Brussels: 'The Sixth and Sixteenth Relocation'

A new series about the experience of living through 18 relocations across 10 Countries.

Feb 21, 2024

I’m sharing some travel insights and reflections in a Journal I’m calling 18/10. It’s based on my experiences studying, living and working through eighteen relocations and ten countries.

I've lived in Brussels twice, once in 1999 at the start of my career and I moved there again in 2015 for my last corporate position. I only recently realised the beautiful symmetry in that.

I have many nostalgic memories from both periods.

In 1999, I had a studio apartment in Ixelles. It was in a perfect location for the bars and stepping out. There were small restaurants with homemade food, music lounge bars with cocktails, and hidden clubs that only the locals told you about.

Back then, I heard about an expat club called 'Internations'. Locals and expats (of which there are a lot thanks to the European Parliament) organised drinks or weekend events. It was a great way to make friends, socialise and get the lowdown on the best places to go.

Since 1999, thanks to Internations I’ve connected with people in many of the cities I relocated to. You can join any event in any city. HINT: It’s useful for work-networking! It's changed a lot since those early days. Now, there are several organisations with similar concepts. It's worth googling expat and international groups!

In the Brussels summer of 1999, I'd have a 'Blanche' in a nearby café-bar, like La Banque on rue Bailli. (I can't quite believe it's still there - but it is!). I'd while away a few hours, reading, socialising, aka deciding if I wanted to date the guy in front of me or not😉 Ahhh, those young days.

When you first see the city, you see cement blocks and a snaking circular road system that dips underground and out. Driving is a sport there, with many side-door dents to prove it. Beyond the obvious, you'll discover so much more if you have good shoes and contactless for the trams.

In 2015, despite the frantic, painful whirlwind around Dad's health, I established a home for myself in Ixelles again. This time, it was more of a princess pad in a fantastic location.

The hidden secret of my building was that our whole street constituted one side of a large garden. The garden was encased by 5 or 6 apartment buildings on each side. The building opposite mine was far enough away not to be intrusive, but you could see families eating dinner on balconies or tending to their plants. Beyond the facade of each block was a whole inner family sanctum. Protected and nurtured.

I will never regret choosing to take the job in Brussels despite the absolute torture that it brought me (see the article Prelude to Caregiving). I was able to spend time with my closest friends-family who mean the world to me. They'd arrive for the weekend, and we'd cook or go out for dinner. They brought their two gorgeous little pug dogs, ‘the babies’ I could play with and dote on. I’d buy fresh croissants, and we’d have a lazy breakfast. Other members of their family, my chosen family, sometimes joined. We'd walk about and talk or say nothing, comfortable just to be together. Those weekends were full of fun, love, happiness and sustained me until the next time we met.

I can't regret moving to Brussels when I made new soulful friends, too.

Above all, I lived in one of my favourite places with all things French around me through some of the worst and best moments. The amplitude of those moments made me feel acutely alive.

It was a paradox, but I think that’s the point of life - living the highs and lows, experiencing everything in between, and learning to appreciate it even more.

Today, those Brussels memories give me warmth and an antidote to the Prelude to Caregiving because they were the missing threads that were interwoven in the same experience. Without them, I could only feel the tortured pain. Now, the memories and feelings are whole again, and the lived experience is fully restored and published.

There lies the reason for The 18/10 Journal.

Here are some of my favourite places and things to do when I lived in Brussels from 2015 to 2018.

Bois de la Cambre is great for a long walk or run. There's a restaurant - café in the middle of the lake. We'd drive, park near the lake, and walk its perimeter with the dogs. Everybody was there on the weekends, en famille.

When I was on my own, I'd walk to Sablon. I'd have a café latte and croissant at Cafe du Sablon, investigate the antique stores reasonably early in the morning and then head to the Museum of Fine Arts to roam around while listening to my music. At the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, I'd recommend getting a Combination ticket for the Old Masters and the Magritte Museum. I could spend hours there, but I'd usually wait until the rain stopped and then head behind the museums to The Mont des Arts to slowly walk around or simply take in the view. From there it's easy to walk towards The Grande Place.

The Grande Place is a tourist trap but worth seeing. Nearby Galeries Royales Saint Hubert houses cafes for people-watching and chocolatiers. It’s beautiful inside.

In the Wintertime, I used to take a newspaper on a Sunday and have a hot chocolate with marshmallows by the fire at Le Roy d'Espagne. You can watch the world go by and see tourists juggling with selfie sticks and umbrellas.

1999 I had a birthday lunch at Chez Leon with a gigantic seafood platter. It's not the same as it was but it's still good. It's close to Grande Place.

Must-do experiences:

Belgian Waffle with chocolate, and/or strawberries, and/or raspberries and/or bananas. Have lots of wet wipes and tissues ready!
Moules Frites - Mussels with fries. A trick is to use the empty shell of one mussel as a tweezer (pince) to retrieve the flesh from another mussel. No fork is required! You’ll only need a spoon to drink the sauce and fish out the mussels at the bottom. A good baguette is perfect for soaking up the juice. Don’t be shy, that’s the best part.
Visit a fromagerie and buy a selection of the stinkiest cheese that seems to crawl across the plate. Buy a big crunchy baguette that's squidgy in the middle, fresh tomatoes, salt, apples, walnuts, grapes, figs and your preferred tipple. Then, head to THE garden
GEM: Aux Merveilleux du Fred - Meringue heaven. Beware of queues
At the top of the Musical Instrument Museum is a great view of Brussels. Unfortunately, it's shut for renovation!
Place St Catherine - summer evenings or Christmas.

Food

One of my favourite restaurants was La Canne en Ville - I think it's changed management now.
The Quincaillerie in Ixelles was great for a Friday or Saturday. Busy but good.
Brunch is an event at the weekend. I used to go to Pain Quotidien
Exki shops are great for delicious food and salads to take away and sit somewhere.
TripAdvisor will show you lots of good restaurants. Many Michelin-starred restaurants are casual-smart and not over-formal.
Market of Chatelain on Wednesday evenings is lovely to walk around.
Neuhaus chocolate is better than Godiva (a highly debated and contested subject).
AND, of course, the beer! A Leffe blonde or a Duvel is my favorite.
The 2024 Best Rooftop Bars
The best restaurants with a view