After about 40 minutes, I arrived in Brussels. My hotel, Ibis, was about 200 meters from the central station. I checked in and researched on the local city map.
I decided to head to MIM, or Musée des Instruments de Musique which translates to the Museum of Musical Instruments. It's not something I'd particularly be interested in, but my guidebook has it as one of the top 10 things to see in Belgium. Also I thought it was free on the 1st Wednesday of the month - apparently that's only in the afternoon, so my guidebook was wrong about that.
What my guidebook wasn't wrong about was the museum. To say this museum was a delight is an understatement - or perhaps I had no expectations. It's housed in the Old England building which is an art nouveau former department store. There are more than 9,000 pieces in the museum. They give you a headset and when you walk over headset logos on the floor, it plays the music of the instrument in front of you. You just meander listening to excellent music. In the Adolphe Sax exhibit, I must have listened to a trumpet solo of Verdi's Triumphal March from Aida about 10 times. The top floor cafe also has splendid views of the city. Here's a collage of the building, top floor view, some brass instruments, and a selfie in the department store mirror with some accordions behind me:
As I had time to kill before the Royal Museums of the Fine Arts offers free admission at 1 pm on the 1st Wednesday of the month, I walked down to Sablon where there is Notre Dame Church. The church was nice and sandwiched between Petit Place and Grand Place of Sablon. In Grand Place, there are antique stores (ironically right next to an Ethan Allen) and Belgium's best chocolate stores.
As it was almost 1 pm, I headed to the museum which is actually multiple connected museums. I first went to the Magritte Museum, dedicated to the Surrealist's life work. My combo ticket included the Fin de Siècle Museum which includes 19th and 20th century art. But of course, the highlights are the Belgium Masters included in the Old Masters Museum. Brueghel and Rubens abound and the religious artwork is impressive. Included in the collage below of my visit is Jacques-Louis David's famous "The Death of Marat":
By mid-afternoon, I was pretty hungry as I hadn't had lunch. So I walked down to Sablon and bought a croissant from Wittamer and an éclair from Marcolini - both are famous chocolatiers. I also tried a Hot Chocolate, but it was too bitter for my taste as it was pure chocolate. Here's a photo from Marcolini:
I meandered through the city and found the Manneken-Pis. This bronze statue of a boy peeing is a cherished symbol of Brussels. Here's a selfie which was difficult due to the crowds:
The statue is near the Grand Place where there is the Town Hall and the Guildhalls, pictured below:
For dinner, I made my way to Chez Lėon which is supposed to have great mussels and fries, the Belgian specialty. I ordered the white wine sauce mussels and a Duvel beer. Although it was good, I think Granville Moore's in DC is better! Here's a picture of the before and after:
It started to rain after dinner, so I headed back to the hotel. On my way back, I did swing through the Galeries Royale St. Hubert which is a famous shopping arcade. The energy in the area was great as there was live music and lots of people near Grand Place.
I have to say, all day, I have been all jumbled in my brain. Spanish keeps wanting to come out as I keep wanting to say "donde". At the Museum of Musical Instruments, the woman asked me in French what language I needed for my headset. I responded: "en anglais, s'il vous plaît, gracias." Boy, am I in trouble!
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