Brussels
Capital of Belgium and seat of the EU institutions; see Belgium (Literary).
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither Here Nor There | Bill Bryson | subject | ”A seriously ugly place” that Bryson still likes a lot: the friendliest big city in Europe, with wonderful restaurants. |
Sub-places
Neither Here Nor There — Bill Bryson (1991)
Source: Readwise highlight
Brussels is a seriously ugly place, full of wet litter, boulevards like freeways, and muddy building sites.
- Role: subject
- In the book: Chapter 5. Bryson gets off at the wrong station and trudges through grey streets until the Manneken-Pis tells him where he is. He stays at the Hôtel Adolphe Sax for its BBC-1 reception and its unpredictable lifts. He circles the Grand-Place, eats every night in the Sacred Isle (Îlot Sacré) lanes behind it, and walks out to the Palais de Justice and the empty EEC headquarters at Rond-Point Schuman. He catalogues what the city let developers tear down, including almost all of Victor Horta’s finest buildings.
- Why it matters: Brussels is where Bryson’s case against postwar developers is sharpest. The Sacred Isle “came within an ace of being bulldozed in the 1960s,” and for years the first view from the central station was a parking lot and gas station. It’s also where he turns on the EEC, quoting The Economist that the Commission doesn’t know “how many staff members it has or what they all do.” The twist is that he likes the place anyway, for its bars, food and friendliness.
- Not pinned separately: Îlot Sacré (no standard-source coordinate; it lies just north-east of the Grand-Place).