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belgium [2011/11/15 11:19] – created mpan | belgium [2019/09/06 21:46] (current) – deleted casey | ||
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- | ===Belgium=== | ||
- | Somewhat scattered info, mostly about Flanders. | ||
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- | ==General== | ||
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- | * Official languages are Dutch, French, and German, but you'll be mostly fine speaking English in cities. Actually, in Flanders people usually prefer English to both French and German. | ||
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- | * There are some ING Direct ATMs around, but other than that I couldn' | ||
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- | ==Places to go, and getting around== | ||
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- | * Most people arrive via Brussels, but if you have more than half a day to spend it might be worth checking out a different city instead. Antwerp, Ghent, and Bruges are all ~1 hour away by train or less. There are tourist maps of these plus some useful tips at [[http:// | ||
- | * Brussels has some nice museums (Palais des Beaux-Arts, Magritte museum, comics museum, musical instruments museum) and frequent classical concerts. Otherwise the standard sights are probably the Grand-Place and the Manneken Pis. If you come on a holiday, the Manneken may have clothes. Further away there' | ||
- | * Antwerp, Ghent, and Bruges are all pretty nice just to walk around in (nicer than Brussels for this, imho). Antwerp' | ||
- | * Bruges has lots of nice views, especially along the canals (expect to see plenty of tourists there). It has yet another nice art museum, the Groeninge museum, as well as a fries museum. In December there' | ||
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- | * If you are in Belgium for work chances are you are going either to Leuven or to Liege. I haven' | ||
- | * Leuven also has a nice historical city center with a very ornate city hall, a big Stella Artois factory, and a bunch of sculptures including a huge bug stuck on a huge needle and a guy pouring beer into his head. Many of the bars are on the Oude Markt, just off the main square to the southwest. Tends to be livelier during the week (Monday-Thursday) as most of the students go home on weekends. | ||
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- | ==Snack food== | ||
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- | * Waffles: There are 2 kinds of waffles -- Liege waffles and Brussels waffles. Liege waffles are denser and have pearl sugar mixed into the batter; the sugar caramelizes while the waffle cooks. Brussels waffles are softer and lighter and usually larger in area. They don't have pearl sugar, so they typically come with a dusting of powdered sugar. | ||
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- | * Chocolate: Seems like every town except the smallest hamlets has at least one Leonidas and one Neuhaus shop and probably some indie shops as well. In general Leonidas is viewed as clearly better than supermarket chocolate but a notch below Godiva or especially Neuhaus. That said, supermarket chocolate (Galler, Cote d'Or, Jacques) is none too shabby either and is pretty inexpensive. In Brussels there are a bunch of flagship shops on the Place du Grand Sablon (actually very close to the original Le Pain Quotidien). In Leuven there is a nice shop called Tartufo not too far from the main train station. Walk out of the station toward the city center -- that is, immediately cross the ring road and take the Bondgenotenlaan. Take the first street on your right and walk almost to the next intersection; |