Brussels -the Capital City of Belgium, with Christmas Fairy Tales Theme

Explore deeper by walking through the city of Brussels - watching over the top tower, passing through palace gates, walking into the library and hanging around into Winter wonders, enjoying the imaginary creatures in the park. 

My train pass was almost expired, so I decided to take the train from Munich to Brussels Belgium. Brussels is Belgium’s capital and home to the European Union headquarters. However, there is no direct train. I have to transfer to Frankfurt, where I visited for the book fair in mid-October.

As the train I took from Munich to Frankfurt got delayed, I missed the scheduled train from Frankfurt to Brussels, my plan got disrupted again, I had to take another train. When arriving in Brussels it’s already dark; for safety concerns, I decided to take taxi to get to the hotel. Although it’s only 1.5 km away, the driver did over charge without a meter reader. The hotel is in a central location with a walking distance to many tour spots nearby. After enjoying the peaceful night in the hotel, on the second morning, I walked around the nearby city center full of scenery with holiday themes and Christmas decorations. The castles with golden tower tips are shining under the sun. The Belgium chocolate gift shops were decorated with holiday ornaments in the grand square of Brussels.

The grand place was crowded with tourists looking magnificent and charming. After hanging around in the square walking into the light lid Herbert gallery across the street there are all sorts of shops which sell gifts, crafts clothing cozy and delighted in the chilly winter day.

Outside on the street, there are marketplaces set up with holiday booths which sell handcrafted gifts, cool holiday merchandise. It is truly a Christmas town mixing local and global with holiday spirit.

As usual, I asked quite a few global strangers about directions for my next destination - Royal Palace of Brussels. They are all friendly and help me navigate through the direction, and wish me luck. I walked through the long street full of brand name stores and shopping centers which are all decorated with holiday lights. It gives me the strong feeling that Brussels is a walkable city friendly. I passed through the famous chocolate manufacturer Godiva office building without knowing there is a small chocolate village museum nearby until I checked the map and visited there the second day. I couldn’t believe I had already been there the day before.

I also spent a morning visiting the European Union and parliament building: Parlamentarium. Although it’s only part of space opening to the public it brought me the theme of democracy and governance disciplines. After that I visited the nearby nature science museum enjoying seeing samples of all sorts of creatures from giant dinosaurs to tiny insects from wild camouflaged animals in the tropical forests to the enormous ocean creatures and various birds in the sky and human evolution history. Lots of students came here to do their science research. It's a very educational place.

In the afternoon, I took the train to the famous science museum Atomium - the tower with 102 m tall to reach the sky. It was built for the 1958 World fair to celebrate the atomic age. Each of the metal spheres is 18 meters in diameter. After taking the elevator going up to the top you can oversee the city with 360 degrees. On the way down, there is the museum of design and architecture introduction. There are different light spectrums surrounding the stairs and elevator that make the building mysterious and interesting. Overall speaking, it is a good educational museum with its unique theme. I skipped the other nearby tour spot- mini-europe as I just visited quite many nations in Europe in the recent months.

On the way back by subways, I also stopped by the Botanical garden which has a set of fair ladies and gentlemen sculptures, a water fountain, flowers and trees.

On the third day I decided to explore deeper by walking through the city Brussels - watching over the top tower, passing through palace gates, walking into the library and hanging around into Winter wonders, enjoying the imaginary creatures in park near Trone palace, tasting diverse food in the downtown and watching Christmas trees glowing the lights all over the place, discovering the hidden gems in this fairytale like city.

It is enjoyable but also exhausting. I packed the luggage and left on the second day. What a holiday journey in this lovely city -Brussels with Christmas lighting and a fairy tale theme.


Brussels facts:

Population and education levels: Almost one third of the population has high education, and people in the city Brussel have the highest education in Belgium.

Languages: Belgium has three official languages: French, Dutch and German

Posted in: Global Trips