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Brussels definitely needs to improve its PR. It has the coolest Gothic town square no one knows about, and a pissing boy as its mascot.

I take a 1.5 hour TGV ride from Paris to Brussels, and head for the town square.  Well, there are actually two or three different squares, but the main one has the cool architecture in the photo above.  Then, I take the subway to Mini-Europe and the Atomium.

I feel like the Disneyland Paris "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" ride messed with me.  At Mini-Europe, you walk around models of Euro-landmarks shrunk 1/25 their size, all in the shadow of the giant Atomium building, an iron molecule magnified 165,000,000,000 its size.  It is very disorienting....

Atomium
This is more of a Wonder:-What-They-Were-Thinking. For Brussels' 1958 world fair, someone decided they should build a sculpture/ building in the form of an iron molecule magnified 165,000,000,000 times. So they did. If Paris got the Eiffel Tower as its World's Fair gift, then some may consider Atomium is Brussels white elephant. But I think it's cool they decided to keep it after the fair (it was supposed to be destroyed). The Atomium stands out distinctly on the outskirts of Brussels, contrasting nicely with the Gothic architecture in the town center.  Inside, I take the elevator to the observation deck. There's also a museum exhibition with Jetsons-like 1960's-futuristic furniture from the same World's Fair. You can take slanting elevators to the other nodes of the building, including restaurants and shops.

Food
We know Belgium for its waffles 'n chocolate.  They're better here at the source: 

• Belgian chocolates make Whitman's Sampler packs and even Godivas taste like hockey pucks. Real Belgian chocolates have delicate chocolate shells, and super-smooth chocolate, strawberry, orange, and even marzipan filling that's smooth like butter (maybe it is 99% butter, but let's not worry about that). They're usually rolled in fine nuts, chocolate bits or coconut, which would all fall off in shipping a box (maybe that's why Whitman's doesn't do it). The tourist areas have several chocolate stores with huge seas of these chocolates. And they're cheap too. For 2 Euros (about $1.80) I get 8 of these fine chocolates, which would cost $5 in the U.S. or London
  
• Belgian Waffles make Eggo's seem like syrup sponges. Belgian waffles are thick, and each waffle square is about an inch square. All the better to hold the chocolate syrup, Nutella or strawberries drizzled on top. The waffle itself is crunchy- sweet on the outside, warm and moist on the inside. And no maple syrup, so you don't get sick of it after eating more than one. Note that Spain and France also have waffle (gaufre) kiosks and corner stores, so I don't know how our waffles got super syrup syndrome.
• Waterzooi.  I had to try this national dish just cause of its name.  Waterzooi is a chicken and potato dish, in a smooth, light, cheesy - I think - cream sauce.  Hits the spot.

After buying some Belgian tapestries in Brussels, I catch the train the next day to Amsterdam.

Go figure. Brussels town symbol is a pissing boy.  You can find rows of little pissing boy souvenirs (corkscrews, bottle openers, lighters) at every souvenir shop.  The Reason: a 2-foot high statue  of a pissing boy - called the Mannekin Pis - pisses near the town square.  Rumor has it that it was made after a heroic young boy pissed on a fire - or a bomb - putting it out and saving the city.   And I thought Oslo was different with its crying baby symbol.

Arc de Triumph is one of many models at Mini-Europe in Brussels.

Seattle has the Space Needle; Brussels has the Atomium as its retro-futuristic World Fair gift. Seeing it for the first time, sitting there amongst the trees in the suburbs, I get the same feeling as in Independence Day when Will Smith wakes up to see the flying saucer hovering over LA.

My digital camera dies!
Well, with my luck with my digital photos with this trip; I was kinda waiting for Third Time is a Charm.  Or Egyptian curse in this case.  After loosing my digital card (70 photos)  in Gibraltar, and getting my backup card erased in Oslo (400 photos), I break my camera in Brussels.  I was getting too adventurous trying to take a really good auto-shot of the Atomium, using a mailbox as a tripod.  Now, I've gotten pretty creative at using benches, ledges, rocks, and even uneven flagstones as tripods on this trip.  So I figure, mailbox; not a problem.  Except after I precariously balance my camera up on the curve of the box and run to be in the photo, a gust of wind blows it, sending it crashing to the ground at the angle above.  The power works and my card is OK (whew, didn't loose my photos at least); but no more photo-taking. Only a week left on my trip, so I figure I will use my SLR and scan photos in when I get back home. Quite sad; this is the camera I've had for 4 years to post travel photos to this site.  Oh well, I need a new one with a better zoom anyway. 

Waterzooi