Brussels - The best kept secret in Europe
I think Brussels is the best kept secret in Europe. The beautiful old buildings, the well kept gardens of the Brussels Park and the delightfully cute shops all made it a lovely tourist experience. Paris is often referred to as the Jewel of Europe but I think Brussels could give it a good run for its money. Maybe not in scale, because Brussles is smaller than Paris and as such contains less than Paris.

A famous artist once said the Grand Place in Brussels is the most beautiful square in Europe and I completely agree. The wide cobble stone square surrounded by several old buildings (including a museum), nice open air cafes and the general assortment of performing artists is a tourist haven.You could stroll around the square admiring the buildings especially the Hotel De Ville, grab a meal alfresco style or just stand around and enjoy the various performances. While, we were in the square, there was a stand up comic and a mock satan which kept escaping from its handler, unfortunately all the acts were in French so we only kind of got the general gist from the acting.

In the side streets around the square, there were kiosks selling fresh made waffles with ice-cream and chocolate which a lot of tourists were sampling and a couple of streets away, there was the shopping district which was popular with both locals and tourists. Away from the town centre, there was the Brussles Park and several beautiful gardens. The whole city was clean and very well-kept. A delight to walk around.

We were only in Brussels for a day but I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed Paris. I enjoyed strolling in the Brussels Park as much as I enjoyed the Jardin des Tuileries. We didn't get to go up the Atomium but it seems like a 20th century homage to the Tour Eiffel and is described in Wikipedia as the Tour Eiffel of Brussles and as for freshly made Waffles and Crepes, I loved both.