And Outside The Rain Fell...

Brussels. My first impression of the station was an explosion of smells. Chocolates and croissants, room fresheners and perfumes, I could smell so, so much here.

Chinese lanterns, zodiac symbols on the floor, figurines of unknown important looking leaders and the opulent entrance of Le Meridian, the Central Station had it all. Except maps, that is.

Venturing into this pleasantly cold city without our customary map, walking about the streets, we came across a little morning market, set up under tents and selling curios. A Notre Dame look alike in the distant and the towering spire of Hotel de Ville, this city seemed extremely likeable almost immediately. Each European city I've visited so far has had so much to offer, cities so different from one another - in the kind of people I’ve met, in the transport systems, the sheer variety of trains, the attractions they have had to offer, the architecture, the girls, the food, the smells in the air (and can I mention the costs?). So far, in spite of what I’ve heard, Brussels had not disappointed at all.

The Notre Dame look-alike was a massive Cathedral, with beautiful stained glass windows. PritS, ever the observant chap, pointed out the depiction of depth in the windows using deeper colours, with the foreground depicting Biblical scenes and those from the days of the royalty. Brussels, probably the whole of Belgium, also seemed to love their Monarchy, with photographs of the royalty at several places all over the city. Impressive for a city that has been revolutionary in its ideas (the centre of the European bank and the entire Art Nouveau culture here explains much). This Cathedral also had ornate sculptures of Bishops all along the walls, each pointing in a specific direction, sometimes to each other. If I were Langdon, I’d probably figure why.

Everywhere we walked in Brussels, we could see new age abstract artwork and sculptures placed in gardens, whether it was a shimmering crumpled up blob of metal, or an almost two dimensional wooden cow that encouraged lovers of freedom to doodle on it, Brussels seems to be in the middle of an art revolution.

One particular pseudo street, the Galeries Saint Hubert, particularly caught our attention. it was apparently the first true shopping arcade in Europe, and even today, it was simply splendid. A huge frosty glass ceiling above, Art Nouveau sculptures below and the famous Belgian chocolate stores below (some dating as far back as 150 years), this place was fascinating.
Today also seemed to be school kids’-day-out, because we could see several hundreds of kids running about, wearing radium green jackets, enjoying their day out.
We next visited Grand Place- which was the city center and the town hall, a gothic spire towering over the clear sky; this building was small but beautiful. Apparently, it was the only building that missed getting bombed in Brussels during the war, which is weird considering it was the target in every attack.

Catching up on what I felt was the most delicious Sub yet, we walked around further, navigating around our new found map. An interesting, again Art Nouveau building fascinated us, the Old English Building, which had music notes on its exterior wall. Apparently, this was the biggest museum dedicated to musical instruments in the world, and it was pure genius.

This is one of the museums I have enjoyed the most as of yet. Sporting musical instruments from hundreds of countries, this museum housed a most esoteric and brilliant collection of musical instruments. To top it all, the audio guide was infrared activated, meaning all we had to be in proximity to a musical instrument to hear specifically created compositions play on it.

Beginning from traditional Belgian instruments, this museum had instruments from India, China, Italy, France, Japan and a huge collection from Africa – truly an astonishing collection. It almost seemed the aim of the museum was completeness with respect to the instruments they possessed, and they seemed to have done a fine job.

The collection had some fascinating instruments - from Dulcimers that had strings that need to be hit with hammers, to the Hurdy Gurdy - played in ancient times by beggars and the blind; quirky single and double barrelled Accordions; at least a 100 different kind of flutes (so many shapes, so many sizes!), amazing bagpipes from the shepherds and dancers and even Jews’ harps - key like instruments that need to be clicked together to produce a rickety noise that was music to the ears.
This museum was astonishing, with the ability to listen to nearly every type of sound produced, and a handsome guide book telling the story behind the instruments, I loved every bit of it. Amongst the more exotic instruments, I saw ancient Arab violins, which was accompanied by guttural singing, the forerunner to western stringed instruments, super Balalaika and lutes, complicated Tekeros, really long wind pipes called the Midwinterhoorn from Holland and Swiss Alphornspeiers, these instruments, then just modes of entertainment, today, it was almost a science.

Spending at least 3 hours there, Tards had to leave and the rest of us proceeded to the Atomium. But not before visiting the "SuSu boy", icon of Brussels, the Mannekan Pis. We visited many souvenir shops too, including one completely dedicated to horror.

Realizing the Atomium was far too far to walk, we bought tickets. On first sight, the Atomium was, well not too big. But from up front and close, this thing was enormous, and starkly beautiful. I'd go so far to say that I liked it more than the Eiffel, which is a mighty difficult task for any building. The huge globes, joined together with shafts of metal depicting a giant molecule had some kind of celestial beauty to it, and it was difficult not to far in love with it.

Sitting under it for several minutes and having a supper of bread and ketchup, I just sat there quiet, admiring the structure, with the thoughts that someday, I need to be here again.

Waiting until 7 pm there when it got even more beautiful, with the flashing lights on, catching a fleeting glimpse at the Atomium before we left, we boarded a metro and then an international intercity to Amsterdam. Amsterdam! Woo-Hoo-Ness-All-Over-Again!