Okay some of the sparkle wore off after the initial shock of this city. I think Brussels is more similar to Rome than to Paris, in that it’s big, dirty, and very interesting. I was only scheduled to be in Brussels for two nights so I didn’t get a huge amount of time to explore completely, but I did see quite a bit of the old part of the town. There is one part, the old city center that is just stunning. I don’t know of any other word that fits, maybe awesome, because when I turned the corner with all the other tourists, I pretty much walked into the past. There were huge ornate old buildings surrounding a very large cobblestone courtyard.