"Capital of Europe" a Brussels Travel Page by Rrroel

My hometown! Brussels is an ecclectic city, which has everything London or Paris have, but on a scale more easy to handle. There's aconstant mix of languages: French is dominant, but Dutch is also an official language. You can also regularly hear Spanish, English, Arabic, or hundreds of other languages.
Brussels is also home of the European institutions (Commission and Parliament) and of NATO. These expats and other migrants from all over the world make Brussels a truly cosmopolitan place, the only one in Belgium.

This diversity results in a great variety of restaurants. Belgian cuisine may be less refined than French, but has the same quality. I also spontanously think on the many outstanding couscous restaurants and cheap Thai and Vietnamese restos near the Bourse.

The ecclectic character of Brussels is at its best in the city's architecture. In the sixties some ministers wanted, in a modernist rage, to have all the highways in the country to finish right in the centre of town. Old buildings, of which many in Art Nouveau and Art Déco style, have been torn down and monstruous styleless constructions have been built instead. Modern architecture definitely has its values and assets but not in Brussels!
However, there still are some magnificent places, not the least the fabulous Grand'Place/Grote Markt. It is the result of reconstruction work by the local guilds after one of the first bombardments in world history, when the French bombed Brussels in the 17th century. At first sight it appears to have a unity in style, but in fact all the houses are different.