Bruges
Never has a place been built up and hyped so much, only to disappoint so, so badly.

Perhaps the circumstances of my visit may have clouded my opinion somewhat though:

a) I was there with on an exchange visit with a group of knuckle-dragging schoolmates who thought they were gangsters, but hid in a pub in Lille town centre for 4 hours the week before because a gaggle of local French rudeboys had eyeballed them.

b) It was Sunday, and everything was closed.

c) The few shops that were open didn't take our French Francs, despite us all having been assured otherwise.

d) Even if they did, all you could buy was chocolate and lace, neither of which is much use to a 15-year old boy.

e) There was a 2-hour hailstorm, and the only shelter we could find was under the canopy of a (closed) market stall, where my companions whiled the afternoon away arguing about which jungle DJs were the best.

f) We eventually found an off-licence that took French Francs, and several my esteemed contemporaries proceeded to drink their weedy under-aged frames insensible with the local pear liqueur, resulting in an outbreak of highly comedic violence that resulted in the following day's promised visit to Paris being cancelled.

g) It's in fucking Belgium.

So maybe I'm biased, but I've no intention of ever going back.
(Axeman Jim, Thu 29 Oct 2009, 15:59, 11 replies)

Been to Belgium twice.
Both times it can only be described as 'closed'.
( snee held his breath since, Thu 29 Oct 2009, 16:25, closed)

belguim has to win for most dissapointing landmarks
the popularity of the pissing boy is utterly inexplicable as far as i can see, and the balls (whatever they're called, the building shaped like an atom) are remarkble in their crapness... what's inside? a museum telling you how they were built, and once you're there, there is nothing else, its off on its own away from anything, with the most depressing little amusement complex you could image (most of its shut, all of its shit) sitting next to it.

is a top country for the "hang around and drink" kind of holiday though
( ms morbo lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, Thu 29 Oct 2009, 16:35, closed)

both "attractions" you have mentioned are pretty awful to get to
the Atom is a million miles from anything, and the pissing boy is in an obscure backstreet, and is a blink and you miss it wonder.


And good luck getting any of the locals to give you directions unless you speak french with a perfect accent.. they totally ignored me despite asking in passable french, my sister who speaks far better french had no issues later on from the same people :S
( MrSanity has maybe kicked the WoW habit forever, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 0:05, closed)

In that case:
Try asking in German.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Sun 1 Nov 2009, 19:27, closed)

Quite fancy the idea of Bruges
but I think when I got there to find no midgets, no drugs, no guns and no Colin Farrell I'd be bitterly disappointed.
(Penguins_Made_Me_Do_It is a dolt ... and she don't care, Thu 29 Oct 2009, 20:03, closed)

aaaaw
so there wasn't even a chance of a gay beer, either :(
( gypsy turnips, Thu 29 Oct 2009, 23:48, closed)

I actually love Bruges to bits
but the tourist board has seriously missed out on not selling "Bruges - It's a shithole" t-shirts
(greatoldone Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl f'tagn, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 7:18, closed)

I suspect I'd have thought it shite at 15, too.
But I went when I was twice that age and loved it. Beer, beer, chips and beer, the best passion fruit sorbet in the world (incongruous but true), great architecture AND you could hire a bike with no gears for 5 euros a day and cycle to town of Knock, which was basically a 5 mile long drag of beach-front property.

Great days.
(nd1001 slamdunked my funk, Thu 29 Oct 2009, 22:19, closed)

Belgium, Brussels
I used to have to stay over in Brussels about once a week for years on end. Brussels (apart from the Grand Platz) looks like the Bullring in Birmingham before they bombed it. Full of motorways and rubble floored car parks. Being a bit of a drunken slut, and one of teh gays, I used to wander from bar to bar getting more and more drunk, and NEVER saw more than 3 others in any bar, at any time, any day. in the end I got stroppy with one of the barmen and asked if the government paid them to open as they never had any customers..
and it was always raining. except the time I was there for new year and it was -18C..
(skyfriend packaged in a protective atmosphere, for freshness, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 11:07, closed)

They have a lot of alcoves in Bruges
You know this word? Alcoves?
(Hagbard MacDougal, Tue 3 Nov 2009, 13:33, closed)