Ah, Belgium. Perhaps I was expecting too much, perhaps a certain 'Belgian' friend of mine had been a bit too indulgent in his praise of his country's magnificence. From what I had seen of the Belgian countryside during the train ride from Frankfurt, it really does look quite beautiful. But as we neared the capital, Brussels, things soon turned ugly. Brussels is a slum. It's supposed to be the capital of the EU, so I was expecting things to be pretty - well, pretty. But yeah, it's a slum, venture just a little outside of the miniscule centre around the Grand Place, and things get grimy pretty quick. I was also looking forward to getting sick on fine Belgian chocolate, but unless you know exactly where to go, you might as well be buying imported Belgian
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