles are hand-picked and provocative, not a job lot from pub kitsch central. The list of 90 beers is a good introduction to Belgian ale.
Between 1892 and 1920, Victor Horta used the Brussels townscape to show off the architectural wing of the Art Nouveau movement. The Mort Subite (7 Rue Montagne aux Herbes Potagères) is probably the best surviving fin-de-siècle long bar in the world. Uniformed staff police rows of tables with a practised disdain, while customers sit on uncomfortable bench seats, a few backed with original leather and horse-hair. For adventure, drink gueuze sur lie from De Keersmaeker, with a small plate of local jellied meat, like tête pressée or kip-kap (pig cheeks).
The nearby Galeries Royales St Hubert was Europe's first shopping arcade (opening in 1847). Halfway along is an entry to the Ilôt Sacré, a tangle of medieval lanes, with its endless fish restaurants.
Off to the right in a blind alley is an extraordinary, sprawling cellar bar, Delirium (4a Impasse de la Fidélité). Here they serve more than 2,000 beers, the official world record. Despite this, most are drinkable. More than 400 are Belgian, and they delight in sourcing the rare and obscure. This goes for their cheeses too.
Belgium has almost as many restaurants as it has cafes. Many now stock strong lists of suitable beers to accompany fine food. Some specialise in cooking with beer. The capital has two classic examples.
Down in the Marolles, just off Place du Jeu de Balle and its famous flea markets, owner-chef Alain Fayt has created Restobières (32 Rue des Renards - closed Monday-Wednesday - www.restobieres.be), a delightful bistro with inspired food, great ambience and a beer list that Fayt has selected from recent travels round his native land.
Meanwhile, at In 't Spinnekopke (1 Place du Jardin aux Fleurs - closed Sunday - www.spinnekopke.be), an ancient tavern-style restaurant off the beaten track, Jean Rodriguez practises on clients the recipes for his cookery books which teach the art of cuisine à la bière. The list here reaches 80 and features the local classic, draught lambic.
Lambics are an acquired taste. Fermented using wild yeast they have a mustiness alien to many palates. Their most developed form is oude gueuze, a beer style that now enjoys a legally protected appellation. The best reach a refined character with the nobility of a fine peasant vintage. Imagine Jacques Brel in a bottle.
There is no better place to drink oude gueuze than the Zageman (116 Rue de Laeken - closed Saturday and Sunday), a simple, turn-of-the-century backstreet cafe on the unfashionable side of Boulevard Adolphe Max. Try Cantillon, Drie Fonteinen, De Cam and black-label Girardin while staring at the football-league results board from 1943 and an advert for the film Mémoires d'un Gynécologue
The beer aficionados' favourite spot is Patrick D'Hane's Bier Circus (89 Rue de l'Enseignement - closed Saturday and Sunday), uphill from Central station. The approbation is for the creativity behind the list of more than 200 beers. Ardennaise microbrewers get their chance in the big city here, along with Flanders' only 100 per cent organic beer-maker, Hopperd.
As evening wears on, if you are looking for something different, just outside the ring of boulevards that enclose the centre, L'Horloge du Sud (141 Rue du Trône) offers 40-plus beers, enhanced by a pan-African melange that includes a multi-ethnic menu from Algerian to Zairi and many stops between, plus regular world music gigs.
Further out, in the suburb of Uccle, is an ambitious brewpub called the Imprimerie (666 Chaussée de St Job - closed Monday). Baronial hall meets converted printing works, with a brewery backdrop. It transforms into a nightclub in the late evening.
Finally, en route to the Eurostar terminal, catch the Laboureur (3 Place de la Constitution - closed Saturday). This archetypal Brussels boozer is at its best on Sunday mornings when the open market stretches from here to eternity. Pew-lined and pool-playing, its walls nicotine-stained and its parquet flooring well worn, this is more the real Brussels than any vision of Euroland. Even if they do serve chips with taramasalata.
Beer lingo: what the labels mean
Lambic
The most wine-like beer produced anywhere in the world. An acquired, but very refined taste, these beers are left in open vessels in the attics of breweries, where they ferment spontaneously because of yeast in the air.
Oude gueuze
This is the authentic taste of Brussels and Payottenland, a bottled, sparkling blend of oak-aged lambics. Spritzy, pungent, tangy and unique.
Faro
A type of lambic sweetened with brown sugar.
Wheat beer
Cloudy, sweet and spicy, light ale (4-5.5 per cent) brewed with 30 per cent wheat.
Oude kriek
Rare form of cherry-steeped lambic largely superseded by sweet commercial versions. Using fruit to flavour the beer is thought to pre-date the use of hops.
Oud bruin
Dark, medium-strength ales (5.5-6.5 per cent) from south-west Flanders. The best are acidic from blending two-year-old oak-aged ales.
Trappist beers
Generic term for beers brewed at the six approved monastery breweries (Achel, Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle and Westvleteren).
Dubbel/Double
Dark, medium-strength (6-7.5 per cent) abbey beer not brewed by monks, but intended to imitate the monastic styles.
Tripel/Triple
Amber-coloured strong (7.5-9.5 per cent) abbey beer.
· The Good Beer Guide to Belgium is published on Thursday by Camra Books
The Netherlands copes with Islamic violence
The Netherlands may soon witness an outburst of ethnic violence. An official report published last Wednesday states that “tensions between various ethnic and cultural groups of youths are seriously underestimated.” The report points out that the Dutch authorities fail to grasp the gravity of the problem. It warns the government in The Hague that if nothing is done the country will soon witness situations similar to those in France. There violent clashes, which erupted in late 2005, have led to the police abandoning immigrant suburbs to gangs of Muslim youths, who have now taken over effective control of more than 750 French urban neighborhoods.
They are attempting to deal with it in a typically Dutch manner:
Following the 2004 assassination of Theo van Gogh by a young Moroccan immigrant the Dutch minister of Integration, Rita Verdonk, installed four so-called “intervention teams for interethnic tensions.” The teams are made up of social workers whose task it is to advise local authorities on ways to deal with groups of unassimilated and criminal youths.
[. . .]
The intervention teams recommend an expansion of the social worker approach to defuse the situation. This is a typically Dutch way of doing things, which is widely applied, even among Dutch troops in Afghanistan who prefer to have tea with the Taliban rather than fight them. Last year the police of The Hague sent officers on a “cultural training” trip to Morocco because, as Gerard Bouman, the The Hague police chief (who has meanwhile been promoted to head of the Dutch state security services), said, “Criminal Moroccan youths […] do not behave like indigenous Dutch. They rave about Moroccan culture. Hence, we have to know the latter, too.”
Of course the authorities in Morocco have their own ideas about how to deal with lawless elements:
In Morocco, the Dutch police officers discovered that their Moroccan colleagues were astonished to hear that the Dutch have problems with criminal Moroccan youths. In Morocco officers are known to beat the hell out of criminals.
This goes a very long way to explaining why Morocco has a much lower crime rate than The Netherlands.
Of course the native Dutch "man in the street" has his own, and good ideas about how to deal with criminal punks:
A poll conducted by Elsevier, the largest Dutch weekly, indicates that 80% of its readers prefer a “harsh treatment” of troublemaking youths rather than “sending in more multicultural intervention teams.”
But that would not empower the multicultural elite so it must be ignored.
If you think that what is going on in Europe is a good thing and represents what we need here in America then keep voting for Democrats.
thxs Lemuel Calhoon for summing everything up for us!
