Brussels is built on a slope of a hill and the center of the city is thus divided into an upper and lower section, with probably about 60 meters of difference in elevation. Unlike Salvador, the difference in elevation is sufficiently gradual that you can walk up or down the hill. It does take some effort, though, so we were careful of the difference in elevation when choosing our itinerary. Since Shaerbeek turned out to be on the same level as the Upper Town, we started there, and went into the Lower Town in the late afternoon.

Brussels' Upper Town has the king’s palace, parliament building, a few parks and museums. We spent some time in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, which has a huge collection of Flemish art. We were surprised by a rather surrealist rendering of “Temptation of Saint Anthony” by one of the Flemish painters. The Lower Town, is home to the Manneken-Pis and to Grote Markt / Grand Place – the market square surrounded with beautiful neo-gothic buildings.

We stayed in downtown Brussels until around 9, then took a tram back to the square in Schaerbeek where we left the car. We found that the car parked next to ours had its window broken, with glass all over the place.