PLAN IGN
How does the European Union has changed Brussels ? This 2 hours walk will bring you into a new city inside the city, and show you how a whole district has inherited of the European architecture... and culture.
PLAN IGN
PHOTOS AERIENNES / IGN
OPEN STREET MAP
From the Arts-Loi Station, this huge street is the gate door to the EU district. Despite its name, this street hosts thousands of the very (pro)active national and corporate lobbies.
This building may not be impressive from an architectural point of view, but it does when considering how many powerfull people work inside. One could say the EU Commission is the post-modern incarnation of supra-national power.
Who would expect to find such a small red church between all these huge and impersonnal buildings ? This is not because european civil servants need to pray. This is because its priests found a way to resist to the real-estate pressure. God knows how...
Natural life also has its voice in this concrete district ! Though small and surrounded by traffic jams, the Leopold Park has kept a very pastoral atmosphere. This should be your first choice place to have a rest, before getting to the EU Parliament on the other side of the garden.
Who knows how many translators are working there ? The EU Parliament is definitely the most impressive building of the district, and keeps on and on eating the neighbourhood. Inside lives an other small city that hosts shops only available to Deputies. In front of the building stands one of the few European symbols existing on earth : a statue of what could be Miss Liberty with an Euro in the hand.
After such a cold and distant trip into the European Union, don't forget that behind the walls are standing men and women working for the most pacific inter-state project on earth. These people also need to have fun. The Rue du Luxembourd is where they get a drink before going further into the night...