I suppose you can't blame Dinant for making the most of their (only?) famous son but you can blame them for the somewhat underwhelming nature of La Maison de Monsieur Sax.
Just as you can blame or praise the European Parliament for their Parlementarium, a media mad exhibition that covers the development of the European movement from the early steps at Franco-German togetherness in the 50s to the present, excluding the Greek crisis I think. I'm sure it's very good if you like that sort of thing. You can even find your MEP and send them an email on the spot via one of the many pokeable screens.
That was one of the two spots where I hopped off the Hop On Hop Off open top tour of Brussels today. I like to use those tours in an unknown city to get an overall impression and then maybe seek out whatever seemed interesting afterwards. But as a onetime president of the Edinburgh University European Society I could hardly bypass the parliament.
The other place I had to get out was the Atomium, and here I also broke my resolution not to bother taking pictures.
I remember how exciting and wonderful I thought it was when it was built for Expo58 and 57 years later seeing it in the flesh as it were it was no less exciting. What an amazing structure allied as it was to the idea of atomic power as a force for peace and progress. Ideals die hard.
Anyway it was only supposed to last the length of the exhibition but was so popular with the public that it stayed. It's been refurbished over the years and now the spheres are covered in stainless steel rather than aluminium so I guess it's even more shiny than the original.
A lift speeds you up to the top in 22 seconds where there's a great view and there are various interesting exhibitions in the different spheres. On the final escalator descent the lights present a dazzling show and I just had to try a snap or two.
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