Brussels: a grand place

Trying to get a handle on Brussels before I went there, I was asking people who'd been there what they thought of it. There seemed to be two camps. Some loved it, some hated it, and said there was nothing to see.

Now I've seen it for myself, I've come out firmly on the side of ..... the middle ground. There's quite enough to give you an interesting time for a few days, even if it's not in quite the same league as Berlin, Seoul or, well, Sydney.

There's the (smallish) central area, with narrow cobblestone streets, with the magnificent central square, the Grand Place. This has elegant historic guildhalls all around it, and it's quite a sight.

There are parks, there's a royal palace. There are lots of museums, including the Magritte Museum and the Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts, both of which I explored. Magritte was Belgian, as was Breugel, sort of, and they're well represented. There are lots of Breugels, Vermeers, Van Dykes, and Rembrandts - all Dutch or Flemish - and it's all rather grand.

Not so grand was the over-automated business hotel I stayed in. What's this? No check-in desk, just a couple of self check-in machines. My machine didn't recognise my booking, then didn't recognise my passport. The other machine was successfully blocking the admission of the other chap who was trying to check in at the time. So out popped a receptionist from her hidden broom cupboard to do it all for us anyway! "Oh, zees machine, sometimes it eez so stoopeed!" she told us. I can't see that the automation is saving them much money, but the tiny room I was allocated probably was.