Question
What does one do when you want to celebrate finishing the taught part of a Masters degree and want to go away but are so broke even the cheapest trip to Spain is not an option?
Answer.
Book a very cheap flight for a mini break to Brussels the capital of Belgium. I did this in June 2003 and I had a great time.

Due to the European Parliament Brussels has cheap hotels at the weekend instead of during mid week. We were staying midweek so even the most basic travel lodge was not an option. Instead we plumped for a youth hostel. The hostel Generation Europe was easy to get to from the city centre as it was only ten minutes if that on the metro line. We paid 20 euros for the hostel but had to pay 2.5 euros for a welcome stamp as we were not youth hostel members and 2.5 euros for the hire of the sheets. We got this back when checking out of the hostel. I can not say too much about the hostel’s facilities as it was basically a place to sleep. The accommodation was basic. It was bunk beds with sheets to sleep in. This was no problem as it was a hot and humid night. he shower room was next door. Our dormitory slept eight. The accommodation was very clean. A basic continental breakfast of bread and jam was included in the price. The orange juice was hat horrible powdered stuff but I did not mind.

Only being in the city for less than a day we were severely limited in what we could actually do. I would have loved to see the Art Nouveau areas of the city, the cartoon museum featuring Tin Tin, flea markets and the insides of lots of pubs and bars.
I think the essential thing to see in Brussels is the Grand Place. It is fantastic. It is the main town square and contains the guild houses and the town hall. The architecture and the carving on the buildings is amazing. It is the type of place just to sit and watch the world go by. I would not advise eating in this square as it is dearer than other places due to the prime location.
The visitor attraction I had heard most about in Brussels before visiting was the Mannakin Piss. This is a fountain with a statue of a little naked boy peeing into it. He is to Brussels what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, Big Ben to London and windmills to Amsterdam. He is meant to represent a boy who saved the city from being ruined by fire by putting it out with his urine. People make costumes for him to wear!! When we found the fountain I was very disappointed. It was a complete anti climax. I had expected a massive statue in the middle of a square. In fact he is only two foot if that and is on a street corner. If you did not know about it you would probably miss it.
We visited the Cathedral as it is a family tradition to visit at least one church or other place of worship when aboard. The cathedral was free so that was good and at the time it was raining.
It had some really beautiful carving especially the pulpit. I would recommend visiting it even just for a short while.
We also visited The Museum of Musical Instruments as I did not fancy visiting an Art Gallery but as a Heritage Studies graduate I need to visit at least one museum or heritage attraction (not an official rule but would feel guilty if I did not). The admission costs 5 euros. The museum contained four floors of different musical instruments from medieval times to computers. The first floor was dedicated to folk instruments from round the world. It could have been boring as one old violin looks very much like another. However it was not, as we had an infra red headset which when you stood in front of some of the cases played music from the instruments. I thought that was really effective especially for the stranger or older instruments. It also had a nice display of an instrument maker’s workshop with different pieces of violins. It also had a good exhibition on the restoring and conserving of the instruments. All it needed in my opinion was some not so old instruments for us to try!!

In the evening we ate at a street café in a lively little square. It sold basic but good food. We had mussels and calamari. You can't really go to Belgium and not have mussels! We also had wonderful ice cream sundaes. They were simpler than some here but tastier. It was washed down with Belgian beer. My favorite is cherry beer (kreik) but my sister thought it was disgusting. The bill was about 60 euros for four people.